Remote Desktop logon password

[Stan Hilliard]

I am trying to set up a remote desktop connection to access my Windows
XP Pro computer desktop from my Win98SE computer. The computers are
connected by Ethernet cable.

I got as far as the login screen, which asks for a password. My XP Pro
computer currently does not use passwords for local login.

Question -- Can I set up passwords for the remote desktop but also
keep my current practice of not having to use a password to logon to
the local PC? If so, how?

Note: I plan to (at a later time) add the ability to connect to the
desktop from a laptop over the Internet.

Advice will be appreciated,
Stan Hilliard

 

[smlunatick]

I am trying to set up a remote desktop connection to access my Windows
XP Pro computer desktop from my Win98SE computer. The computers are
connected by Ethernet cable.

I got as far as the login screen, which asks for a password. My XP Pro
computer currently does not use passwords for local login.

Question -- Can I set up passwords for the remote desktop but also
keep my current practice of not having to use a password to logon to
the local PC? If so, how?

Note: I plan to (at a later time) add the ability to connect to the
desktop from a laptop over the Internet.

Advice will be appreciated,
Stan Hilliard

NO! You must have a password for Remote Desktop to work. If you use
a local user name, there must be a password. However, you can locate
Group Policy setting to turn this off. Also, if you have a
"networked" user login, these should work.

 

[Stan Hilliard]

NO! You must have a password for Remote Desktop to work. If you use
a local user name, there must be a password. However, you can locate
Group Policy setting to turn this off. Also, if you have a
"networked" user login, these should work.

Is it possible to establish a separate user name for the remote
desktop that does not appear on the local logon screen.

Example: "Joe Blow Remotely" would have to enter a password but "Joe
Blow Locally" would not?

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Any user you create locally (password or no) will be visible to whatever XP
process or login handler you use, so you can't create a "Joe Blow Remote"
that won't show up in the local login process.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

I am trying to set up a remote desktop connection to access my Windows
XP Pro computer desktop from my Win98SE computer. The computers are
connected by Ethernet cable.

I got as far as the login screen, which asks for a password. My XP Pro
computer currently does not use passwords for local login.

Question -- Can I set up passwords for the remote desktop but also
keep my current practice of not having to use a password to logon to
the local PC? If so, how?

Note: I plan to (at a later time) add the ability to connect to the
desktop from a laptop over the Internet.

Advice will be appreciated,
Stan Hilliard

You can use a combination of the XP Power Toy "Tweak UI" and the information
in this KB article to do what you want. Setup Tweak UI for auto login for
your account...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q281262

For access over the public internet you really need to use a *STRONG*
password. Better yet is to run Remote Desktop through a VPN or Secure Shell
(SSH) tunnel. Here is one method to do the latter...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/RemoteDesktopSSH.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)


Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Any user you create locally (password or no) will be visible to whatever
XP process or login handler you use, so you can't create a "Joe Blow
Remote" that won't show up in the local login process.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Actually you can do that. For example I create a special limited user
account with a strong password that I only use to connect to my home LAN via
a VPN tunnel. Then I can hide the account from the normal XP FUS
welcome/login screen by using Tweak UI for XP...

You can do the same thing on Vista by hacking the registry...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

You can use a combination of the XP Power Toy "Tweak UI" and the
information
in this KB article to do what you want. Setup Tweak UI for auto login for
your account...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q281262

For access over the public internet you really need to use a *STRONG*
password. Better yet is to run Remote Desktop through a VPN or Secure
Shell (SSH) tunnel. Here is one method to do the latter...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/RemoteDesktopSSH.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)


Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

I forgot to mention Tunnelier as a SSH client. The nice thing about
Tunnelier is you can automatically start a Remote Desktop session once the
SSH tunnel is established. Here are pages that will help you setup
Tunnelier...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/Configure-Tunnelier.html
http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/Private-publicKey-Tunnelier.html
http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/SecureYourcopSSHServer-Vista.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Then I stand corrected. Thanks!

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Any user you create locally (password or no) will be visible to whatever
XP process or login handler you use, so you can't create a "Joe Blow
Remote" that won't show up in the local login process.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Actually you can do that. For example I create a special limited user
account with a strong password that I only use to connect to my home LAN
via a VPN tunnel. Then I can hide the account from the normal XP FUS
welcome/login screen by using Tweak UI for XP...

You can do the same thing on Vista by hacking the registry...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Stan Hilliard]

Thanks Al, I have succeeded in logging on to the Remote Desktop over
the LAN. I have not yet had a chance to try setting up the Secure
Shell Tunnel.

I want to improve on my configuration for using the Remote Desktop.
The method that I got to work was to create a new user with [Control
Panel] [User Accounts] that I named "Remote User 1" I gave it
administrative privileges and a 12 character alphanumeric password. I
disabled the requirement for me to enter the password a second time --
using the XP Management Console

Although this worked, prefer one of the following configurations:

1) Use my normal username with the password when connecting to the
desktop remotely, but not require the password to logon locally to the
XP computer.

2) Use my normal username with the a different simpler password when I
login locally.

3) Use the current "Remote User 1" name and password to logon
remotely, but NOT have that name appear as a local login option.

Are any of those methods possible? If so, how?
Stan Hilliard

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Thanks Al, I have succeeded in logging on to the Remote Desktop over
the LAN. I have not yet had a chance to try setting up the Secure
Shell Tunnel.

I want to improve on my configuration for using the Remote Desktop.
The method that I got to work was to create a new user with [Control
Panel] [User Accounts] that I named "Remote User 1" I gave it
administrative privileges and a 12 character alphanumeric password. I
disabled the requirement for me to enter the password a second time --
using the XP Management Console

Although this worked, prefer one of the following configurations:

1) Use my normal username with the password when connecting to the
desktop remotely, but not require the password to logon locally to the
XP computer.

2) Use my normal username with the a different simpler password when I
login locally.

3) Use the current "Remote User 1" name and password to logon
remotely, but NOT have that name appear as a local login option.

Are any of those methods possible? If so, how?
Stan Hilliard

3) is easy... You can use the XP Power Toy Tweak UI to hide a users account
on the FUS login window. In fact I do that now on my Vista Ultimate desktop
(via a registry hack) to hide the copSSH admin user that gets created when
the copSSH server is installed.

1) & 2) are mutually exclusive... In those cases you could setup your
account with a null (blank) or a minimum a simple password and use the combo
of Tweak UI and the KB article I pointed you to so you can use Remote
Desktop locally with a null (blank) password or a minimum a simple password,
ie. over your local LAN. Then from a remote location run Remote Desktop
through a SSH tunnel with either a strong password for SSH authentication or
better yet setup SSH so you authenticate with a private/public key pair
protected by a strong password. Personally I do the latter.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...