Help? with RDC

[Cypher3]

OK, so I just downloaded RDC client for mac. But when I try to connect with the IP, I get "The client could not connect to the remote computer. Either remote connections are not enabled, the maximum number of connections was exceeded, or a network error occurred. Try connecting again later or contact your administrator." Now what im trying to do is control my pc from my mac. My setup is: Win Xp Pro on my pc connected with and ethernet cable to my router and iBook connected to the router wirelessly with airport. I have a linksys wireless router. Basically, I have no idea whats wrong and what i need to do to get this to work. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[raytube]

Hi,
Have you enabled the Remote Desktop connection on XP? It's accessed by right-clicking on My Computer and then under the tab 'Remote'.

I can't recall exactly what it's referred to in XP but that's where you'll find it, I dont have an XP Pro machine handy (XP home but it doesn't support RDC).

Hope that helps.

Rick

 

[Cypher3]

Hi,
Have you enabled the Remote Desktop connection on XP? It's accessed by right-clicking on My Computer and then under the tab 'Remote'.

I can't recall exactly what it's referred to in XP but that's where you'll find it, I dont have an XP Pro machine handy (XP home but it doesn't support RDC).

Hope that helps.

Rick

Yes, I have it enabled. Its been enabled. Thanks anyway though. I think the problem has something to do either with the firewall, but i have no idea.

 

[tomf87]

Once you have the remote assistance enabled, thhe port you should leave open is TCP 3389. I do not have an XP Pro machine that I can manage right now to check, but I know that only one person can use the machine when you do this.

For example, if user A is connected at the console and you RDC into the machine and successfully login, user A will show a locked screen.

Either way, if the error comes back immediately after clicking Connect, it's not the firewall, as the firewall should delay these messages. You might try checking the services of the machine and ensure that the "Terminal Service" service is started OK. If not, set it to Automatic and reboot.

If you are up for searching some TechNet articles, go to:

http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

If you are using Windows IE, select your product from the drop down list and type "remote desktop". If you're using your Mac, or any other non-MS browser on Windows, type "windows xp remote desktop".

 

[Cypher3]

Once you have the remote assistance enabled, thhe port you should leave open is TCP 3389. I do not have an XP Pro machine that I can manage right now to check, but I know that only one person can use the machine when you do this.

For example, if user A is connected at the console and you RDC into the machine and successfully login, user A will show a locked screen.

Either way, if the error comes back immediately after clicking Connect, it's not the firewall, as the firewall should delay these messages. You might try checking the services of the machine and ensure that the "Terminal Service" service is started OK. If not, set it to Automatic and reboot.

If you are up for searching some TechNet articles, go to:

http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?FR=0&SD=TECH&LN=EN-US

If you are using Windows IE, select your product from the drop down list and type "remote desktop". If you're using your Mac, or any other non-MS browser on Windows, type "windows xp remote desktop".

It does give the error message right away so I guess it cant be the firewall. As for making sure the service is started ok, where do I go to do that? I know I have the "allow other users to connect" box checked under the remote tab. And as for the the port 3389, I have it forwarded, so I think thats covered. So if you could just tell me where to check if the terminal service is "started".

Thanks

 

[dudeami]

It is port 3389 that must be open.

I sounds like you have already verified that the remote desktop setting is allowing remote users to connect to your system.

If you are using XP's built-in firewall, you can go to properties for your NIC, and click on the advanced tab. If the Protect my computer .. blah blah blah is checked, you will net to click on the settings button located in the lower right side of the properties window. The Advanced setting windows will open. On the services tab, make sure that Remote Desktop is checked as a service available for internet access. In this case anything trying to access the computer is considered internet even if it is on your LAN, just because of the location of this firewall and the default configs.

To verify that you should be able connect to it from the Macintosh, you can run a port scan using the Network Utility. This is found in the /Applications/Utilities directory. On the port scan tab, to make things are faster when dealing with scanning a firewall protected machine, I would scan the IP address of the Windows XP machine and check the Only tests ports between box and scan ports between 3389 and 3389.

