how to use RDP if only port 80 is free

[Steve]

all ports except port 80 are blocked at work. (i think)
i have tried to connect through port 80 but with no luck.

is there any other way to get around this problem?

thx.

 

[Pablo]

Give us some more info. Are you trying to connect INTO work from the
outside, or into some other location from work. When you say all ports
except 80 are blocked, is that outbound ports? That's rare. 80 (as you may
know) is http, having nothing to do with remote desktop (rdp). If outbound
ports are blocked, then there's nothing you can do. give us the exact
situation:

o Where is host computer, what operating system- xp home or xp pro?
o where is client computer.
o what firewall/routing devices are you behind at both locations- remote and
host.

Paul

 

[Steve]

-----Original Message-----
Give us some more info. Are you trying to connect INTO work from the
outside, or into some other location from work. When you say all ports
except 80 are blocked, is that outbound ports? That's

rare. 80

may be i should clarify that all inbound traffic are
either forwarded to the corresponding ip (i.e. mail and
stuffs) or forwarded to a 'phantom' machine.

(as you may

know) is http, having nothing to do with remote desktop (rdp). If outbound
ports are blocked, then there's nothing you can do. give us the exact
situation:

trying to connect home from work.

o Where is host computer, what operating system- xp home

or xp pro?

host computer at home running xp pro

o where is client computer.

client computer at work running xp home

o what firewall/routing devices are you behind at both locations- remote and
host.

at home, behind zonealarm and already set to allow
connection from work

at work, with a linksys router and the sys.adm. has
control.

 

[Pablo]

may be i should clarify that all inbound traffic are

either forwarded to the corresponding ip (i.e. mail and
stuffs) or forwarded to a 'phantom' machine.

Ok, that shouldn't be anything to cause you trouble.

at home, behind zonealarm and already set to allow
connection from work

For your first test, I would strongly advise disabling zonealarm completely
to make sure it's not interfering. 2nd, make sure (on both machines) that
the built in XP firewall is completely disable. This produces a lot of
headaches for us an our customers whenever there are any connectivity
issues.

About Zonealarm, I can say that when I first set up my home network, even
though I 'knew what I was doing', zonealarm gave me more headaches and would
cause more headscratching (I suddenly can't connect any more) than it was
worth. Zonealarms a good program for single computer, but once you have a
home network behind a router, careful configuration of your router/firewall
security will do extremely well for protecting yourself.

The next step would be to attempt to 'ping' your host computer at home and
see if you get a reply. Again, zonealarm in its default state will block
all ICMP (ping) traffic and therefore will make it look like there's no
machine at that address. So again, for the initial testing phase, I
strongly suggest turning zonealarm off to get a good baseline.

Lastly, and most simply, make sure the 'terminal services' service is active
and running on your host machine at home. I read a lot of messages from
people on this group simply being unable to make an rdp connection to their
system at home. With XP, this is extremely simple and robust- so I have to
assume that most of the people here are misunderstanding something subtle
about network communications or their setup. Let me know what you find and
we should get you going with little trouble. Good luck.

Paul

 

[Steve]

-----Original Message-----

Ok, that shouldn't be anything to cause you trouble.


For your first test, I would strongly advise disabling zonealarm completely
to make sure it's not interfering.

tried, no luck.

2nd, make sure (on both machines) that

the built in XP firewall is completely disable. This produces a lot of
headaches for us an our customers whenever there are any connectivity
issues.

confirmed both machines has the xp firewall disabled.

About Zonealarm, I can say that when I first set up my home network, even
though I 'knew what I was doing', zonealarm gave me more headaches and would
cause more headscratching (I suddenly can't connect any more) than it was
worth. Zonealarms a good program for single computer, but once you have a
home network behind a router, careful configuration of your router/firewall
security will do extremely well for protecting yourself.

The next step would be to attempt to 'ping' your host computer at home and
see if you get a reply. Again, zonealarm in its default state will block
all ICMP (ping) traffic and therefore will make it look like there's no
machine at that address. So again, for the initial testing phase, I
strongly suggest turning zonealarm off to get a good

baseline.

yes, i am able to ping the host computer.

Lastly, and most simply, make sure the 'terminal services' service is active
and running on your host machine at home.

confirmed rdp is eabled.

one more note. i was able to connect before, even through
port 3389 or other ports below 443.

but i think the system admin. had changed the
configuration of the router, probably now he decided to
block all unnecessary ports.

that's why i wanna connect through the http port now.

thx.

 

[Pablo]

one more note. i was able to connect before, even through

port 3389 or other ports below 443.

but i think the system admin. had changed the
configuration of the router, probably now he decided to
block all unnecessary ports.

that's why i wanna connect through the http port now.

Hmm, it's entirely possible that the admin has disabled outgoing ports- it's
not common, but that may be what's happening. If other experts intervene, I
believe that there is a way to force terminal services to 'listen' on
another port other than 3389-- however, that also means thatyou'd have to
modify the client to 'talk' on whatever port you modified the listening
machine. I'll do some searching around and see if any of this is possible.

Paul

 

[Pablo]

but i think the system admin. had changed the
configuration of the router, probably now he decided to
block all unnecessary ports.

Oh, by the way, a bit of social advice. When working in a technology
company, some lessons drawn from being in the military can actually carry
over, if you know where to apply them. For instance, almost everyone who's
been in the miltary will tell you "make friends with the supply sergeant,
and if possible, the guy who runs the mess hall". My advice would be to
make friends with the network administrator- it's an important relationship-
because in these days of internet and remote connectivity he/she is in a
position to either make your life very, very easy, or very very difficult.



Paul