Remote Desktop

[ARosch]

I have been trying to setup remote desktop for a few days and have had no such luck. The host computer is running Windows 7 Professional and I have enabled the remote connections to it. When I am on the same network and try to use my laptop to connect using the name of the host computer, I am able to connect right in with ease; however, when using the IP address of the host I cannot get it to connect. I get the error message "Remote desktop can't connect to the remote computer for one of these reasons:" and then it gives the following reasons "Remote access to the server is not enabled; the remote computer is turned off; the remote computer is not available on the network." I am not really sure why I cannot connect via the IP address. I am googling "my ip" from the host computer then using that on my laptop to connect.

Here are the settings on my Belkin router.

I have tried connecting with just the IP, the IP immediately followed by :3389, and followed by :2626 all of which yield the same result. I also tried connecting before I added the RDP 3389 server to my router settings.

I want to be able to connect to my desktop when I am not at home and on a different internet connection. Any suggestions?

 

[airdata]

That's weird that you'd be able to connect w\ the host name but not with the ip address.

In general you'd usually troubleshoot the other way around in case dns was messed up.

 

[MrScott81]

You're not using 192.x.x.x right? Could be a firewall issue I suppose

 

[ARosch]

No I am using the actual IP address of the host computer.

 

[jumpncrash]

No I am using the actual IP address of the host computer.

and by that you mean your public IP address from whatsmyip.com right?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you testing the public IP, from within your LAN? Unless your router supports local loopback, that won't work.

 

[ARosch]

and by that you mean your public IP address from whatsmyip.com right?

Yes.

Are you testing the public IP, from within your LAN? Unless your router supports local loopback, that won't work.

I never thought about that. I will try this out and report back if something does not work. Thanks!

 

[Dulanic]

I had the same problem with other services and it was local loopback issues. Does your ddwrt support your router? Most Belkin's do. If so, I'd flash that and then you just need to add the following firewall script into commands to make local loopback work.

insmod ipt_mark
insmod xt_mark
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -i ! `get_wanface` -d `nvram get wan_ipaddr` -j MARK --set-mark 0xd001
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -j CONNMARK --save-mark
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -m mark --mark 0xd001 -j MASQUERADE

 

[ARosch]

I don't need to be able to remote desktop from the same wifi connection; I was only doing that to test it. I just tested it today from a different wifi network (the one at my school) and I got the same error. Any other suggestions?

 

[Dstoop]

I don't need to be able to remote desktop from the same wifi connection; I was only doing that to test it. I just tested it today from a different wifi network (the one at my school) and I got the same error. Any other suggestions?

9 times out of 10 this is a firewall issue. Either the host computer is actively blocking the connection or the laptop is blocking RDP, or both. Turning on "allow RDP connections" doesn't always process the proper windows firewall exceptions, and definitely doesn't do it if you're using third party firewall software.

If you're using a non-standard port for RDP on the host, you also have to remember to edit the registry key on the host that dictates what port it uses to listen to RDP connections.

 

[ARosch]

So I have been working for a few days trying to figure out if this is a firewall issue. I have tried configuring it and adding an exception and I am either not doing something right or it is not working. I have Norton Security Suite, would it just be easier if I just uninstalled that and let windows defender protect my PC? Or perhaps someone has another suggestion or an explanation of how to add Remote Desktop to the firewall in Norton?

 

[Gillbot]

I gave up and went the easy way with Logmein free version. Others have suggsted teamviewer is better but I haven't tried it.

 

[ARosch]

Will team viewer work if I am not logged in to my desktop? Like will I be able to use it to log in to my account like I do with Remote Desktop?

 

[debian0001]

I have this setup and it works... make sure you have the port on the firewall off... might be the Windows firewall.

Best way to test is telnet <public ip> 3389 and see if's listening even on the PC itself to see. If it's listening on the pc itself, it might be the external firewall on the other network.

 

[Gillbot]

Will team viewer work if I am not logged in to my desktop? Like will I be able to use it to log in to my account like I do with Remote Desktop?

I don't know, I don't use teamviewer. I use logmein and it allows to log in to the machine and even use WOL if the machine is off. I would imagine teamviewer is similar, so someone with experience may chime in.

 

[ARosch]

I have this setup and it works... make sure you have the port on the firewall off... might be the Windows firewall.

Best way to test is telnet <public ip> 3389 and see if's listening even on the PC itself to see. If it's listening on the pc itself, it might be the external firewall on the other network.

I am a little confused, how can I run that test?

 

[nickbits]

I am a little confused, how can I run that test?

Load up the command prompt and run it. You probably will need to install telnet via "turn windows features on and off". It isn't installed by default.

 

[KentState]

Just a suggestion if you do get this working. Change your port for RDP to something random as 3389 is easily targeted.

 

[Dstoop]

You can establish remote connection between two computers by IP address using Microsoft RDP Connection Tool, provided both the machines are on same LAN. If trying to connect over internet, you need to use various remote support services such as logmeinrescue, gosupportnow etc. or can even consider deploying on premise remote support appliance such as RHUB or Bomgar appliances.

Untrue. While it's probably easier for the average user to go with something like logmein, it's very possible to use RDP over a standard internet connection. It's not the most *secure* solution without enterprise-grade configs, but you can still do it.

The destination computer must have "allow RDP connections" enabled.
Both computers must have the proper firewall allowances.
Port forwarding must be configured properly on the router.
If using a non-standard port there is a registry edit that must be done to tell the computer to listen to that port instead of the default 3389.
Additional config might be required depending on the routers and their own internal firewall settings on both ends.

It works just fine, even on Win7 Pro/Ultimate.

 

[MrColin]

All you should need to do to connect from outside your LAN is to set up port forwarding on your router. The default port is 3389, you should change it to something else though. Unless your ISP has given you a static IP, you may want to look into using a dynamic DNS service so you can use a hostname instead of an IP from the external network.

I do this all the time, it works fine. As an added benefit you'll be able to look up the IP address of your PC if it ever gets stolen (assuming you have a ddns update service running on it).

You may want to check any software firewall on the server as well, it has to allow connections from basically anywhere.

 

[Emulex]

Google how to enable RDP 8 on windows 7 . It can use both TCP and UDP. You have to open both ports. It's trippy - if you open a dos box and type a long file or do a dir /s it will stream as a video (unlegible) versus the old RDP 7 which lagged out like a mofo.

You can actually stream video with audio sync over WAN as long as its low enough resolution like a 320x480 . It transcodes and its fast. try it

 

[debian0001]

You can establish remote connection between two computers by IP address using Microsoft RDP Connection Tool, provided both the machines are on same LAN. If trying to connect over internet, you need to use various remote support services such as logmeinrescue, gosupportnow etc. or can even consider deploying on premise remote support appliance such as RHUB or Bomgar appliances.

Wrong. I do it everyday. You just need to port forward on your router on the IP address running the RDP service and use the interent IP.

 

[Gillbot]

Wrong. I do it everyday. You just need to port forward on your router on the IP address running the RDP service and use the interent IP.

you need to set up different ports/forwards if you want to access multiple machines.