The results should state

Open Port: 3389 ms-wbt-server

If you do not see this result, you will not be able to connect using the Remote Desktop Client.

Hope this helps.

 

[dudeami]

I'm not sure of what actual service you would look for in XP. However as a simple check, you could drop to a command prompt and run netstat -a. You should see

yourmachinename:3389 yourmachinename:0 LISTENING

This will let you know that your XP machine is listening for connection attempts on port 3389.

Hope this helps.

 

[tomf87]

Open Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Now scroll down and you'll see Terminal Services. It should have Started next to it.

Also, do you have TCP port 3389 forwarded or UDP 3389. It should be TCP 3389.

You can also check to see if the port is open by opening Terminal, then:

telnet <host> 3389

Should come back with something like:

powerbook:~ tom$ telnet system01 3389
Trying 10.1.1.1...
Connected to system01.
Escape character is '^]'.

<HIT ENTER A COUPLE OF TIMES HERE JUST TO SEND SOME DATA>

Connection closed by foreign host.

 

[Cypher3]

Ok, Thanks for all your help guys, I think I've found the problem. When I scanned mt IP, port 3389 wasnt open. When I looked in my firewall settings, I noticed I did have the port forwarded but to 192.168.1.1 instead of the IP of my PC. Now if anyone is familiar with linksys routers, how can I forward packets to my PC IP when the firewall setup page only allows ports forwarded to 192.168.1.x addresses and my PC IP is 216.254.112.xxx.

Thanks

 

[tomf87]

Ok, Thanks for all your help guys, I think I've found the problem. When I scanned mt IP, port 3389 wasnt open. When I looked in my firewall settings, I noticed I did have the port forwarded but to 192.168.1.1 instead of the IP of my PC. Now if anyone is familiar with linksys routers, how can I forward packets to my PC IP when the firewall setup page only allows ports forwarded to 192.168.1.x addresses and my PC IP is 216.254.112.xxx.

Thanks

Hold on a second... The router should forward ports from the WAN IP (which may be 216.254.112.xxx) to an IP on the LAN (192.168.1.x). Now, let's say the PC's IP is 192.168.1.100, you would open the configuration page, and go to UPnP Forwarding and add a TCP port 3389 with the internal IP of 192.168.1.100. The Linksys will automatically detect the outside (WAN) IP, so there's no need to configure that.

Attached are some photos of mine, from a BEFW11S4.

EDIT: The first photo shows where UPnP Forwarding is located, and the second one is a custom port I use, SSH, and how I added it to the port list.

 

[Cypher3]

Hold on a second... The router should forward ports from the WAN IP (which may be 216.254.112.xxx) to an IP on the LAN (192.168.1.x). Now, let's say the PC's IP is 192.168.1.100, you would open the configuration page, and go to UPnP Forwarding and add a TCP port 3389 with the internal IP of 192.168.1.100. The Linksys will automatically detect the outside (WAN) IP, so there's no need to configure that.

Attached are some photos of mine, from a BEFW11S4.

EDIT: The first photo shows where UPnP Forwarding is located, and the second one is a custom port I use, SSH, and how I added it to the port list.

OK, so when I put in the IP of the computer I want to connect to, do I put in the 192.168.1.x or the 216.254.112.xxx? Because i currently have the ports forwarded to 192.168.1.100, which I THINK is my PC's IP from the router. Now when I try to connect using the 192.168.1.100 address, it takes a good 10-12 second before it comes back with the same error message as it originally did. So im confused....

 

[Cypher3]

While waiting for any replies, I have been sitting here messing with stuff and I cant even ping 192.168.1.100 right now(which is what i think my pc's IP is) And from my pc i cant ping 192.168.1.102 which is my iBook's IP. When i try to ping 192.168.1.100 from my iBook(in network utility) i get messages like ping: sendto: No route to host and ping:sendto:Host is down. I dont know why i cant ping them, or what those messages mean. Also, I noticed while browsing through my router options, there is a option to have it function as a router or a gateway, and it at gateway, does that have anything to do with this?

