Remote Desktop problems

[Tom Richards]

I've never been able to get Remote Desktop to work. But I'm trying again.
I've searched the newsgroups and terminal services is started, there's
nothing in event viewer and rd is installed on both pcs - I'm trying to
connect my server pc (desktop) to my laptop on my home network. Both run xp
pro. I get to the rd logon screen on my laptop, type in my desktop name
(sal) and get the "the client could not connect to the remote computer"
error message. I'm using a lynksyss router and tried entering the wan and
lan ip address instead of sal - no good. The router is set to assign a wan
address automatically. I also ran a run command to determine if the ports
were "listening" and they all were.

My home network works fine - shared printer, files, etc. I'd like to
eventually work remotely from a machine running xp home but if I can't get
my home network up and running, I guess that won't work either.

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

I assume your connecting to the lan ip address of the other xp pro box(or
the laptops full computer name) and all software firewalls are turned off.
Once the logon box comes up, you put in a user name that's on the computer
your connecting to and its password. If the user account does not exist and
/or does not have a password on the box your connecting to you'll get an
error message. Does user sal exist on the box your connecting to? Does the
user sal have a password?

 

[Tom Richards]

Wow Phil...that worked! I assigned myself a psswd and voila....Now, once I
make sure the appropriate files are installed on my remote (girlfriend's -
xp home) machine, what address would she use to access my desktop?

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Great. Now it gets a bit tricker, since you have a router involved. The
first thing you have to do is setup the router to port forward. In the
routers config page (usually at 192.168.0.1) you should see settings to
setup port forwarding. You will have to tell the router to open port 3389
and if anyone tries to connect to it to forward that connection to your
computers lan ip address that has remote desktop listening.
(note: 3389 is the default port and can be changed in the registry for added
security).
Once you have the port forwarding setup, from outside your network you would
try to connect to your networks WAN ip address. You'll find this in the
router info pages. When a connection to the wan is initiated it will forward
that connection to the correct box, the logon will popup, and you can log
in.
Note: the computer listening with RD must be online
Note: if you change the default port then when you try to connect you have
to specify the port as well, like this:
66.66.66.68:7777

 

[Thomas Wendell]

What is the service that should be listening? RDsessmgr (sessmgr.exe)?? Is
the procedure the same for a software firewall (Sygate PF)?


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[Tom Richards]

Thanks, Phil. I set my forwarding and then went to test a remote hookup
(from my laptop....still on my home network) by inputting
http://141.151.xx.xxx
which is my wan ip address. The logon screen for the router admin came up,
not rd. Here's my ip info from the router admin:

LAN:
(MAC Address: 00-04-5A-E5-xxxx)
IP Address: 192.xxx.x.x
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP server: Enabled

WAN:
(MAC Address: 00-04-5A-E5-xxxx)
IP Address: 141.151.xxx.xxx
DNS: 151.197.xxx.xxx
151.197.xxx.xxx
0.0.0.0

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Same idea for a software firewall, but you don't really port forward, you
just have to allow the connection in, usually by ip address. Zone alarm pro,
for example, will allow you to put in trusted ip addresses. Then when this
and only this ip address tries to connect to lets it thru and connects to
remote desktop.
The service actually gets listed as one of the svchost.exe's, I don't know
the exact .exe that turn rd on or off.

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

You can't test it that way. If your "inside" the network you can't connect
to the wan(outside) ip address to get in again, your already in the network.
Test it from outside the network. Connect to the wan ip and it should
forward you to the computer running rd. I have a setup just like this and
also a setup with a software firewall that I use every single day, works
great.

 

[Tom Richards]

I set everything up and tried to connect to my pc running xp pro from
outside of the network and it throws an error message "the client could not
connect to the reomote computer. Remote connections might not be
enabled,,,," I tried putting my wan address in the http://wan address here
form and also in the remote desktop logon window on the client pc.

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Check your port forwarding again and make sure the xp firewall is turned
off(the router will protect your network).

 

[Tom Richards]

It still isn't working. From the client computer, my girlfriend is inputing
my wan ip address in the rd logon window. Throws an error message. Now I
noticed that my wan ip address changes periodically. My forwarding is set to
send port 3389 to my static ip address and to the one that just ends in
".1" -- Does she need to input my wan ip address in the
http://xxx.xxx.xx.xxx form in internet explorer or does she logon to rd on
my pc from her (client) pc at her rd logon area? I'm totally confused. :-(

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

You shouldn't have to use the web based form, the stand alone remote desktop
logon client should work fine.
If your wan ip address changes then you just have to use the new one. Mine
changes about twice a year, so when it does and I can't connect I just get
the new ip when I get home and the next day use that. Not much you can do
about that. When it changes you just won't be able to connect until you see
what the new one is.
Try setting your port forwarding to just the static ip of one computer. Try
to get just the one static ip working first. And yes she should be
connecting to your wan ip address, entered in the rd client like this for
example: 68.123.67.102
Or try it like this:
68.123.67.102:3389

