remote desktop question
 

I have windowsXP pro on both computers and I'm trying to get Remote desktop to work between my home computer and my gf's computer so that when she's not home, I can check it out and make some clean ups. I know the IPs and everything so I'm sure i have all the information correct. I also know that both computer can allow remote desktop to work but for some reason, it gives me an error every time we try to connect either from my computer or from the others.

I know i'm doing it all correct because I used it through the network from computer to computer and it worked perfectly. but through the internet, nothing. Does anyone know what can cause it to not work? I can't really do trouble shooting here seeing as I don't go there all the time so it can take time to try little things. any help is appreciated!

are you forwarding the proper ports through PAT(NAT) on the router.

it's UDP port 3389

some further thoughts:

you need to beef up security if you are going to open this port and leave it open, first limit the number of login failures to a small number before locking the account for a few minutes, this will limit the ability to brute force it, second use a strong password.

next we want to force encryption, MS likes backwards compatibility at the expense of security. open you group policy editor

run:
%SystemRoot%\system32\gpedit.msc /s

browse administrative template > windows components > terminal services > encryption. enable set client connection encryption level and set it to high.

and if that doesn't work, there always the free alternatives!

VNC - http://realvnc.com (or any of the builds based on it)
logmein - http://logmein.com - no messing with ports or routers at all


But yeah, check for that port, and what error are you getting?

You said you know the IPs?

Make sure you're not using the 192.xxx.xxx.xxx (internal) IP. If you're inside the router, you'll be able to reach it (because the router's NAT will redirect you). If you're outside, you're hosed.

Make sure you've got her EXTERNAL IP. www.whatismyip.com is great for it, if nothing else.

I follow the security through obscurity idea and forward a random port high in the range to 3389 on my home pc.

It's tcp traffic, by the way.

I have an ipcop (dedicated linux-based firewall and router) which also keeps my no-ip dynamic dns up to date with my current ip, which is great. Make sure you're connecting to your external ip and set a port to forward to your comp on the internal network and you'll be fine.

Jinn: oh I know. i got the correct IPs. that's not a problem.

the error i get is the regular one:

That's a classic one, tells you nothing at all. Lol.

Could you clarify for me where you're trying to get into your gf's computer from? Your home or elsewhere?

Yeah my first instinct was you're trying to connect to her internal IP on a router but you said you got that covered so it sounds like some oddbal security setting to me. Windows Firewall, antivirus, third party firewall, are you sure none of that is running?

can you ping and tracert her IP from the command prompt? That'll tell you if you're at least able to reach her IP.

If that works, it may be a firewall thing, or a windows setting.

are the ports forwarded properly on your the her router?

i havent had time to go there this week so I'll try from her place and see if it works. if not, i'll just use a diffrent software like VNC or something.

at the moment, i cannot test it easily because my router is having problems so i'm never sure what the problem is. I'll update you tonight after i give it a shot.

If you're running IPCop on the router, you should be able to run tcpdump on it and check the firewall to see if it's getting in. If she's got anything more than a dumb router, you may also be able to check traffic there.

My first advice would be to verify your traffic is making it to her router, then see exactly what it is on her router that's breaking it, then make sure it crosses the router to her computer okay.

I don't imagine that any ISP would be dropping TCP/3389 crossing their net, so that's probably out as a cause. I'd check to make sure you're natting (external):3389 to (internal):(3389) on her side properly, and if you are, then start making sure that RDP is set up correctly on her machine.

Out of curiosity, would you be able to take your machine to her place and test connecting local-local without her router in the way, just to verify it works properly on her end?

you may want to check out hamachi.cc. It creates a simple vpn type connection that needs little to no configuration. With that you can just plug in the Hamachi IP address and avoid a lot of other headaches. I works very nicely and everyone i have recomended it to loves it.