remote desktop

chrisjlee · March 28, 2006

I'm not sure if this belongs here but I was hoping maybe someone would help me with my problem:

I'm trying to remote desktop into my computer. What exactly do i need to do for my computer to allow logins?

What I've done already:

- went to my computer -> allow remote connections

StevenV · March 28, 2006

Windows XP? Check the "Allow users to connect" box and then use the "Select Remote Users" button to define who can. They'd just use Remote Descktop Client to connect.

If that's not working, what sort of errors are you getting?

chrisjlee · March 28, 2006

StevenV wrote:

Windows XP? Check the "Allow users to connect" box and then use the "Select Remote Users" button to define who can. They'd just use Remote Descktop Client to connect.

If that's not working, what sort of errors are you getting?

That must be it. I haven't checked which users are allowed to connect. It gives me a "busy error" message. I have to head later first to fix that problem and see if thats the culprit.

Error Message:
"Remote Connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection.

Please try your connection later. If problem persists, contact your administrator"

LiquidOps · March 28, 2006

chrisjlee wrote:

That must be it. I haven't checked which users are allowed to connect. It gives me a "busy error" message. I have to head later first to fix that problem and see if thats the culprit.

Error Message:
"Remote Connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection.

Please try your connection later. If problem persists, contact your administrator"

also don't forget this...

If you are using a router, forward port 3389 to your desktop/laptop(whichever you want to connect to)

If the ports' not forwarded then the connection won't go through.

Steven

photodoug · March 29, 2006

LiquidOps wrote:

also don't forget this...

If you are using a router, forward port 3389 to your desktop/laptop(whichever you want to connect to)

If the ports' not forwarded then the connection won't go through.

Steven

XP firewall too...either disable it or better: allow remote desktop connections.

chrisjlee · March 29, 2006

photodoug wrote:

XP firewall too...either disable it or better: allow remote desktop connections.

ah... i had that checked off. i hope that solves it.

chrisjlee · March 29, 2006

StevenV wrote:

Windows XP? Check the "Allow users to connect" box and then use the "Select Remote Users" button to define who can. They'd just use Remote Descktop Client to connect.

If that's not working, what sort of errors are you getting?

Hmm I still don't have the select remote users button up. Are you required to have xp pro in order to do that?

LuckyBob · March 29, 2006

Yep. Although for non-XP Pro computers you have the free option of RealVNC (at http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/download.html). Slower performance than Remote Desktop, but the server and client are Win/Mac/Linux/Unix/PocketPC/etc, and there's a Java client built in so people don't necessarially need to install software to connect to the server.
A couple suggestions if you use remote access methods - change the ports the server runs on for security purposes (if it is to be used for external connections), and pick up a dynamic domain name if you don't have a static internet IP address (http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/) so you don't have to guess your IP. As always, make sure you foward the appropriate ports in your router/firewall.

How to change the port Remote Desktop listens on in Windows XP / Server: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306759

dragon300zx · March 29, 2006

What I'm surprised no one has asked yet is what are you hoping to accomplish with accessing your computer remotely?

There are a myriad of ways to go about remote connecting and how you are using it.

chrisjlee · March 29, 2006

dragon300zx wrote:

What I'm surprised no one has asked yet is what are you hoping to accomplish with accessing your computer remotely?

There are a myriad of ways to go about remote connecting and how you are using it.

hey gary hows it going?

Well what i'm doing with doesn't really matter to much. So thats probably why no one has asked yet.

I'm just trying to be able to be able to access files from my home from my work in case I forget to burn my files or upload them etc.

photodoug · March 29, 2006

chrisjlee wrote:

hey gary hows it going?

Well what i'm doing with doesn't really matter to much. So thats probably why no one has asked yet.

I'm just trying to be able to be able to access files from my home from my work in case I forget to burn my files or upload them etc.

one word: hamachi vpn

http://www.hamachi.cc/

chrisjlee · March 30, 2006

photodoug wrote:

one word: hamachi vpn

http://www.hamachi.cc/

those are two words. technically 4 since VPN is an acronym.

dragon300zx · March 30, 2006

chrisjlee wrote:

hey gary hows it going?

