Using Remote Desktop between two homes

[THOMAS CONLON]

(Assume all PCs are running Win XP Pro).
Both homes are pretty 'typical' setups, both have a DSL connection, a
wireless router, and multiple PCs at the home connected via wireless to the
internet. Is it possible thru this 'usual' setup to use Remote Desktop?
Are there difficult setup issues? Are there difficult firewall issues that
a user who is not a network administrator would have a hard time
understanding? Since neither home is hosting an internet server with a URL,
how would you reference a particular PC within a particular home? For
instance, would you use the IP address of the home you want to connect to?
If so, how would you find out what the IP address is? And, within the home,
would you reference the particular computer by its computer name?

If you can give me an example, would be greatly appreciated, or a pointer to
a good article on this specific situation. Thank you. Tom Conlon

 

[Guest]

It's a little tricky, but nothing you can't handle. Here's a few bullet
points:

1) Yes you would use the IP address of the home you want to connect to.

But, this might be a little hard to determine. You want the IP address of the router or modem that the computer is connected to, not the computer's IP address on the home network.

2) The IP address that the ISP company assigns to a home connection usually
changes up to a few times a week or whenever the connection is reset (by a
reboot, for example). To get a "static" IP address usually costs more.

There is a way to get around this though.

There's a web site that is free to use (for home non-commercial use) and
lets you assign a dns (URL name) address to your home computer. And then
either using a small program that automatically updates the IP address
associated with that URL, or by using a newer router (most Linksys at least)
have configurable options where the router will update that record for you...
so that the name-you-chose.dyndns.net is always pointing to the right IP
address.

If you've followed me this far, congraduations, you're set. Just go to
DynDNS.com, sign up for a free account, and follow the instructions to set up
a Dynamic IP DNS address.

Then, from home #1, you can just open up Remote Desktop and type in
name-you-chose.dyndns.net, and you're set. You MIGHT (probably) need to do
something called port forwarding so the outside connection gets to the
computer you want it to. Remote desktop by default uses port 3389. So in
the Home #2 router, forward port 3389 to the internet (home network) IP of
the computer you want to connect to. Give that computer a static internal IP
address, so the port forwarding always goes to that computer.


It's a lot to think about, but doesn't take as much as you'd think. Post
back here if you get stuck.


Shawn