How do I remote desktop from Leopard to a Windows XP Pro machine?

rogerh · Nov 10, 2007

Hi, I'm trying to remote desktop/VNC to a Windows XP Professional machine.

Any idea how I should do this? I believe Leopard has built in "screen sharing" but I *think* it only work with OS X.

Are there additional programs I need to install on my MBP and Windows box to get this to work right?

balamw · Nov 10, 2007

http://cord.sf.net and enable remote desktop on the XP box. (Right click on my computer, Remote tab).

B

aLoC · Nov 10, 2007

You need to install Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

(under Quick Downloads on the right)

DENZIE · Nov 13, 2007

the screen sharing technology in leopard uses protocols which are platform independent. It's known as vnc. If you can install on the xp machine, put on a free program called tightvnc (google it), choose a password. Then in the windows firewall open up port 5900.

In the finder, go 'connect to server' and type in vnc://"the windows box ip address"/ and connect.

should be all good now.

ps perhaps the screen sharing thing you thought was confined to leopard/os x was the ichat screen sharing feature...

dXTC · Nov 13, 2007

Thanks for starting this thread, gang. I'm about to switch, and was wondering how I could do this very thing-- I work in healthcare IT and am on an on-call rotation, which requires me to do remote work on servers back at the office. I thought I was going to have to do this in Bootcamp, but it's nice to know that I don't have to.

theBB · Nov 13, 2007

dXTC said:
Thanks for starting this thread, gang. I'm about to switch, and was wondering how I could do this very thing-- I work in healthcare IT and am on an on-call rotation, which requires me to do remote work on servers back at the office. I thought I was going to have to do this in Bootcamp, but it's nice to know that I don't have to.

MS Remote Desktop client for Mac works very well for me. I use the old version. Even though it is not written for intel machines, it is fast enough. It just takes a few seconds to start-up. In any case, MS has a new version in beta right now, you could probably try that one as well. It seems to have a few more features.

WirelessInn · Nov 13, 2007

theBB said:
MS Remote Desktop client for Mac works very well for me. I use the old version. Even though it is not written for intel machines, it is fast enough. It just takes a few seconds to start-up. In any case, MS has a new version in beta right now, you could probably try that one as well. It seems to have a few more features.

Same here I must say. MS RDC is another one of those MS gems that you have to dig to find out about!

Of course, there are also GoToMyPc and LogMeIn which allow similar capabilities as well as other services (especially in file transfer from one machine to another). So, all in all, accessing a Win machine from a Mac is no problem.

As far as the Screen Sharing thing offered withing MacOS, I believe it applies to desktop access between Macs only. But, just looking at this Mac OSX service, it is very well implemented indeed.

NOW, it would be nice to have some easy to implement utility to access Mac desktop from Win machine desktop. I do not know of any popular app in that area... Ah! But LogMeIn sems to be getting something ready here (just found out about it):
https://secure.logmein.com/products/mac/Default.asp?lang=en

=RT

72930 · Nov 13, 2007

Another vote for LogMeIn

plinden · Nov 13, 2007

WirelessInn said:
As far as the Screen Sharing thing offered withing MacOS, I believe it applies to desktop access between Macs only.

No, it's standard VNC. It's not as easy to use as with Leopard, but see below.

WirelessInn said:
NOW, it would be nice to have some easy to implement utility to access Mac desktop from Win machine desktop.

It's as easy to do as the other way. Enable screen sharing (Leopard) or Apple Remote Desktop (Tiger) on the Mac. Download and install a vnc client (e.g. tightvnc works with Apple's VNC, realVNC doesn't because, in Tiger at least, Apple's server gives an unsupported version number). Open vnc client, type IP address of Mac and voila.

Of course, it's a bit more complicated to get working right if your Mac is at home behind a router. You have to open a port in the router. But that's true of any remote access and not Mac-specific.

Also, Apple's built in VNC servers are slow when working with 3rd party clients. If you need to do real work on a remote Mac, I suggest using VineServer instead of the built in VNC server.