Well what i'm doing with doesn't really matter to much. So thats probably why no one has asked yet.

I'm just trying to be able to be able to access files from my home from my work in case I forget to burn my files or upload them etc.

See that's where you are wrong what you are doing matters a whole lot. If your trying to get stable access to a database, thats way different than trying to access emails, which is still different from trying to sync files. And the way you go about it makes a big difference in speed, and reliability.

For windows remote you have to be using pro. But there are other solutions like PC Anywhere, GoToMy PC, Hamachi, etc.

For just accessing files such as pictures, word docs, etc any of those will do but are going to be extremely slow.

Now if you were talking about accessing streaming video from a security camera, or working on a large database file, or any other really large file odd's are they would be too slow (not sure on hamachi as I am testing it now). There are other ways of setting it up that are alittle more intense but offer better performance.

So what your using the VPN for does really matter if you want it to work and not kill you on speed.

StevenV · March 30, 2006

i see where you're coming from about streaming video, but what would databases have to do with remote desktop? RDC's how I work from home many days each week - all my apps run just fine on my office PC and I get them displayed at home. If there were a connection problem, they just keep running and I reconnect. There's no large file being transferred across the vpn, just the screens.

dragon300zx · March 30, 2006

StevenV wrote:

i see where you're coming from about streaming video, but what would databases have to do with remote desktop? RDC's how I work from home many days each week - all my apps run just fine on my office PC and I get them displayed at home. If there were a connection problem, they just keep running and I reconnect. There's no large file being transferred across the vpn, just the screens.

Depends on how you are accessing it. Alot of companies set it up so they are using their vpn to run terminals, or direct connections of the remote computer to the network, which is where most of the problems come from. And I have seen alot of people try to use the remote desktop to save large files to their computers at home. Also if it's a database situation where you are trying to sync two databases over the VPN even through a remote desktop connection you can create problems (had a client doing this at one point

). It really depends on how the person is trying to use it. That's why the first thing I always ask is what the person is trying to accomplish.

Khaos · March 30, 2006

1. Ask your company IT guy.

2. He'll probably say no to connecting to home or anywhere outside of your network at work.

3. RDC is a service that allows remote control of a windows machine over port 3389. Saying yes to allowing remote connections only opens this port on your machine.

4. Unless you tell the router or firewall to allow connection from the outside, a VPN solution will not work.

5. Short story: Connecting to PCs on the same network via RDC is easy. Connecting to PCs on different networks takes some know how.

StevenV · March 30, 2006

dragon300zx wrote:

And I have seen alot of people try to use the remote desktop to save large files to their computers at home. Also if it's a database situation where you are trying to sync two databases over the VPN...

Ah, I see. I didn't even realize that RDC could transfer or sync files; there are enough other ways to do that that I never looked. I just expected people to do as I am - to use RDC for it's display-shifting capabilities (read Microsoft's version of X11

)

-Steven
(former network support geek)

dragon300zx · March 30, 2006

StevenV wrote:

Ah, I see. I didn't even realize that RDC could transfer or sync files; there are enough other ways to do that that I never looked. I just expected people to do as I am - to use RDC for it's display-shifting capabilities (read Microsoft's version of X11 )

-Steven
(former network support geek)

In an ideal world everyone would follow the path of least resistance. They would use things for what they were designed to be used for, they would follow instructions, and things would work the way they are supposed to. But everyone has to try and think on their own because their way is always better. Then when it breaks it's someone else's fault.

StevenV · March 30, 2006

dragon300zx wrote:

Then when it breaks it's someone else's fault.

and now you know why the word "former" is in the parenthetical line below my name up there

elgauchogrub · February 13, 2013

I've been playing with Chrome Remote Desktop, free add on for the Chrome browser. Works pretty well provided you have a decent connection.

remote desktop

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