 

[slowtreme]

I cant even ping 192.168.1.100 right now(which is what i think my pc's IP is)

Find out what your WinXP IP is first: CMD | IPCONFIG. All this "I think my ip is" stuff is making my head spin. Get the facts out of the way first.

Set the 3369 port forward to your WinXP. in your router. When you are inside your network use the Local IP in RDC (192.168.1.x) When you are remote from the web use your Router's IP.

 

[Cypher3]

Find out what your WinXP IP is first: CMD | IPCONFIG. All this "I think my ip is" stuff is making my head spin. Get the facts out of the way first.

Set the 3369 port forward to your WinXP. in your router. When you are inside your network use the Local IP in RDC (192.168.1.x) When you are remote from the web use your Router's IP.

My Pc's IP is 216.265.112.xxx. Isnt the port 3389 that I have to forward? I dont know if this matters, but from command prompt in Xp i cant ping anything. Everything i try comes back as request timed out.

 

[tomf87]

Sounds like we may be talking about different things here. Let's go over the network layout.

Here's what I am assuming you have:

DSL/Broadband
| 216.x.x.x
|
Linksys Router
|
+----|----+ 192.168.1.x
| |
iBook XP Machine

Am I correct? Sorry for the look of the diagram, it doesn't seem to take my spaces in the diagram.

If so, if you are on the Internet, and I mean on the Internet side of the Linksys, use the 216 address to connect to the box. If you are on the inside of the Linksys, whether wired or wireless, use the 192.168.1.x address.

You'd be better off to manually set the IP address so it doesn't move around on you. Simply go to Start then Run then type 'cmd'.

Next type 'ipconfig /all' and jot down the gateway and DNS servers. Then edit your Network connection named Local Area Connection and hit Properties of TCP/IP. Change everything to manual, and enter a static IP, say 192.168.1.10. Subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0. Gateway is 192.168.1.1 (double check with what you wrote down earlier). Enter in the DNS servers you wrote down earlier.

Now from your Linksys page, change the forward for port 3389 from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.10. From a machine like your iBook sitting on your wireless/wired LAN, you should be able to ping 192.168.1.10. From on the Internet, outside of your Linksys, use your 216.x.x.x address. It may not be ping-able, but it should be able to accept port 3389 for use.

If you need more help, let us know.

 

[Cypher3]

Sounds like we may be talking about different things here. Let's go over the network layout.

Here's what I am assuming you have:

DSL/Broadband
| 216.x.x.x
|
Linksys Router
|
+----|----+ 192.168.1.x
| |
iBook XP Machine

Am I correct? Sorry for the look of the diagram, it doesn't seem to take my spaces in the diagram.

If so, if you are on the Internet, and I mean on the Internet side of the Linksys, use the 216 address to connect to the box. If you are on the inside of the Linksys, whether wired or wireless, use the 192.168.1.x address.

You'd be better off to manually set the IP address so it doesn't move around on you. Simply go to Start then Run then type 'cmd'.

Next type 'ipconfig /all' and jot down the gateway and DNS servers. Then edit your Network connection named Local Area Connection and hit Properties of TCP/IP. Change everything to manual, and enter a static IP, say 192.168.1.10. Subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0. Gateway is 192.168.1.1 (double check with what you wrote down earlier). Enter in the DNS servers you wrote down earlier.

Now from your Linksys page, change the forward for port 3389 from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.10. From a machine like your iBook sitting on your wireless/wired LAN, you should be able to ping 192.168.1.10. From on the Internet, outside of your Linksys, use your 216.x.x.x address. It may not be ping-able, but it should be able to accept port 3389 for use.

If you need more help, let us know.

Wow. It works perfect now. THANKS alot man.