Connect to Work Computer with Remote Desktop Connection

[RAxel]

Hey all, hopefully this is the right place. I'm obviously trying to connect to a computer at work from home.

This is the scenario.

I'm home, on my laptop, going through a netgear router and connecting to the company's VPN- then using remote desktop connection (just the plain ole software that comes with XP).

I can connect to the VPN.

However, when I try the remote desktop connection, I get an error message. Something along the line of "there may be network problems or there may be too many users and the computer isn't accepting anymore connections". I'm using the IP of my workstation (at work) when trying to use the remote desktop connection.

I've allowed remote access to the workstation, I've turned off the firewall from the router, I've even tried port forwarding using port 3389. I still get the same error message.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? If you need more information, just ask. I'm new to all of this. Thanks.

 

[Rick998]

Quick question...

I assume you are logging on to the laptop as 'Administrator' or using an account in the 'Administrators' group?

If not, have you added the account to the 'Remote Desktop Users' list on your work PC?

 

[RAxel]

I have tried it both by adding myself to the adding myself to the users list on my work PC and without it. So, I'm confused since I've been trying to figure this out for a while.

Do you have any kind of suggestions on what should be done for remote access?

At home, I have a netgear router and my laptop has Win XP Professional with SP2. My Work PC has Win XP Professional.

 

[Rick998]

Once connected via VPN, can you ping your work PC? Has your company configured VPN at their end to only allow certain applications/ports? Are you running a firewall on your work PC?

 

[RAxel]

Hmm, it seems that I can't ping my work PC.

My work PC does have a firewall but it has an exception for remote desktop for port 3389.

 

[Rick998]

I take it that you are pinging it by IP address, not computername?

Can you ping it if you turn the firewall off temporarily on your work PC?

What ping error are you getting? Is it 'Request timed out' or 'Destination net unreachable'?

Have you tried using 'tracert' against the IP address of your work PC instead of 'ping' to see how far you get and where it fails?

 

[RAxel]

Yes, I have been pinging it by IP. When I ping it I get a request timed out.

I know I have tried a tracert recently and it go to 5 or 6 hops before I stopped it. I'll let it go for longer when I get home.

 

[jagotm]

Can you ping the LAN side of the Netgear kit across the VPN ?

I have done a similair thing but on a more limited scale and can always ping the LAN interface of the Netgar box.

If that works can you ping any of the other components on your companies network ?