Windows XP Remote Desktop Connection.

[pokeypurple]

My father and I have both setup our computers to use Remote Desktop Connection under the Win XP Pro environment. Both myself and my dad have administrative accounts on each computer. As far as I can ascertain, we have both setup our PCs the same way;

- allowed remote access
- selected the user account to allow remote access

When my dad tries to connect to my PC and I am logged on, he recieves a message stating that "The user ... is currently logged on. If you wish to continue the current user has to log off." No problem here. If I log off, he can log into my system just fine.

When I try connect to his PC, whether he is logged on or not, I see the following message screen;

"The client could not connect to the remote computer. Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection. Please try again later. If the problem continues to occur, please contact your system administrator."

I have not got the foggiest idea what to do next. We have contacted the ADSL provider on his end and they say there is nothing that they do that would interfear with this process.

Please help if you are albe,

PokeyPurple

PS- a couple of other tid bits that may or may not be helpful. My dad's copy of Win XP Pro is not activated yet. Also, although his connection is ADSL, he needs to tell his PC to connect when he logs on the first time. It is possible that the internet connection is lost when he logs off but it appears to be intact when he logs on again with out shutting down his PC.

 

[smah]

Is he running any firewall software - including xp's built in firewall, zonealarm, mcafee's firewall, or Norton Internet Security's firewall?

 

[serhino320]

Also,

I believe RD can only be used when a password is set on the remote account. If your dad has RD running, but does not have a password set for his account it will not work.

serhino320

 

[Ryan75]

If nothing else works look at terminal services, I believe the service has to be started for RD to work.

 

[smah]

No terminal services isn't required for RD if you have the client installed (which xp does). If you do have any firewalls or NAT devices, port 3389 needs to be forwarded to the remote machine. And as serhino320 mentioned, the account must have a password.

 

[BottleWasher]

I have a problem with XP/Remote Access also. This is the background/what happens:

A client has a small network. On one particular workstation, Remote Desktop is enabled so that the user can connect remotely. He, along with myself, are on the list of users that have remote desktop priviledges on this computer. I can log in to the computer just fine. When we attempt to log in with his name, I get the following message - "Your interactive logon priviledge has been disabled."

It is in my best interest to get this guy up and running seeing how he is the President/CEO of the company... lol

 

[pokeypurple]

Both PCs are running NIS, both using same settings as far as I can ascertain. We both have password protected accounts on each PC. The personal firewall in NIS is active on both.

I am unfarmiliar with Terminal Services, please explain further how this may help solve the problem.

Am confused about the port issue. I have not forwarded any port address anywhere yet my dad can access my machine just fine. The only thing I can think of is some setting difference between the two machines but I can not find anything that is different about the setups.

PokeyPurple

 

[smah]

PokeyPurple, are these machines on the same network or they at different locations? Are you sure that you're trying to connect to the right IP address? If he is in a different location, is he using a broadband router (personal gateway)?

BottleWasher, can he log on locally and does he have a password on the account

 

[pokeypurple]

One machine is in Ontario, the other is in Alberta. IP address obtainted from Start --> Control Panel --> Network and Internet Connections --> Network Connections --> Local Area Connection --> Support tab.

I do not know if he is using a broad band router or not, or whether he has a personal gateway or not. However, I do know that he has the same ADSL service as I do, offered by Bell Sympatico instead of Telus. I would not think that the SP would matter but thought that they might handle something differet in Ontario. Bell Symaptico assures us that the problem does not lie with them and will offer no more assistance.

We have noticed that attempting to install critical updates and such form XP update crashes my dad's system and I suspect that this is related to the fact that his version of XP is yet to be activated. Could this also be why I can not access his machine? Sounds like a long shot but ...

Pokey Purple

 

[wlpsyp]

Remote Desktop overview....With Remote Desktop on Windows XP Professional, you can have access to a Windows session that is running on your computer when you are at another computer. This means, for example, that you can connect to your work computer from home and have access to all of your applications, files, and network resources as though you were in front of your computer at work. You can leave programs running at work and when you get home, you can see your desktop at work displayed on your home computer, with the same programs running.

When you connect to your computer at work, Remote Desktop automatically locks that computer so no one else can access your applications and files while you are gone. When you come back to your computer at work, you can unlock it by typing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Remote Desktop also allows more than one user to have active sessions on a single computer. This means that multiple users can leave their applications running and preserve the state of their Windows session even while others are logged on.

 

[smah]

pokeypurple, the reason I asked -is that anything blocking port 3389 could prevent RD from connecting. That "anything" could be the firewall or a router. Are you sure the NIS firewall settings are the same? Does his IP address change periodically? I don't know about the Activation question.

 

[pokeypurple]

smah:

Will look further into port 3389 issue to make sure nothing is blocking it. Hope it is that simple.

wlpsyp:

The information you provided is verbatim from the help section; as you said, the overview. The information is not helpful nor does it address the problem from my understanding. Who cares what the actual location of the PC is; “work” and “home” are completely arbitrary locations. Remote Desktop will allow a user who has a password protected account to access that account from a remote location as long as the account is enabled for remote access and the PC where said account resides is set up to allow remote connections. I am failing to understand how any information in the overview pertains to the specific problem I am trying to address and would greatly appreciate clarification.

Pokey Purple

PS- Will be moving this weekend so it may be a few days before I am able to trouble shoot this problem further. Thanks to everyone for their continued help and hopefully we will find the solution before I decide to fly to Ontario and take my frustrations out on my dads PC with a Louisville.

 

[ghettolifenj]

download the admin pak for XP it has terminal services that s easy to set up and work great

 

[mdcr]

Port 3389 has to be forwarded to the remote machine? What if we have multiple machines in our network that we want to be able to assist multiple clients remotely? I am familar with NAT on a CISCO PIX firewall, but can port 3389 be forwarded to multiple machines inside the network?

 

[smah]

ghettolifenj, TS is included with IIS which comes with XP Pro. Admin pak is not needed.

mdcr, no you can't forward the same port to multiple machines simultaneously. In this case, a good option would be to allow users into the network by VPN, then each could use RD to connect to the individual machines.

 

[pokeypurple]

If anyone is still interested in this thread, the problem was an ever changing IP address at my dad's PC. Still trying to track down why it does not remain the same however, when I have a current IP it works fine. Thank you all for your help.

Pokey Purple

 

[fastlanwan]

It changes because his ISP uses a dhcp server. A+ N+ Sec+ SME/Sec+