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Remote Desktop Connection over Wifi...

P

parajba

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
515
269
Hi everybody,

I'm trying to set up a RDC over wifi. Both laptops are on the same wifi network...I installed the latest RDC sw on my mac and I'm logged on as an admin on the other laptop which is running Windows XP. From My Computer > Properties > Remote > 'Allow remote assistance etc' is ticked. From the 'Advanced' tab I also ticked 'Allow this computer to be controlled remotely'. I temporarily switched off the Zone Alarm firewall on the Windows laptop.

I launched RDC, I type in the IP of the Windows laptop (which is a generic 198.162.x.y) but nothing happens...I even tried to type in the laptop name but nothing happens either.

What am I doing wrong...? The RDC cannot find the laptop...I checked that all the services starting with the word 'Remote' on the Windows based laptop have been 'Started'.

Thanks for your kind help!
 
Dave Braine said:
Try Teamviewer. Much simpler.
http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx
Click to expand...

Teamviewer is not really a replacement for RDP.

Can you ping the PC's IP from the Mac? You turned off ZoneAlarm, but also try temporarily turning off Windows Firewall.

When you checked off "Allow this computer to be controlled remotely", did you also click the Select Remote Users button and specify that your account has access?
 
ITASOR said:
Teamviewer is not really a replacement for RDP.

Can you ping the PC's IP from the Mac? You turned off ZoneAlarm, but also try temporarily turning off Windows Firewall.

When you checked off "Allow this computer to be controlled remotely", did you also click the Select Remote Users button and specify that your account has access?
Click to expand...

Hi thanks for the reply, no I can't ping the PC.

When I checked off 'Allow this computer to be controlled remotely', I didn't click the 'Select Remote Users' button because there was no such an option... It's Windows XP Home, does it make it any difference?
 
XP Home may make a difference, and just to clarify you posted the ip is something like

198.162.x.y Is this what you are typing, because most default ip sets on home routers are 192.168.x.y

If you are typing the wrong IP you'll have no luck with Ping or RDC.

I love Teamviewer...wouldn't trade it for the world.
 
bmcgonag said:
XP Home may make a difference, and just to clarify you posted the ip is something like

198.162.x.y Is this what you are typing, because most default ip sets on home routers are 192.168.x.y

If you are typing the wrong IP you'll have no luck with Ping or RDC.

I love Teamviewer...wouldn't trade it for the world.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that Remote Desktop (host) is not available on Windows XP Home, that's why it doesn't work :(

I'll look into TeamViewer and see how it goes, thanks for the tip!
 
parajba said:
I read somewhere that Remote Desktop (host) is not available on Windows XP Home, that's why it doesn't work :(

I'll look into TeamViewer and see how it goes, thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...

Yeah, only the Windows "Professional" versions (XP Pro, Vista Business, Win 7 Pro, and the "Ultimate" versions) can be connected to via Remote Desktop. The "Allow Remote Assistance" setting you see is there for the Remote Assistance program to have a send a friend/family member a link to remotely help you.

If you just want to control the Windows PC from your Mac at home on your local network, a simple VNC solution would work well for you. Set a static IP on the XP machine, then install VNC Server on it. OS X has built in VNC, so you can connect right in Finder by going to Go menu>Connect to Server. Type in vnc://ip_of_pc (where ip_of_pc is the internal static IP that you set on the PC).
 
Hi,

Thanks everybody for the kind replies. I have an update.

I'm going to buy a new laptop to my parents as a XMas present, due to budget constrainst, I will have to buy a laptop with Windows 7 Home I for around 500/600 EUR.

My parents live in Milan (Italy) and I'm based in London (UK). I would need to remotely maintain my parents' new laptop because it's their first computer :) I'd appreciate your help so that when I'm in Milan am ready to go and know what to do...

It seems that TeamViewer is a safer option to RDC as it uses a better encryption (and it's more user friendly and it's also for free). I'll install it on my parents' new laptop and set it up to accept be remotely managed by my MBP. The thing I still don't understand is if I need to assign a static public address to my MBP or not. I'm behind a Belkin N Wireless Router. My parents will be using a Dongle via the USB for the internet connection, one of those new 3G internet connection using a SIM card.

