Remote desktop XP for dummies-Crazy888s can u help? 2

[LuckyLux]

Dear all,

I am not a techie (a techie wannabe though) but out of desperation am writing to figure out how to use remote desktop.

I have a tiny company that I just started with a couple of desktops running XP professional, connecting to what I think is a router? (Zywall?) which itself connects to a DSL modem.

I have a laptop which runs XP home in German (don't ask). I managed to access one of my desktop user accounts from my laptop using the remote desktop feature of XP by hooking up to the router. I guess this router is also serving as some sort of LAN.

I tried to see if I could access it from home over my dial-up connection but I just get an error message that either the remote desktop function is not activated or there are too many connections active on the remote computer.

I figure there must be some sort of firewall issue or changing IP address issue that keeps me from accessing this desktop from outside the "network" I have somehow created at the office.

Can anyone help please? I do not feel worthy of this forum but desperation made me dare. Thanks!

 

[smah]

I'm not familiar with this router, but somewhere in the router configuration you should find a way to enable 'port forwarding'. When you find this, you need to forward UDP port 3389 to the internal IP address of the desktop PC (probably 192.168.x.x).

Now to connect from outside the office using the RD client software, you need to access the Router's WAN (or public) IP address. Depending on what your ISP provides, this IP address may change periodically. You should find this public IP address somewhere within your router settings also - probably on a page called 'current status' or something similar.

 

[LuckyLux]

Thanks smah, especially for the fast reply. I can figure out the router's IP address but your right, it seems to change every 5 minutes or so. Therefore what address do I forward it to? Or do I need to freeze it somehow?

And uh, another basic question: any idea where to start on determining how to forward a UDP port on the router?
Thanks

 

[jpm121]

Lucky,

Your IP address shouldn't be changing THAT frequently; if it is it means you're losing connection to the internet briefly throughout the day -- every time the IP address changes. If you're sure that's happening, call your ISP tech support -- something's broken.

Next, how to set up port forwarding:

Here's a website that shows how to log into the router maintenance screen -- you just use Internet Explorer or another web browser.

http://us.zyxel.com/support/supportnote/zywall/app/internet.htm

However, I don't see anything there about port forwarding. I suppose it's possible that model doesn't even support it. I'll keep my eyes open for more advanced configuration options for the Zywall.

For $50 or so, you can buy a D-Link or Linksys Cable/DSL Router that will do it.

 

[LuckyLux]

Thank you too jpm121. You guys (or gals?) are great in responding. I will check out the IP issue.

I think I just saw on a website that this Zywall doesn't support port range forwarding (I suppose this is the same thing as port forwarding) so I will look into the other router options.

Thanks

 

[jpm121]

Yeah, I scouted around their site and it looks like a very basic model.

The Linksys BEFSR41 will do what you want. I think they make an 8-port version as well; check their website.

 

[smah]

I agree about the IP address changing. It should stay the same for at least 24 hours, probably a lot longer if the modem and router are not turned off.

 

[LuckyLux]

Will do. Last questions: Assuming that my ISP address changes every 24 hours how do you determine which IP address to use if you want remote access, say, for more than a 24 hour period? Do I have to keep changing the IP address when I log-on?

Also, do I need to set-up a VPN in order to use the Remote Desktop feature or do I only need to configure the router correctly, figure out the right IP address and just dial-up from any old ISP no matter where I am?

Or should I just buy "Go to My PC" since I have no clue how to set up a VPN?

Thanks a mil.

 

[crazy888s]

hey there...it was quite amusing to see you set the subject to my name...flattering if i may say so. =) But there are a lot of people that know much more than I. However, I feel obligated to respond. Here's my experience with the whole RDS thing in a nutshell...a big nutshell…perhaps a cocoa nut.

You have your computer at work you want to access from a remote location. This computer has a local IP address of 192.168.*.*. (the *’s represent any number up to 255. More than likely it’s something like 192.168.0.2)

You need to give your XP machine a static IP address. First off, let me explain the difference between a static and a dynamic IP address. Static addresses are set manually…they are non-changing IP addresses. Dynamic addresses allow the router to automatically pick an available IP address.

For most purposes, dynamic IP addresses is the easiest way to do things. Since no two machines on the network can have the same IP address, its trouble-free to let the router automatically choose an available IP for each machine. The problem with this is that each time a computer is reset or turned off…it looses the IP address that the router has assigned it. Then when you reboot the PC, it requires a new IP. The router will randomly choose the next available…and this new one is not necessarily the same address as before.

When you use static addresses though, the computer will always have the 1 IP address that you manually set for it. You need to do this because when you set up the router to forward ports, you will have to tell the router what IP address to forward these ports to. And if these numbers are constantly changing, the system renders useless.

