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Microsoft Remote Desktop will not connect to Windows 10

M

Mcthings

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2008
55
0
I'm trying to control my Windows 10 computer from my OS X 10.11.1 computer using Microsoft Remote Desktop downloaded on the OS X App Store today.

I have Windows 10 set to allow remote desktop, and ran run>cmd>ipconfig to confirm my 192.168.x.x network IP address.

When I try to connect, I get the following error:

"Unable to connect to remote PC. Please verify Remote Desktop is enabled, the remote PC is turned on and available on the network, and then try again."

Any ideas?

I have been able to connect from my OS X 10.11.1 computer to an old Mac Mini with no problem (using native OS X desktop sharing, not Microsoft Remote Desktop of course).
 
A few things to check (I know these are dummy checks, but about 50% of the time, it comes back to one of these for me...)
1. Is your Mac that cannot connect on the same subnet? (i.e. can you ping the Windows Computer from your Mac?)
2. Can you telnet to the windows pc on port 3389? (Open Terminal, and enter Telnet 192.168.x.x 3389 it should connect like the purple text below from Terminal. The red is where it cannot connect.)
Retina-2014:~ jeffy$ telnet ds13
Trying 192.168.1.81...
telnet: connect to address 192.168.1.81: Operation timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host
Retina-2014:~ jeffy$ telnet ds13 3389
Trying 192.168.1.81...
Connected to ds13
Escape character is '^]'.

3. Is the Windows Firewall allowing port 3389 in?
4. Just another check... do you have another computer that you can use to remote into it, like the Mac mini? (This should help isolate the problem to your Mac vs. the PC for the issue.)
 
I'm always OK with dummy checks!!

So I visually ID's my Subnet Mask as being the same, and I can ping. I can not Telnet as I am getting the exact error you have in red.

I went ahead and opened port 3389 on McAfee Firewall on the Windows Box which is controlling all security. I've also just turned the firewall completely off to test.

No luck.

The Mac Mini handles the native OS X remote desktop no problem.

Edit: I tried to run VNC desktop sharing and can't connect there either.
 
Last edited:
hmmm.... Is the Windows Firewall on as well? It looks like something is blocking 3389 (which remote desktop uses). One thing you can try (for sanity check) is www.showmypc.com on the mac as well as the PC. I'm not sure the specifics of how it does it, but it does have a VNC method of connecting. I say that it's a sanity check as it requires you to be at both of them, so that isn't a good solution as Remote Desktop is (always ready connections).

It does look like you've gone through the steps of this link:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Troubleshoot-Remote-Desktop-problems

Just to help you (and I want to upgrade anyway...) I'm updating a Windows 7 VM to Windows 10, and I'll see what I need to do to RDP into it.
 
Windows Firewall says that it is off because McAfee is handling all security.

Showmypc.com works fine, which I think only adds to the mystery.

I did confirm the steps in the document.

One difference between various walkthroughs I've found on the internet is that on the screen in Windows 10 where you select "Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer", the walkthroughs also have another setting that is something like "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop". Windows 10 doesn't seem to have this distinction - the setting I see is all or nothing.

I really appreciate all the help Jeffy, thanks!
 
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You gotta be kidding... It's Windows 10 Home.

I'll pivot to try and get VNC working now I guess...
 
Yup - sometimes the simplest answers are the correct ones I guess. It still doesn't explain the VNC issue, though.
 
I was able to get VNC to work. It was trying to use some other default port, but I switched it to 3389 (which I opened for the MRD application) and it works.

Thanks again to you both for your help.
 
Just an added point for McThings- there are other RDP server products you can add to Windows Home. If you do a little Google searching, you can find them. They are much faster than VNC.
 
I've got the same issue, I can SMB into Windows 10 from all my macs, but I get that same error and it seems the port is blocked even though I have allowed it in Windows Firewall. I am using Windows 10 Pro though.

I can ping the local IP by itself just fine, but when I add the RDC port it doesn't go through even though I have allowed it in the firewall! And of course RDC is enabled in the windows preferences.

I've also noticed when copying files via SMB the first transfer works fine, then any subsequent transfers from the Mac to the PC give me a permissions error unless I restart the Windows machine. I am the only user of the computer and have set the permissions for all access read&write, but still I get stuck with half a file and a permissions error. Stupid windows.
 
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