Remote Desktop Connection to Windows 7

[jmac049]

I have an iMac at home and a Windows 7 PC at work and I am trying to connect via Microsoft Remote Desktop 2.1.1. Both machines have been set up to receive remote connections, but I cannot get my iMac to connect. I get the following error message when I try:

The Mac cannot connect to the Windows-based computer.
This problem can occur if:
• The Windows-based computer is not set up to accept remote connections.
• The Windows-based computer is not turned on.
• The Mac, or the Windows-based computer is experiencing network problems.
Try connecting to the Windows-based computer again, or contact your administrator.

The networks work fine and the PC at work is fine. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this problem? I'm out of ideas.

 

[Eidorian]

Can we get the usual dynamic IP, ports are not forwarded, or I have my remote machine behind NAT fluff out of the way first?

 

[GGJstudios]

I avoid all such problems by using TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use.... and it's free for personal use.

 

[Eidorian]

I avoid all such problems by using TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use.... and it's free for personal use.

I am going to give Team Viewer another thumbs up. I use it myself.

 

[waynep]

If you have a Mac at home and a Win machine at work, you probably are going through firewalls etc. So direct connect is likely pretty slim. I use Logmein.com. It will traverse firewalls. I don't know anything about TeamViewer so I can't say if it's any better or worse.

 

[GGJstudios]

If you have a Mac at home and a Win machine at work, you probably are going through firewalls etc. So direct connect is likely pretty slim. I use Logmein.com. It will traverse firewalls. I don't know anything about TeamViewer so I can't say if it's any better or worse.

I prefer TeamViewer over LogMeIn because it includes free file transfers between computers, a feature I use frequently.

 

[kcassidy]

Similar problem

I have been using RDC successfully to connect to both my desktop at work and my Terminal Server. Starting last week, I can no longer connect to my desktop, only the TS. Nothing has changed on either machine and I can't figure out why it isn't working. It attempts to connect for 10 minutes and then finally errors out. When I'm in the office, on the wireless network, I can RDC to the laptop, but not when I'm home using my VPN connection.

I'll look at Team Viewer but would love to know why this is failing all of the sudden.

Sorry OP, not helping your problem

 

[kcassidy]

Okay here is my resolution, just figured it out....

In the RDP preferences it asks for username, password and domain.

I had the following:

u: xxxxx
p: xxxxx
domain: website.local

I removed the .local and now it works. Go figure.