Issues With Remote Desktop

Hey, I have had some issues setting up RDP between my work laptop and my home desktop. I have enabled everything on my home desktop (allowing RDP through the Remote tab and adding users) and have forwarded ports 80 and 3389 to computer through the router. this is a XP Pro system. My work computer uses Vista Enterprise. When ever i try to connect i receive a message that my computer cannot be connected to. I have tried with a differant XP machine and get the same error. Am i missing something? My RDP used to work till I got my new Vista machine. It has no problem RDPing to work servers and what not, just cannot connect to my home machine.. Ideas? thanks.

IIRC there is a Remote Desktop update for XP that came out around the same time Vista did. I'm thinking they may have updated the RDP protocol such that you have to run a current version of the server and client to connect. I have both Vista and XP machines but I don't use RD so I can't confirm -- I prefer UltraVNC now for Windows machines, and either VNC or NX for Linux.

thanks for the info dmorris. I actually did some more testing on my lunch break. I have a Buffallo WHR-HP-G54 Wireless Rouhter. I reset it and redid my port forwarding. with a differant computer on my network, i am able to RDP using my Computer Name, however, if i go by the roughters IP like i would if i was at a remote location, then it does not work. So it has to be some issue with the router. I have heard a lot of good things about UltraVNC so i think i may just go that route. probably better than windows crappy RDP anyway.

Hey DMorris. I looked into getting UltraVNC. Would you be able to give me some info on how to use it. I am guessing you use the Server on the host system and viewer on the one your veiwing from. How do you connect between them. Any help would be appreciated. THansk!

Yes, you run the server on the desktop(s) you wish to remote control. You run the viewer (or the Java browser applet) from the machine you're at. You connect to the server IP address and the "screen" number you wish to connect to, which determines the port -- by defaults ports start at 5900 + the screen number. In Windows there is only one screen, screen #0, unlike on X windows, so by default with Windows you will connect to port 5900 (and thus you must open up this port in your router or firewall).

One great thing about VNC over the Terminal Server/Remote Desktop built into Windows is that with VNC you actually control the console screen "live." With RDP, it logs the current user out so nobody at the console can see what you're doing. With VNC the remote access account is different than the server's console account, so you actually control the currently logged in session no matter whose it is. And they see everything as it happens -- the two of you can even fight over the mouse and keyboard. ) Also, the VNC viewer has a "read-only" mode that lets you monitor what the user at the server console is doing, without you taking their mouse or keyboard away. I've used this feature to remotely monitor my kids' PC usage, unbeknownst to them, when they were young and living at home. ;)

maybe look into Windows Live Mesh, has Remote Desktop built into it and it takes all the port forwarding out of the mix

[quote35f9bc66d8="guelah75"]maybe look into Windows Live Mesh, has Remote Desktop built into it and it takes all the port forwarding out of the mix[/quote35f9bc66d8]
If it's still based on the standard Windows RDP protocol of Terminal Services/Remote Desktop, I still wouldn't be interested. UltraVNC is so much better IMO. So what if you have to forward a port, I've done it so many times that it's second nature. Some UPnP routers might support the VNC protocol without explicit forwarding, too, but I prefer to manually forward ports rather than use UPnP anyway.

Thank for the info Guys. I think its a problem with my router. I toyed around with Ultra VNC for over an hour and was unable to get it to work. I even found a how to step by step manual for setting it up and still it would not connect. I think my router is having issues with port forwarding. I am gunna borrow a freinds router to see if i have issues. If i don't then i will jsut get a new router.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I hope to get UltraVNC and working eventually. +Karma for you dmorris! you always have the answers. lol.

guelah75, thanks for the info on Windows Live Mesh. that actually let me stream in. I never knew about that but i am pretty impressed with it. Its pretty cool. and i will i am sure use it for many purposes. Thanks!