JNB · Nov 13, 2007

The only "issue" I have with LogMeIn and GoToMyPC are that they are web-based services, requiring pass-through from the respective companies' servers. GTMPC in particular is a subsription (fee-based) service. LMI is free-for now.

MS Remote Desktop I feel is the best solution (assuming a clear network path between both machines), as it is a free and supported function for Windows (see attached image) and the free MS Remote Desktop client for Mac (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient). I use it professionally for accessing both the corporate servers and client servers (mostly Win2K3), and is seamless, clean, reliable, and pretty much bulletproof.

Leopard's Screen Sharing (Mac-to-Mac only) is more of a RDC-type connection. Back To My Mac, well, I'm not sure yet if that requires a live connection thru .mac or not yet. If it does, then it's along the lines of GTMPC and LMI.

WirelessInn · Nov 13, 2007

How do I remote desktop from Leopard to a Windows XP Pro machine?

JohnNotBeatle said:
The only "issue" I have with LogMeIn and GoToMyPC are that they are web-based services, requiring pass-through from the respective companies' servers.

MS Remote Desktop I feel is the best solution (assuming a clear network path between both machines),

Leopard's Screen Sharing (Mac-to-Mac only) is more of a RDC-type connection. Back To My Mac, well, I'm not sure yet if that requires a live connection thru .mac or not yet. If it does, then it's along the lines of GTMPC and LMI.

JohnNotBeatle,
I believe the topic could not have been summed up any better! Hear! Hear!
Any idea on how to connect a Mac desktop from a Win machine w/o going thru an outside server??

- Roger T

WirelessInn · Nov 13, 2007

plinden said:
No, it's standard VNC. It's not as easy to use as with Leopard, but see below.

It's as easy to do as the other way. Enable screen sharing (Leopard) or Apple Remote Desktop (Tiger) on the Mac. Download and install a vnc client (e.g. tightvnc works with Apple's VNC, realVNC doesn't because, in Tiger at least, Apple's server gives an unsupported version number). Open vnc client, type IP address of Mac and voila.

Of course, it's a bit more complicated to get working right if your Mac is at home behind a router. You have to open a port in the router. But that's true of any remote access and not Mac-specific.

Also, Apple's built in VNC servers are slow when working with 3rd party clients. If you need to do real work on a remote Mac, I suggest using VineServer instead of the built in VNC server.

Thanks a lot, plinden. I had NOT seen your reply before I answered JohnNotBeatle's own reply. I think that you have here some good pointers for everyone - including the originator of this thread!!

- Roger T

WildPalms · Dec 31, 2007

....did anyone mention that Windows XP Pro supports "Remote Desktop" sessions.... not the Home Edition?

Eric Lewis · Dec 31, 2007

on my mac it

i open

remote desktop connection: mac

then it wants ?

? that?

where do i get that on my xp computer?

WildPalms · Dec 31, 2007

Eric Lewis said:
on my mac it

i open

remote desktop connection: mac

then it wants ?

? that?

where do i get that on my xp computer?

On your Windows computer you need to check two things:

Get the IP :

1. Click on Start, then Run
2. type CMD then click on OK
3. type: ipconfig
4. Make a note of the IP address for the section: IP Address

Confirm that Windows Remote Desktop is enabled:

1. Check that you have Windows XP Pro or Media Center Edition (not Home)
2. Click on Start, then Run
3. Type: winver, then click on OK
4. The banner window that appear should state the version of Windows
5. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
6. Click on the Remote Tab and make sure that in the Remote Desktop section, "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" is checked
7. The default user allowed to connect is Administrator, if you need to add other users, click on "Select Remote Users" and add the required user in there.

The IP address you identified in the first step is entered into the Address box on your Mac in the Remote Desktop Client.

Eric Lewis · Dec 31, 2007

WildPalms said:
On your Windows computer you need to check two things:

Get the IP :

1. Click on Start, then Run
2. type CMD then click on OK
3. type: ipconfig
4. Make a note of the IP address for the section: IP Address

Confirm that Windows Remote Desktop is enabled:

1. Check that you have Windows XP Pro or Media Center Edition (not Home)
2. Click on Start, then Run
3. Type: winver, then click on OK
4. The banner window that appear should state the version of Windows
5. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
6. Click on the Remote Tab and make sure that in the Remote Desktop section, "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" is checked
7. The default user allowed to connect is Administrator, if you need to add other users, click on "Select Remote Users" and add the required user in there.