Here’s how to set a static IP address for your XP machine:
Go into your control panel and open your network connections. Find the connection that you’re using to access the router (it’s usually ‘Local Area Connection’). Click on this with the right mouse button and open properties. Click on “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and click properties. Check “Use the following IP address”. Type ‘192.168.0.100’ for the IP address. (you can use anything between 2 and 255 for the ‘100’ number. 100 is just easy to remember and probably not used on your network anywhere else. It seems you only have 1 computer attached to your router anyway…is this true? If not, you need to do this process to all of your other machines too, but with a different ending number instead of 100 since it’s been used) For the subnet mask type “255.255.255.0” (this is the always the same on all of your computers). Hit OK and you’re done setting up the machine with a static IP address.

Now you need to let the router know not to assign IP addresses! In the router properties, there should be a setting for DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Find this and disable it. Now, the router will use whatever IP addresses are set to the machines. If you ever add a new machine though, don’t forget that you need to give it a static IP address!

Now your computer should be able to use the internet through the router just like it did before you gave it an IP address. Verify that works now.

Go back into your router settings and you need to forward TCP port 3389 (not UDP port like smah said) to the machine you want to use remote desktop sharing on…which we just set the to be ‘192.168.0.100’. So put port 3389 with 192.168.0.1. This is the only port you need to forward to use RDS!

Your setup is now complete.

To access your computer:
If you’re using windows xp to Access the machine at work…skip this part. If youre using any other Operating system, you need to install the Remote Desktop Sharing software from the Win XP cd. Follow these steps:

https://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gomobile/remotedesktop/default.asp

Once the software is on your machine and you have the connection box up like in step 4 of the link above, your setup is complete! To connect to your machine now, all you need to do is connect to the internet and in the RDS connection box, type in the WAN (wide area network) IP address of your router at work. This number is assigned by your ISP and can be found in your router settings like smah said. What happens is your computer comes to your router looking for a connection on port 3389, which is the default port for Remote Desktop Sharing. And since you have port 3389 forwarded to the IP address of your XP machine, 192.168.0.100, your router will allow a connection through it. Your outside machine and XP machine now can communicate like you want. You don’t need to worry about VPN for this. There is only one IP address assigned to your router at any one time. It may change periodically, but you need to use the one that is currently assigned to your router at the time you want to connect to it.

Concerns: The WAN IP address that your ISP gives you should not change hardly at all! Mine has changed once in the last year and a half. But you know this though and are looking into it. You should be able to memorize it and use it without having to worry about it changing. Also you need the new router that allows port forwarding…but you also know this.

I hope you not only can set this up to work right, but also that you learned a thing or two doing this. I tried to explain everything rather than just tell you want to do. I hope you don’t feel unworthy to use Tek-Tips and hope you use it very often, as it is a great resource of information! The more you try, the more you learn! Let us know of any problems you run into and we’ll do our best to help you out and help you learn! Much luck…

-Adam

 

[crazy888s]

One more thing that I sense you may be confused about: The WAN IP address that your ISP assigns your router is not 192.168.0.1. That is the LAN IP address for your router in your Local, business network only. That's the address that is only used between your router and the computers directly connected to it. Your router also has the WAN IP which only computers on the internet can see. This is the one your ISP gives you (so the router is link between your local area network, and the internet. That's why it has 2 IP addresses). The WAN IP address is unique for everybody and shouldnt be publically shared for security reasons. But it's not 192.168.0.1!

And after you set up your static addresses...if cant access the internet right away from your XP machine through your router, you may need to define a gateway on your XP machine. This tells it the local IP address of your router so it can access the internet through it. More on that IF it doesnt automatically work.

 

[crazy888s]

And to set the record straight, anytime I said RDS, I meant RDC, which is abbreviated for Remote Desktop Connection. I was thinking RDS=Remote Desktop Sharing, which actually is a more logical name for the service, but that's microsoft coming through once again.

 

[LuckyLux]

Dear Adam,

Thank you soooo much for your explanation. I am really touched that you took the time to write it all in layman's terms. Are you a professor? If not, you should think about it!

It is now morning for me in Luxembourg so I will try to attack this thing again.

I'll let you know how I do. Thanks for your encouragement and support.
Best,
Alicia

 

[smah]

I let my fingers get ahead of my brain earlier - crazy888s is correct, it should be TCP port 3389.

One other point I should mention - while crazy888s may be correct about the internal IP addresses that he mentioned, not all routers use this exact scheme. For example, the linksys model mentioned earlier in this thread works in the 192.168.1.X range. Netgear models (another good choice) do follow the 192.168.0.X pattern that was mentioned. Just follow the pattern of whatever your router's default is.

 

[crazy888s]

Very true smah....I didnt even think twice about that one. You can check and see what the LAN address is of your router in the router settings too. It probably is on the same page as your WAN address. If it is 192.168.1.1, then you need to follow that pattern with any other machines you will be connecting. For example, the IP address of the XP machine you are configuring would be '192.168.1.100' instead of '192.168.0.100'.