If the forwarding is set right it should forward it to the xp box on your
network. If you have any software firewalls involved that have outgoing
blocking those have to be configered to let remote desktop connection and
rdclip monitor in and out. Also make sure remote desktop is turned on on the
computer your trying to connect to on your network. Also on my firewall I
have settings to block ports by time schedule. Make sure you don't have
something like this turned on or setup so that the ports are being blocked
during certain times. Also make sure the router sees your girlfriends ip
address as a "trusted" ip so it will let it in.
Trying to think of anything else to check. Hang in there, this can be
tricky.
Also another thing I just thought of, if by some chance the location your
trying to connect from(like a business office) has a hardware firewall, make
sure that it isn't locked down allowing nothing out except port 80, 110 or
25 requests(webpages and email).

 

[Tom Richards]

No firewalls...mine and her's are off. Both running xp - her's home, mine
pro. She isn't at a business - she's at home. My wan address changed within
the past hour. I changed the port forwarding to send to just the static ip
of my pc. You said "Also make sure remote desktop is turned on on the
computer your trying to connect to on your network" -- rd is enabled on both
pcs - she created a connection for my pc (sal) in her Network Connections
area. I don't know how to check for seeing if my router recognizes her ip as
"trusted."

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Man sounds like you got it right. Check to make sure that the port
forwarding is for TCP port not udp.
In my firewall, in the ports area, I can set it to only allow a specific ip
thru or a range of ips thru. Possible you have something similar?
One difference I have in my setup is that I have the router set to use dhcp
to assign ip's to the network computers, but I tell it which dynamic address
to assign to which computer. So basicly the router sets the static ip, and
the computer is set to use dhcp and obtain an ip automatically from the
router.
I also see you said she created a connection in her network connections
area. Not sure why, but you don't need anything like that. You should be
using the rd client, which I'm sorry I forgot to mention, does not come with
xp home. You have to install it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl.asp

Also possible that port 3389 is blocked by the isp. Some block ports that
aren't commonly used. You could try changing the default port rd listens on:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306759

 

[Tom Richards]

Ok, I'm at my girlfriend's house tonight and on her pc. It still doesn't
work. I put my wan ip address in her rd "Computer: ______________" area and
it throws the "client could not connect,,,blah, blah, blah" error message. I
know the wan ip is correct because I was at my place a few hours ago and
checked it.

Forwarding on my linksys router is set up per their instructions on their
help line (which is very good and responsive btw) and looks like this:

Port through port-- 3389 ~ 3389
Format (here there's a drop down box for udp, tcp or both,,,I have it set to
"Both")
Then next it gets sent to my pc's IP address

I checked and port 3389 is "listening" on my pc
I tried inputting ":3389" after the wan ip address here
rd is installed on her xp home pc
Could the dhcp settings be something to tweak? I think they're set to assign
ip's - I know I haven't specified ip's for assignment...can't check that now
cause I'm not there
I'm lost :-(

When I get home tomorrow, should i try bypassing the router and trying to
hook up with my dsl modem connected directly to my pc?

Thanks for your continuing help

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

I was thinking about this last night actually and I think it might be ip
related. Maybe because your specifying static ip at the computer that the
router doesn't "know" what that ip is and for what computer. I would try to
set your router to be a dhcp server and set the computers to obtain ip
automatically. The computers on your network will now get their ip from the
router. Then if you have the option, have the router set a specific ip for
the computer, one you pick, instead of random. So your basicly setting a
static ip for the computer in the router, but on the computer you set it to
obtain the ip automatically from the router. Now the router is actually
issuing the ip addresses and should "know" and "see" all the computers /
ip's on your network. Then possibly it will now forward it correctly. You
could also try and take the router out of the equation to see if you can get
it working, but I'd at least have the xp firewall running so you don't get
the blaster virus. In the xp firewall options you can open the remote
desktop ports, then give it a try.

 

[Tom Richards]

My router is set to act as a dhcp server. But there doesn't seem to be
support for specifying an ip for the computer. One thing - I just noticed
that I had my logging disabled - incoming and outgoing. I just enabled it
and am going ask my girlfriend to try to connect in a minute.

 

[Tom Richards]

Ok! It actually worked for some reason...my girlfriend was able to pull up
my pc with the wan address I gave her....the wan changes periodically,
apparently. Why? I didn't reboot or close or open any progs since yesterday,
but the wan address was different. If it changes so much I won't be able to
use rd very effectively.

 

[Jason Tsang]

Blame your ISP.

In the meantime, you can get around this with a hostname and the use of a
dynamic dns client and a dns server that supports dynamic dns updates.

See here for starters
http://www.dyndns.org/

Note, there are many many ways to do this. I don't endorse the above link
(I don't even use it). If anyone has another dynamic dns information that
is as easy to implement as above, please post it.

 

[Jason Tsang]

Specifically, this service
http://www.dyndns.org/services/dyndns/