Do I need to create a VPN tunnel between the two computers? How do I do this?

I'd appreciate your thoughts/comments...Apologies about the dumb questions ;-)

Thanks in advance for your kind help!
 
parajba said:
Hi,

Thanks everybody for the kind replies. I have an update.

I'm going to buy a new laptop to my parents as a XMas present, due to budget constrainst, I will have to buy a laptop with Windows 7 Home I for around 500/600 EUR.

My parents live in Milan (Italy) and I'm based in London (UK). I would need to remotely maintain my parents' new laptop because it's their first computer :) I'd appreciate your help so that when I'm in Milan am ready to go and know what to do...

It seems that TeamViewer is a safer option to RDC as it uses a better encryption (and it's more user friendly and it's also for free). I'll install it on my parents' new laptop and set it up to accept be remotely managed by my MBP. The thing I still don't understand is if I need to assign a static public address to my MBP or not. I'm behind a Belkin N Wireless Router. My parents will be using a Dongle via the USB for the internet connection, one of those new 3G internet connection using a SIM card.

Do I need to create a VPN tunnel between the two computers? How do I do this?

I'd appreciate your thoughts/comments...Apologies about the dumb questions ;-)

Thanks in advance for your kind help!
Click to expand...

Generally, Teamviewer is a setup and go system. No need to do port forwarding on your routers, nor any need for a static IP. You should just set it up on your parents laptop (set a static password along with the one generated each time you start the program). Set it to start when windows starts if you are afraid they won't know where to look to get it going when needed, and create a group of computers that you can see when you log into your account via the TeamViewer application on any machine. This makes connection a snap.

I'll try to do a quick video tutorial on how to do this, and post it on my site when I get home tonight.

UPDATE:
I have the video tutorial up now on my site. Sorry for the delay. I was a bit down last night after work.
 
Last edited:
I use TeamViewer daily, to connect to Macs and Windows PCs. It works flawlessly, is extremely easy to set up for the remote user, especially if they're not computer literate. I've never had a remote desktop control need that TeamViewer couldn't fulfill. I see lots of threads in this forum from people trying to figure out how to set up VNC or RDC. I don't see any from people trying to set up TeamViewer. It simply works.

ITASOR said:
Teamviewer is not really a replacement for RDP.
Click to expand...
What makes you say that? What can't you do with TeamViewer that you can do with other methods?
 
Do I need to create a VPN tunnel between the two computers?
Click to expand...
Not really sure what you mean by this, but, for Teamviewer, you get your parents to run/open Teamviewer. This will open a window with an ID and a password. They tell you what these are, and you enter them in your Teamviewer window, and you are then connected.
 
bmcgonag said:
Generally, Teamviewer is a setup and go system. No need to do port forwarding on your routers, nor any need for a static IP. You should just set it up on your parents laptop (set a static password along with the one generated each time you start the program). Set it to start when windows starts if you are afraid they won't know where to look to get it going when needed, and create a group of computers that you can see when you log into your account via the TeamViewer application on any machine. This makes connection a snap.

I'll try to do a quick video tutorial on how to do this, and post it on my site when I get home tonight.

UPDATE:
I have the video tutorial up now on my site. Sorry for the delay. I was a bit down last night after work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the video Brian, seems pretty easy! Much obliged.

Dave Braine said:
Not really sure what you mean by this, but, for Teamviewer, you get your parents to run/open Teamviewer. This will open a window with an ID and a password. They tell you what these are, and you enter them in your Teamviewer window, and you are then connected.
Click to expand...

I guess I was trying to understand whether is safe to use TeamViewer...Seems pretty safe. I switched off incoming connections.
 
The other thing I love about TeamViewer is that you don't have to install the software for it to work. You can just run it from the executable. I use this at my work where they have user limitations on installing programs.
 
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