Turn on Remote Desktop in Windows Vista
Remote Desktop is disabled by default in Windows Vista, but it's easy enough to turn it back on. If you need to access your Vista PC from another box, it's an essential thing to turn on.
To get to the configuration page, you can either right-click the Computer icon and choose properties, or you can type in system into the start menu search box. It'll be the 4th item in the list, as you can see here:
Now you'll want to click the Remote Settings link on the left hand side:
Now you can finally turn it on:
To connect from another Vista PC on the same network, click the bottom radio button. If you need to connect from an XP/2k machine, click the "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop" radio button.
Don't worry about setting up firewall rules, Vista does that for you automatically.
Note: This will not work for Home editions of Windows Vista.
might want to note that RDP support is only provided by the Business or Ultimate editions of Vista, and not the Home editions
Is there a way to enable Remote Desktop on the Home edition of Vista?
How do I remote desktop my computer at home from the computer at work?
Remote Desktop Host is supported on all versions of Vista. Business and Ultimate contain the RDP support to Remote into other machines.
As far as connecting from your work computer, you'll need your internet IP address of your home computer if you're behind a router (www.whatismyip.com). Also you'll need to forward port 3389 I think it is to your machine in your router. Then you'll have to hope that your work firewall doesn't block port 3389. Cheers.
My backlight went out on my Windows Vista Laptop. I would be forever grateful if someone could walk me through using the keyboard
Joel
I am trying to log into a XP machine and a SMB server from Enterprise and it won't let me. I went into the settings on my Vista machine and they seem set up just fine, any ideas?
Hey Andrew,
I am trying to connect to Vista Ultimate from an XP laptop, and it won't let me either…
I have followed several guides that all seem to say the same thing. So I am assuming there is a problem between Ultimate and Home, but I'm not trying to control my ultimate installation from my home installation. So why won;t this work, I ave configured my home pc to allow remoting and I am trying to access it from my ultimate machine in the other room. I'd really appreciate some help. thanks
If I have someones Mac address how can I control there computer?
You can't control somebody else's computer with a Mac address.
I'd recommend some type of hacker forum for what you are looking for. We don't cover hacking on this site.
I have a new work(horse)station with Vista ultimate connected to a Linksys router (cable) and I have put my old server with a Wi-Fi connection (XP pro iwth IIS 5.1). Now, each time I'm trying to access the new computer (Vista with RD activated), I'm connecting to my old PC (both usernames are different).
Is there a way to choose which one I want to connect to ? I'm using a XP pro machine at the office to access my home network (Vista+XP).
TIA
i got two pcs on a LAN network that i want to connect to remotely as they are both on the same network it just chooses the first pc all the time (192.168.0.100) how do i get access to my other pc and its files (192.168.0.103) is this possible with remote desktop?
In order for you to connect to the .103 addressed computer you will need to change some settings in your router.
The router is probably defaulted to set the DMZ zome to 192.168.0.100 ( the first address given out by the dhcpserver within the router. Login to the router and look under advanced settings (or similar) and change the DMZ ip to 192.168.0.103. Only one computer within the LAN can be seen from the internet.
You still have the capability of switching between visible computers by simply logging into the one visible computer remotely, then logging into the router, changing the dhcp address to the computer required , reset the router then relog in
Hmmm. not very practicle. Is there another way ? Installing a soft on the visible computer that can view any other PC on the LAN ? Somebody told me about another type of router (sorry, I'm not at the office to get the name) that would permit switching at logon ?
You can also try this.
Logon to the .100 pc remotely and then just open up a remote desktop connection on that pc to 192.168.0.103. That will then allow you to remote desktop from your .100 pc directly to the .103 computer… it works like a charm, and no messing around with routers.
try this…
- logon to your .100 computer remotely as normal.
- once logged in, open up a remote desktop connection from that computer to 192.168.0.103
- now you can work with either computer.
Brian R.
Really !? Gosh, that seems too simple… I should have thought of this one. I'll try it as soon as I'm back to the office. I'll keep you posted.
Incredible but true, it works !
Thanks for that superb idea !
glad to be of help
enjoy
You probably have your solution, but I did want point out that you can setup as many computers as you want to remote into on your LAN, not just one.
You have to assign remote desktop different ports other than the default 3389. Then setup port forwarding on your router. For example if your public ip that gets you to your .100 machine is 123.45.678.90, you can setup your .103 machine to use remote desktop on port 3999. Then to remote to that machine you would enter 123.45.678.90:3999 into the remote desktop connection.
Search Google for specifics on changing the remote desktop port.
Well, Dean, I have tried that approach many times but never worked… until this week-end where somebody pointed me out that even changing the listening port in the firewall won't work if you don't change it in the registry. So I used netstat and discovered that whatever I add or change in the firewall settings on my XP machine, it was always listening to port 3389.
After looking for "Changing listening port on RDP" on google, I found the KB article at MS, did the change and Voilà ! Now, I'm at the office and I can access whatever computer on my home network using IP:3390 and so on.
Hope this can benefit somebody else !
