Remote desktop over the net

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:04

How do I set this up?
I want to be able to access my desktop pc from my laptop over the net.Say for example I am at my fathers with my laptop and need to access something from my home desktop at home.

I can remote desktop on my lan but not sure how to set it up so I can use over the internet.

Many thanks

geuben · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:09

I did this for a while, I used this site http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/ to track my IP (as it changes) and then provided you have the ports forwarded correctly on your router you can just type in the address you choose to use from that site into the remote desktop thingy built into xp.

startrek2 · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:12

logmein is simplest

or teamviewer both VERY easy .........

wonko · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:16

Remote desktop uses TCP port 3389 if that helps

steveo21 · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:28

startrek2 said:
logmein is simplest

or teamviewer both VERY easy .........

x2 logmein free is perfect for this

remy87 · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:33

+1 for logmein aswell
Just a few click away to help people in need

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:41

Just tried to use my ip address and could not connect. When using my gateway address can connect.
So I can connect to my gate way put not my pc.

what am I doing wrong?
do I need to put my ip address and gateway address in?

Thanks

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:43

not really happy leaving details on net sites.......thanks anyway

geuben · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:49

Are you trying to remote connect to a pc on your same network using your external IP, that won't work.

Seaniboy · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:52

Use logmein or something similar. I would really not recommend opening up port 3389 to a pc that is left on.

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:55

ok so what needs to be done so I am just using RDC.
This is how its setup at the mo.
Modem router/gateway desktop then 2 laptops through wifi.
I want to connect from my fathers pc (5 miles away) to my desktop just using RDC.

geuben · 21 Jan 2009 at 21:57

The way I said will work (provided I haven't forgotten anything since I did it), but you can't test it with the address you choose from that site on a local computer, for local ones just use their ip address i.e 10.0.07 or 192.162.x.x

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 22:00

I didnt want to use a external site like what you suggested that s all. There must be enougher way .

Thanks for the help guys

geuben · 21 Jan 2009 at 22:01

ah ok, does that rule out logmein etc, I've never used them.

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 22:33

come on peeps ....

sidethink · 21 Jan 2009 at 22:43

You arent listening to the sound advice - dont open RDP over the Web!

Use a specialist secure solution like LogMeIn on TeamViewer. Simpler easier and more robust.

fobose · 21 Jan 2009 at 22:49

Seaniboy said:
Use logmein or something similar. I would really not recommend opening up port 3389 to a pc that is left on.

On my router I can set an "inside" port (3389), and an outside port (anything of my choice), so I connect to the "outside" port and it routes it to the inside RDP default port which then connects to my PC.

RDP is the only option for me because at work I have restricted internet and I dont have an admin account so I am unable to install any 3rd party app. I do however use hamachi for other things though as its a pretty handy app.

cokecan · 21 Jan 2009 at 23:05

to connect via RDC over the net you need to set your router to forward port 3389 onto the IP of your PC.

In your case if you want to connect to your fathers PC from your own, you'll need to have set up port 3389 (TCP) on your fathers router to forward to his PC's IP address (This is the internal address that is only accessible within his network). Then you need to get the IP address of his modem (this is the external address that you can connect to from the internet) and use that to connect via RDC.

you could also set up something like no-ip or dyndns.org to act as a pointer to your fathers external IP address. this may be the better option because most ISP's only give you a dynamic IP so may change from time to time. using a site to act as a pointer will make sure it always points to your fathers external IP even if it changes. Most routers now days have options within them to update the pointer website with any changes to the external IP.

I actually use RDC over the net from time to time and have dyndns.org set up as my pointer to point to my modem (i also have port 3389 set up to forward onto my PC's IP address). so i would use myusername.dyndns.org:3389 as the server address in RDC and that *should* then connect me to my PC from another PC outside my network (i.e. on the internet)

It is also worth noting that RDC doesn't like blank passwords so your fathers PC must have a user account set up that is password protected

I hope this is of some help

Luke · 21 Jan 2009 at 23:07

Ok, you need to set up a service in your router settings for port 3389.
Then in the firewall setting of your router, set port 3309 to go to the internal IP address of the PC you want to connect to.

Sign up with an account on Dyndns, and put your details into the dynamic DNS boxes of your router (assuming it has them - most Netgears do).

Dyndns lets you choose a host name that resolves to your ISP IP address. Mine is ****.homeftp.org. Regardless of what IP my ISP assigns me I can connect using the hostname.

Fluffy Bunny · 21 Jan 2009 at 23:13

thanks for that but to claify what Mean is this.
I want to be able to access my desktop at home using RDC using my laptop when I am away from home.
My router is a linksys WRT160n so is it the single port forwarding tab I am configuring.

Many thanks