And the more I think about it, the more I believe you're going to need to set a default gateway on the XP machine (or any other client machine) in order for it to work properly. When you open the TCP/IP settings screen like I described above, there will be a setting for "Default Gateway" right below the IP address and Subnet Mask I told you to define earlier. For Default Gateway, go ahead and put in your router's IP address (192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or something completely different maybe? again, just use whatever it says in the router settings). This tells your client computer where to look to find access to the Internet...which is through your router. Also in those settings, you may need to define the "Preferred DNS server" to be your router's IP address. I've had to do this for my static IP computers to work. DNS stands for Domain Name System (or Service). It translates domain names into IP addresses...like Yahoo.com would be translated to whatever it's IP address is so your computer can access it. I dont quite understand why I would have to do this, since the router itself isnt a DNS. My guess is that setting the DNS as your router makes the client machine look to your router for a DNS server, then the router would in turn send it to its default DNS server. Maybe someone understands that process better. But I know I've had to do that before.

Haha, well, I'm definately not a professor and I think I'll stay away from that for now. This is mostly just a hobby. I learn from experiment (trial and error) and also from the Internet. The Internet is an unbelieveable resource of information. But you flatter me once again...haha...dont be too pleased until your setup works though. I would be ecstatic if it worked right away because I'm sure I had to have left something out or said something wrong. Smah already corrected one possible error....it's really a group effort. That's the wonderful thing about websites like this...

 

[LuckyLux]

Well, I thank you all again for great and helpful comments which I am sure would work fabulously but unfortunately I can't seem to log on to the router! It has a web configuration tool which worked on initial installation several months ago but which does not work now for some Murphy's Law reason. Troubleshooting says it is probably a hardware problem.

So I will have to wait until I figure out how to get around this little obstacle to use your advice. It WILL be used though. I suppose I could just try to connect directly to the DSL modem during the period of my absence. Hmmmmm, I will keep you posted....

 

[crazy888s]

Werent you going to get a new router anyway...one that had port forwarding? You could even get one that has wireless capabilities for not too much more if you're looking for easy expansion to your network. Do some web browsing on sites like newegg.com, mwave.com, pricewatch.com (I use each of these) for routers. I'd recommend getting a name brand such as D-Link, Netgear, or Linksys.

As for the old router you have now that isnt working: have you tried the reset switch on it (there should be one somewhere)? And how exactly did you log on to the router before...was it through software or did you just type it's local IP address in the Address bar of a web browser?

 

[LuckyLux]

Well apparently the Zywall 1 router that I have does support port forwarding. I bought a D-Link initially but had problems making it work so the guy at the computer shop offered to replace it with the Zywall which he said was even better. (Hmmmm...did I hear someone say "lemon"?) He came to install it for me too, using the web configuration tool which was launched by entering an IP address 192.168.1.1 in the web browser.

Looking back, he did have a LOT of problems setting it up. He claimed to be an IT expert so I was a bit perplexed but I just rolled with it. Hmmm again... So now I have one PC where the IP is set up dynamically (I think; no address is entered when I view the properties of the LAN connection on that PC) and another PC where there seems to be a static address assigned with subnet, default gateway and some DNS settings.

Now when I try to log on using the web tool I get the password page with the default password but nothing happens when I click OK. I am scared to reset it as he had so many problems installing it in the first place. He finally fixed it by putting in these IP and DNS settings on the main PC I described earlier.

All very confusing.

My ISP provider tells me that my router is probably disconnecting automatically without my noticing it which in turn causes the IP address to change from time to time. They said it is suppose to change every time I disconnect from the internet. Maybe they do things differently in Luxembourg. The ISP also said that I could go to

http://www.dyndns.org

to set up something which I didn't quite understand, so that I somehow detect and update the changing IP address? I went, I saw, I was conquered (temporarily anyway), i.e., no clue what to do.

So the long and short of it is, I think it comes down to a router problem and am not quite sure what to do next. I paid 200 euro for it 4-5 months ago so I am loathe to change it as it serves its primary purpose pretty well for now. The remote access was a "nice to have" but not critical. I have learned alot which is great and will some day forward that port 3389 to my PC's IP address! I will drink a toast to you, smah and jpm121 when that blessed day arrives.

In the meantime, take care and thanks alot for your help.

Alicia

 

[bcastner]

Use Google to search for DDNS services. Some are even free. What this service should include is a small client that will foward on a regular basis your WAN IP to the DDNS server.

You will be given a "Domain" name just like the big boys: e.g.

http://www.luckylux.com

or some variant you can select.

So, Google for "DDNS service"

 

[LuckyLux]

Thank you!

 

[jharlan]

I have a similar set-up:

Win2K (192.168.0.102, work) --> Linksys Router (work) --> Cable Modem (work) --> I'net --> Cable Modem (home) --> Linksys Router (192.168.1.101, home) --> WinXP (home).

Now I've set-up port forwarding on the Linksys (home) to forward TCP 3389 to 192.168.1.101 (home). So, at work I use the remote desktop client, enter the dynamic IP address, and viola! Connect. And, when I am on another home pc (win98se), and use the remote desktop web client, to log into the XP-pro system, this also works.

But, now if/when I want to access said winXP (home) pc from another computer elsewhere on the 'net without the remote access client, I would like to use the web connect feature. So I open a web browser and enter

http://machine.dynip.com:3389,

but I get nothing in return.

Do I need to forward another port? Do I need to enable some port fowarding on the linksys router at work?

Thanks.

jim.