Remote Assistance from XP to Vista Home Basic

[zapradical]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer for this one. My aunt has
Vista Home Basic and I would like to connect to it from my Windows XP
box via Remote Assistance. Is this possible? I know Home Basic has a
very limited feature set but the RA option is there so I assume it
is.

On the XP side, I seem to recall reading that installing the Terminal
Services Client 6.0 allows compatibility between XP and Vista for
Remote Desktop but nothing about Remote Assistance.

Thanks in advance.

 

[UnswoleLilDude]

As far as I know both home versions of Windows Vista can't be remoted to
using Remote Desktop.

Try www.logmein.com. It's free.

 

[Mac]

Not quite true - Remote Desktop can be used to "access" home Vistas. Just
can't use home Vistas to Remote Desktop other machines (AFAIK).

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/turn-on-remote-desktop-in-windows-vista/

Logmein is good, RealVNC is also free.

Also if you use Messenger Live you can share your desktop with others.

 

[Mac]

Correction - I can access the Remote Desktop (to machines in my workgroup)
and Remote Assistance features in my Vista (Home Premium).

Start/Orb, type remote...

 

[Meredith Regal [MSFT]]

Hi zapradical,

You can offer Windows Remote Assistance from Windows Vista to either Windows
XP or Windows Server 2003, but unfortunately you cannot offer Windows Remote
Assistance from Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 to computers running
Windows Vista.

Best regards,

Meredith

 

[zapradical]

Not quite true - Remote Desktop can be used to "access" home Vistas. Just
can't use home Vistas to Remote Desktop other machines (AFAIK).

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/turn-on-remote-desktop-i...

Logmein is good, RealVNC is also free.

Hi Mac,

In the lower half of the screenshot in the above link, there are
options for Remote Desktop, which I dont see in Vista Home Basic. So
I would assume that feature is only available in higher versions of
Vista (i.e. Home Premium or Business).

 

[Mac]

You guessed right - those shots were from Ultimate. No sure what limitations
it implies. I haven't used RD. Hope you find a solution that suits your
needs...

 

[Dave]

Mac is incorrect.
All versions of Vista can use RD client to connect to computers running RD
server (XP Pro, Vista Ult, Vista Business, Vista Ent).
Vista Home (Basic or Prem) does not include the server side.

I use VHP RD to connect to my XP Pro box. I have to use Logmein or VNC to
connect to VHP laptop.

 

[Mac]

I think I was trying to say something similar (ie I can access the client in
VHP), but wasn't too sure... ;-)

 

[zapradical]

Mac is incorrect.
All versions of Vista can use RD client to connect to computers running RD
server (XP Pro, Vista Ult, Vista Business, Vista Ent).
Vista Home (Basic or Prem) does not include the server side.

I use VHP RD to connect to my XP Pro box. I have to use Logmein or VNC to
connect to VHP laptop.


"zapradical" <[email protected]> wrote in message

Thanks for all the clarifications and suggestions, folks... LogMeIn
looks like it will do what iI need i to do.

 

[mlauenstein]

Skip to the Notes section of the following text found (eventually) on
Microsoft's site:

Connect to another computer using Remote Desktop Connection
Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.

With Remote Desktop Connection, you can access a computer running
Windows from another computer running Windows that is connected to the
same network or to the Internet. For example, you can use all of your
work computer's programs, files, and network resources from your home
computer, and it's just like you're sitting in front of your computer
at work.

To connect to a remote computer, that computer must be turned on, it
must have a network connection, Remote Desktop must be enabled, you
must have network access to the remote computer (this could be through
the Internet), and you must have permission to connect. For permission
to connect, you must be on the list of users. The steps below include
adding names to that list.

Notes
You cannot use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to computers
running Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista
Home Basic N, or Windows Vista Home Premium. You can, however, connect
from those editions of Windows Vista to computers running other
versions of Windows.
You cannot use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to computers
running Windows XP Home Edition.

End of Quote

I will now go back to trying to get VNC server to work. I'm getting as
far as password prompt but am being rejected at that point.

 

[mlauenstein]

Found the following regarding VNC

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/12/13/workaround-to-run-vnc-server-in-windows-vista/

 

[hogyu]

I've been using LogMeIn for a couple of months now now to monitor my
mother's computer and help her with problems. The free version works fine,
and I'm very happy with it.

There is one big limitation: It does not include file transfers, so you
can't send files to or from the remote computer to yours. There are two ways
around that limitation.

-- You can e-mail small files as attachments, or
-- You can use FTP.

I did the latter for her CD collection, which she wanted to listen to
without having to fumble with disks. I brought a sackful of her disks home
with me, ripped them, and then downloaded them to her computer with a
Firefox FTP server plugin. I could start the FTP client in IE on her machine
remotely and then the next day create a playlist for WMP and put a shortcut
on her desktop. All the FTP downloading bypassed the LogMeIn server, so I
wasn't tying up their resources.

She has XP Pro; I have Vista Home Premium. I can't remember the complicated
rules for which OSes can be used for remote and which for controlling, but I
looked into it before I installed this system and found out that Vista HP
and XP Home don't work if I want to control her computer.

This free LogMeIn version probably won't last forever, but it works fine for
me while it lasts, and I'm grateful to the company for making it available.
If I'm ever in a position to influence purchasing decisions for this kind of
software, I'll push for this because a) it works and b) the free version
solves problems for people like me on a budget but without the resources to
spend $20 a month on software I use only a few times a month when she calls
me with a problem.

 

[Guest]

Meredith,
This sounds like what I'm looking for.
I (Vista Home Premium) need to have a way to help my parents (Windows XP
Home) with their computer problems while I'm 200 miles away.
Is there a detailed write-up somewhere about Windows Remote Assistance so
that I can figure out how to do this?