Various Remote Desktop Connection issues

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Guest

Hello, ill try to keep these questions as simple as possible.

I wish to use a XPP computer as a server for various simple applications,
but I will need to access this computer from remote, since the physical
location where the computer is located is very far from my home.

My questions are the following:

1. Is it possible to have winxppro in a "nouserloggedin" mode for remote
desktop to work? Or basically what I mean is, is it really needed to log in a
user at the RDC host computer first to be able to use it?
Basically I want to leave my host computer at the login screen and then get
home and login with a user by RDC.
My attempts of doing this did NOT work, so I had to go all the way back
again to the "server" to log in with a user, and then go back home again!!
Then and only then could I use the RDC. What am I missing?

2. Since Its big trouble to reach the location of this host computer, is
there any tips of actions you can perform or programs to install to make the
computer boot up back to loginscreen if the computer would fail/freeze up? Or
with a powerfailure, would the computer boot back up to the login screen?
(see question 1)
I know that I can change in BIOS startup sequence settings to "halt on no
errors" wich would make the computer boot up more likely.
But if there is something else I can do, I would be happy to hear it.

3. Since I have a dynamic ip adress at the host computer, I have a dyndns
autoupdater installed.
Is it possible to make programs like that to startup within the shell of
windows and not with a user?
What I mean is that the program is of no use to me if it cannot connect and
update my ip adress before the "login screen" Perhaps this isnt possible? If
not, I cannot access the RDC if the ip adress is changed during a
powerfailure, wich would force me to go back to server location and manually
login for the program to update automatically. Weird isnt it?

4. Is it possible to change the default TCP port for the RDC host and do I
have to change that port in my RDC client computer somewhere? Does this
increase security or is it not needed?

5. If I decide to install a software firewall in the host system, will I
still be able to connect to the remote desktop??

Thank you for reading this... I am a rookie at this so any answers greatly
appreciated!
 
I have never run into the problem you describe in #1. So I am at a loss on
what to suggest to fix that. I do know that I have my two XP Pro desktop
BIOS settings setup so each PC automatically ignores errors on boot up. I
did that so I could run them "headless" if need be..

I use No-IP.com which is installed as a service on my XP Pro box. That means
the No-IP.com software runs automatically when the PC boots. Perhaps the
Dydns software can be installed that way or you might want to try using
No-IP.com instead.

You can change the listening port for RDP from the default TCP Port 3389 to
something else. Note the warnings first...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;256986
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;322756

The procedure...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306759
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q304304

Its my opinion that 'security through obscurity' really is no security at
all. IMHO your better off running RDP through a SSH or VPN tunnel...

http://sshwindows.sourceforge.net/
http://www.bitvise.com/tunnelier.html

http://3sp.com/showSslExplorer.do

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn.htm

....and either use a strong password or a private/public key pair or
certificate for authentication. Personally I run RDP through a SSH2 tunnel
and use a 2048-bit RSA private/public key pair.

If you add a software firewall on the RDP host you will need to open TCP
Port 3389 (or the new listening port if you change it)...

Basic help for RDP...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/RemoteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
 
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