The IP address you identified in the first step is entered into the Address box on your Mac in the Remote Desktop Client.

i feel stupid...the one computer i was using was home

now im on pro on my other windows opps

MacHiavelli · Jan 10, 2008

Help....errr! what...

If from the Mac you use remote desktop to access a Win XP Pro machine can you open programs that are on the XP machine (like PC's version of Word, Excel, Acess, etc) even if you do NOT have those programs installed on the Mac?

You don't even have to have Windows on the Mac to run Windows programs?

THANKS

GregE · Jan 10, 2008

MacHiavelli said:
Help....errr! what...

If from the Mac you use remote desktop to access a Win XP Pro machine can you open programs that are on the XP machine (like PC's version of Word, Excel, Acess, etc) even if you do NOT have those programs installed on the Mac?

You don't even have to have Windows on the Mac to run Windows programs?

THANKS

Yep.

Technically, your Mac is not running those programs. The Windows PC is running them and you are just accessing that PC. Then if you save a Word document, it will get saved on the PC, not the Mac. You could then e-mail it to the Mac though.

MacHiavelli · Jan 10, 2008

GregE said:
Yep.

Technically, your Mac is not running those programs. The Windows PC is running them and you are just accessing that PC. Then if you save a Word document, it will get saved on the PC, not the Mac. You could then e-mail it to the Mac though.

Thanks GregE - that's sooooooooo cool. I can access an old PC without having to have Windows installed on a Mac in bootcamp, Fusion, Parallels.... JOY!

Cheers

weeag · Jan 19, 2008

So no work around for XP home versions?

balamw · Jan 19, 2008

weeag said:
So no work around for XP home versions?

VNC works fine there, but is not as efficient as RDP.

B

Komiksulo · Jan 20, 2008

Using only Remote Desktop assumes that your Mac has access to the network that the remote computer is on.

My work has changed the way they allow us to connect to the internal network. We no longer have a Cisco VNC connection client (which was available for OS X). We now have to go to an https: webpage with Internet Explorer, use it to download an ActiveX connection client, and *then* launch Remote Desktop. This limits me to using XP.

However, I use XP running from my Boot Camp partition inside VMWare. Once I set the Mac firewall to allow the connections from WMWare, it worked fine.

digitalhen · Mar 13, 2008

that's not true. we do that too and it works absolutely fine. you just need to know what address they're expecting you to connect to, it'll be 'localhost:<port>'

weizilla · Mar 14, 2008

DENZIE said:
the screen sharing technology in leopard uses protocols which are platform independent. It's known as vnc. If you can install on the xp machine, put on a free program called tightvnc (google it), choose a password. Then in the windows firewall open up port 5900.

In the finder, go 'connect to server' and type in vnc://"the windows box ip address"/ and connect.

should be all good now.

ps perhaps the screen sharing thing you thought was confined to leopard/os x was the ichat screen sharing feature...

wow that's amazing. another reason why mac os x is so awesome. only problem is i can't figure out how to send control-alt-delete. i'm using ultra-vnc on my vista box. any ideas?

JoeRalat · Apr 14, 2008

Hello All. I am a new Mac Pro Owner. I would like to have access to my pc.

Now I own an xp home machine. So I put tight vnc server on it and would like to connect to the pc. I downloaded the new "Remote Desktop Connection mac"

You can find it here
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/remotedesktopconnectionclient.html

Now I installed it and can't connect to the pc computer.

Now I put the ip address that was given to me (An router ip)

Now a new window pops up
(I attached the image)

It asking for a User and Password. Is that for the tightvnc? My pc is setup with an login name and password. Dose it want that?

Should I open an ports in the router or firewall? Also my router has wep on. Will that be a problem?

Thanks

How do I remote desktop from Leopard to a Windows XP Pro machine?

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