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RDC - Mac connecting to Vista?

F

FortWorthMac

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 29, 2008
708
36
the parched earth of North Texas
Well my trial license of RealVNC expired today so I started looking into another way to connect remotely to my Vista Laptop from my iMac.

I came across Remote Desktop Connection (mac) and installed it. I enabled the settings in Vista to "allow this computer to be controlled remotely" and disabled the firewall.

My problem is that I cannot successfully connect to the PC.

I am able to ping my laptop from the Mac just fine. I have tried connecting with both the computer name and IP address.

Anything I'm missing?

Thanks
 
FortWorthMac said:
Well my trial license of RealVNC expired today so I started looking into another way to connect remotely to my Vista Laptop from my iMac.

I came across Remote Desktop Connection (mac) and installed it. I enabled the settings in Vista to "allow this computer to be controlled remotely" and disabled the firewall.

My problem is that I cannot successfully connect to the PC.

I am able to ping my laptop from the Mac just fine. I have tried connecting with both the computer name and IP address.

Anything I'm missing?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have trouble with this to!!

J
 
FortWorthMac said:
Well my trial license of RealVNC expired today so I started looking into another way to connect remotely to my Vista Laptop from my iMac.

I came across Remote Desktop Connection (mac) and installed it. I enabled the settings in Vista to "allow this computer to be controlled remotely" and disabled the firewall.

My problem is that I cannot successfully connect to the PC.

I am able to ping my laptop from the Mac just fine. I have tried connecting with both the computer name and IP address.

Anything I'm missing?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Make sure you've enabled remote desktop sharing on the Vista machine...I don't have the procedure in front of me right now, but 10 seconds of Googling should find it.
 
VNC versus RDC

Why not stick with VNC, but use another free, VNC client on your Mac to connect to Vista, such as one listed here: http://the.taoofmac.com/space/VNC

If you switch to an RDC client, note that it's a completely different (proprietary, Microsoft) protocol that it is using, whereas VNC is an open-source protocol.
 
Are you using the Remote Desktop Connection app, or Remote Desktop Connection 2 for mac? I believe that the first version cannot connect to vista do to lower security. I forget where I read this, but if you're not using RDC2 for Mac, you may want to upgrade.

Also, if you want a free version of VNC, I'd suggest UltraVNC on your windows computer, available at http://www.uvnc.com/.
 
I use both Real VNC and RDC to connect to Vista PC's from my iMac. Personally I like Real VNC better since it doesn't really take over the PC like RDC does.

If you are still having problems with RDC, go to your start menu and right click on Computer and go to properties. Choose remote settings and then make sure it looks like the image below. I would also go into the Select Users... setting and make sure your user name is authorized. I remember that being a problem on a few systems at my office.

Snap2-1.jpg
 
GregE said:
I use both Real VNC and RDC to connect to Vista PC's from my iMac. Personally I like Real VNC better since it doesn't really take over the PC like RDC does.

If you are still having problems with RDC, go to your start menu and right click on Computer and go to properties. Choose remote settings and then make sure it looks like the image below. I would also go into the Select Users... setting and make sure your user name is authorized. I remember that being a problem on a few systems at my office.

Snap2-1.jpg
Click to expand...

Now that's weird. I have nothing below ADVANCED when I open that window. I'll have to check to see if I have Remote Desktop installed.

I'm off to work so I'll take a look at that tomorrow morning.

Thanks
David
 
You are correct. RDC is not part of the home editions of Vista.

The Remote Desktop Connection feature in Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions enables easier remote access to any resource or application that your organization has made available to you.
Click to expand...
 
jrmt said:
Why not stick with VNC, but use another free, VNC client on your Mac to connect to Vista, such as one listed here: http://the.taoofmac.com/space/VNC

If you switch to an RDC client, note that it's a completely different (proprietary, Microsoft) protocol that it is using, whereas VNC is an open-source protocol.
Click to expand...

With VNC being "open source" can one use the free RealVNC client to connect to the free UltraVNC?

I've of course downloaded it and installed it and tried it but I cannot get it to connect. So before I do a bunch of troubleshooting I wanted to see if the 2 different apps will "talk" to one another.

Thanks
 
Yes, you should be able to connect to any VNC server with any VNC client, assuming the VNC implementations follow the VNC standard.

Make sure you have an exception set up in your windows firewall for Port 5900.
 
RDC, mac to vista pro

Hello,

I have spent a few hours looking on the forum for help connecting a macbook with a work computer (xp pro) and have similar problems as the OP. i unfortunately don't have the option to use another application for the connection because it is issued from work and no alternative given. i can establish a vpn connection through the "network connections" tab and it seems to work fine but when i open the RDC application is cannot find the windows based computer. it is hit or miss sometimes if this works, it mostly works on my laptop with snow leopard but never has worked with my imac running leopard. is there an issue with the RDC or airport extreme or mac? i realize that quite a open ended question but i was wondering if you have any tips or set up checklists to make sure i am good to go on the mac end of the connection. i assume since i can establish a vpn connection its good on my end (for the most part). thank you!
 
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