Remote Desktop Newbie Question

[Guest]

i'm a remote desktop newbie.

i currently have a desktop (windows xp media center edition) and a laptop
(windows xp pro) and i've gotten the remote desktop to work over the internet
when both machines are on the same ip address. however, when i take the
laptop to the library, i can't get it to remotely connect to my desktop with
remote desktop. i've tried disabling the firewall and adding the library ip
as a trusted ip but it doesn't seem to work..

any insight to this situation? my goal is to be able to log on to my
desktop via my laptop when i'm at my work office. this way, i don't have to
swap files back and forth between the desktop and laptop. is this even
possible with my current set up?

i've also tried using a vpn connection and that didn't seem to work either.
although that could be just me not setting up the vpn correctly.

any advice would be much appreciated.

dennis

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

See this page for help. Post back if you have further questions...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/RemoteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html

Basically you need to open TCP Port 3389 on your home router/firewall. Call
the home PC using the IP provided by your ISP...

--

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...

 

[Guest]

thanks for the reply and link. i will try and report back.

dennis

 

[nicklax]

Also, where will you be connecting on your laptop from? Like a school's
network, work network, coffee shop wireless, etc.... Depending on how the
school's or work's network is setup you may be out of luck with remote
desktop because that may block all ports but 80 and 443 for web browsing.
Of course, then, you could change the port remote desktop uses on your home
desktop to one of the unblocked ports.

And, keep in mind that remote desktop connections are not themselves
encrypted and are not secure. You could setup a VPN server at home and use
that to remote desktop through, or check out www.hamachi.cc Run the
program on your home computer and your laptop and it creates an encrypted
private network between those computers with dedicated IP's, and then you
run whatever program you like (remote desktop, windows file sharing, vnc,
etc...) as the computers think they're on the same local network. Works
well in most cases, unless you on a really restrictive network.

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

No, that's not correct. The Remote Desktop connection is encrypted by
default. I would advise using a *strong* password...

--

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]]

To follow up a bit...

The Remote Desktop connection is encrypted by default but in a *client
compatible* mode meaning 64-bit clients like a PocketPC will connect at
64-bits (the PPC can't do 128-bit) and XP clients will connect at 128-bits
for example.

Personally I always set a group policy on my XP Pro and Vista machines to
high so every connection is at 128-bits. Of course you can also run Remote
Desktop through a VPN or SSH tunnel.

--

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...

 

[Guest]

thanks guys!! i've got remote desktop working via windows xp. because of
the security concerns i've also set lockout attempts at 3 (and have to
manually unlock) decided on a password with symbols, letters and numbers and
turned off remote desktop if i know i'm not going to use it on the host
computer.

although i am going to read up on hamachi and vnc, sounds promising but also
complicated.

unfortunately couldn't get vpn to work. =(

but thanks again for your help and pointing me in the right direction.

cheers,
dennis