Remote Desktop connection into a network from a remote location.

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Guest

I have a windows 2003 server machine and a win xp machine on a network and I
am wanting to remote desktop connect to the xp machine.

What happens is, when I use the ip address for the office that these two
machines are at, I can only get into the 2003 server machine, it's almost as
if its making me go to that machine even when I want the xp machine.

Its funny, but once I have remoted into the 2003 server, I can then remote
desktop connect to the xp machine. So, I've got a machine outside the office
connecting to a machine inside the office to control another machine in the
office.

I'd love to cut out that middle step.
How do I direct my remote connection request to go to the xp machine as
opposed to the 2003 server machine?
 
Gjon said:
I have a windows 2003 server machine and a win xp machine on a
network and I am wanting to remote desktop connect to the xp
machine.

What happens is, when I use the ip address for the office that
these two machines are at, I can only get into the 2003 server
machine, it's almost as if its making me go to that machine even
when I want the xp machine.

Its funny, but once I have remoted into the 2003 server, I can then
remote desktop connect to the xp machine. So, I've got a machine
outside the office connecting to a machine inside the office to
control another machine in the office.

I'd love to cut out that middle step.
How do I direct my remote connection request to go to the xp
machine as opposed to the 2003 server machine?
Click to expand...

Do both machines have public (externally addressable) IP addresses? Or do
both machines sit behind some sort of NAT device that gives them internal
IPs and you (or someone) has forwarded the port 3389 to said server and
thus - when you remote desktop to the one and only external IP address, it
forwards that traffic straight to the server - as directed by it's
router/NAT device?
 
I have both systems behind a router. I have set the router to forward both
3389 port requests to each machine. I was hoping that somehow the user name
for log in would be picked out to determine which machine I must want. Like
if the xp machine had the login name that I am using to remote into, but it's
not working out that way, the rdc menu for the 2003 machine pops up no matter
what.

I then thought maybe I could use the machine's name appended to the ip but
that was a no go either. I am wondering whether if I changed the port that
the XP machine was using for RDC to different port and then appended that
port to the ip address that that may be a way to do it.

What do you think?
 
Gjon said:
I have both systems behind a router. I have set the router to
forward both 3389 port requests to each machine. I was hoping that
somehow the user name for log in would be picked out to determine
which machine I must want. Like if the xp machine had the login
name that I am using to remote into, but it's not working out that
way, the rdc menu for the 2003 machine pops up no matter what.

I then thought maybe I could use the machine's name appended to the
ip but that was a no go either. I am wondering whether if I changed
the port that the XP machine was using for RDC to different port
and then appended that port to the ip address that that may be a
way to do it.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

You have port 3389 set to forward to both machines?
It doesn't work that way.

As you seem to suspect..

You can change the listening port on the Windows XP machine (say, 3390) and
forward that port on the router to the Windows XP machine.. Then when you
use the RDC, you'll put in ip.add.re.ss:3390 for the machine to connect to.
 
That would prolly explain some things that are happening with the nat setup
as far as the port assigned to two pc's, it lets me do this in one area, but
not another.
Thanks for clearing that up, I have to remember you can't use the same port
for different services.

Ok, so I am glad to see that there is a resolution to this problem. My next
question is, hehe, how do I change the port that rdc will listen to? I looked
in services, but there are 4 things that resemble RPC and remote assistance.
I didn't see anything that said RDC. Thanks so much in advance!
 
Gjon said:
That would prolly explain some things that are happening with the
nat setup as far as the port assigned to two pc's, it lets me do
this in one area, but not another.
Thanks for clearing that up, I have to remember you can't use the
same port for different services.

Ok, so I am glad to see that there is a resolution to this problem.
My next question is, hehe, how do I change the port that rdc will
listen to? I looked in services, but there are 4 things that
resemble RPC and remote assistance. I didn't see anything that said
RDC. Thanks so much in advance!
Click to expand...

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

How to change the listening port for Remote Desktop
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759
 
Well, I tried this out. I tried setting RDC to port 3390 and then I tried it
set to 5000. But neither way would let me rdc into that computer via ip:port.
I did make sure to open the ports to the pc's on the cable modem/router.

If I put everything back to 3389, everything is fine. Changing the port as
per instructions on your posted link, it just doesn't seem to work, it just
times out with an error.

I wonder if there is something else that needs to change as well with the
port number and not just the RDC port number. Is there some other service
above RDC that also might need the port number changed on to allow the RDC to
listen to a port other than the default 3389?
 
Gjon said:
Well, I tried this out. I tried setting RDC to port 3390 and then I
tried it set to 5000. But neither way would let me rdc into that
computer via ip:port. I did make sure to open the ports to the pc's
on the cable modem/router.

If I put everything back to 3389, everything is fine. Changing the
port as per instructions on your posted link, it just doesn't seem
to work, it just times out with an error.

I wonder if there is something else that needs to change as well
with the port number and not just the RDC port number. Is there
some other service above RDC that also might need the port number
changed on to allow the RDC to listen to a port other than the
default 3389?
Click to expand...

You added a forwarding port on the router to that IP as well (the new port)
and rebooted the machine?
 
I feel sheepish. While doing this all, I forgot about one thing. That pc is
also connected by a wap. I did do the cable modem/router firewall, but forgot
to do the wap port settings as well, mostly because I had disabled the dhcp
on it. I didn't think it would matter when tested locally on the network, but
now I am realizing that the client pc still has to remote through that
firewall as well as the initial modem firewall.

I will test this out when I get back, I am pretty sure that that's what the
problem is because I do remember opening the port for 3389 on it during
initial test runs.

More than likely it's going to work out. Thanks for jogging along on this. I
think it's safe to use ports in the 5000's range, I believe I read those
ports are being used by any services.
 
Ok, I gave this another go. I thought I had solved the problem, but
unfortunately my solution didn't work.

I thought it was a port that I forgot to open on one of the routers, but
even doing that still didn't allow rdc to connect to the pc with port 5000
configuration of RDC.

When I make the port back to default 3389, it works like a charm from inside
the network. But changing it to 5000 just will not work. I did reboot the pc
that I redid the port number on. I followed the microsoft directions for
changing the port in the registry.

I have the port 5000 open to that computers ip, but it still doesn't want to
accept connections from rdc. I'm up for any other solutions/attempts at this.
ANyone have any suggestions?
 
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