I'm on a home network. I'm trying a remote desktop connection to a computer running Vista Home premium edition from a computer running XP home edition. I've turned on remote access in Vista. I can access my computer through the home network. When I try to log on I get the error message "The Client could not connect to the remote computer". If I browse for available connection when i click on my Group I get the message "The MSHOME domain/workgroup does not contain a terminal server" Any suggestion on how to remote connect?
I am connecting from my ultimate machine to a Windows 2003 Server. I have enabled my hard drive from my ultimate to connect the server session. I can see the drive but it is read only. I would like to save a document to my (local) drive from the session. This works fine from XP Pro.
I disabled the Firewall and attempted but no luck.
Is there a setting/policy I am missing?
i was wondering if somebody could help me with a situation i have; i need to set up remote desktop with 2 computers. 1 is in america running xp prof and the other in russia running vista ult. i want to set the russian comp up before i leave so when i get back to the states i can use it remotely. what do i need to do to this comp before i leave russia?
I would like to use remote desktop or something similar with a smartphone. Does anyone know of a smartphone that has that capability?
Sheri
I have seen a RDP app for Blackberry that works if your using BES
You don't need to use DMZ on routers when using Remote Desktop
Most newer routers (Dlink DI-524) can configure a virtual server with port 3389 as internal and external port with the private ip address, also port 80 should also be open but its not necessary to be directed to a internal pc.
You also really need to create a static internal ip address for your pc on the router, which the virtual server private ip address points to.
Its wise to use DDNS(Dynamic Domain Name Server) provider in case your service provider changes your routers ip address.
On the PC make sure that remote desktop ports 80 & 3389 are open on Windows Firewall. If the pc is allowed to go in to standby make sure wake on lan is enabled on the network card.
Worked a treat !!
Thanks
You say you are using Home Premium but the snapshots show Vista Ultimate. I have Home Premium, and do not even see options for desktop when I follow your directions. Is this really like XP, where the lesser home versions can not provide remote desktop access?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me in getting past this obstacle.
will there be patch on home edition vista for remote desktop
Hi Geek!
Well, that's all well and good…pretty easy to do…but I still can't remote to my PC at home. Any caveats that you're aware of?
Thanks,
Wayniack!
For those who are experiencing problems with access Vista from XP computer, try to update the client software (In XP the version is 5.1 and current available for download is 6.0).
Hope that's fix the problem.
Wayne on September 28, 2007 4:33 pm
You could try a third party solution such as Symantec's PC Anywhere.
To the person who said that Remote Desktop host works on all versions of Vista, that's just wrong.
The only versions of Vista that you can remote control using Remote Desktop are Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.
You can control them from whatever you like though…
Yes when chosing a PC only XP Pro , Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate support Remote Desktop host, other wise your have to pay for a OS upgrade.
It rules the PCs in nearly all retail stores.
It really does suck.
um, im trying to set this remote desktop up with 2 of my home computers. when i get to the remote tab under system properties i only see the remote Assistance box… there is no box benieth it that says remote desktop… how come?
You CAN enable Remote Desktop on home premium with the following hack:
http://www.missingremote.com/i.....;task=view
I'm trying to use the remote access on my PC which is Windows Vista Home Edition and my friends computer is Windows XP how can I gain access?
I purchased a Windows XP program from tiger direct to replace the vista program on a new computer I recently purchased. Was unable to load the XP program, got status message stating it could not be installed because the vista operating system was newer. Is there any way of getting around this problem?
Wayne B
Hi
I'm trying to remote administrate one vista ultimate pc. other LAN computers running vista (ultimate and home). the computers are connected t/ a router that have dhcp turned on. the computers are all in the same workgroup.
When I try to add users to the list of allowed remote users Ionly can chose users from the The computer I want to administrate NOT from the others PC's in the LAN… remote admin only work if I have a domain, not a workgroup?? please help and excuse my «english»
I am trying to connect to a vista home edition from a mac inside my home network but it isn't working
I am trying to remote into my Vista Ultimate PC at home from my XP PC at work. They do allow traffic through a few ports which I have set up forwarding on my router for. Does anyone know if there any limitation in Vista for what ports can be used for incoming traffic with the RDP client?
i have a laptop with vista home premium.At the remote settings i don't have the 3 option that appears at the image that you have posted..any idea how to enable remote desktop?
Are all of you blind or somehow can't read? It clearly says that RDP does NOT work on the home edition of Vista ("Note: This will not work for Home editions of Windows Vista.")
I myself am having some trouble with RDPing into my Vista Ultimate machine, it worked untill a few weeks ago. I was at a friends and logged in, work like a charm but when I tried again a few days later I couldn't get in, not even from the same network. All settings and ports are set correctly and did not change in those few days.
I still haven't been able to get into the Vista machine using RDP. Any thoughts on what the problem might be?
The solution is: VNC. You can get it free at www.realvnc.com.
I know VNC.
I don' like it since you have to have a cliënt installed on every guest machine your at.. or have it with you on a USB stick, something that isn' always the case.
But yeah, since the normal RDC died, this would be the best option. Thanks!
The free version of VNC doesn't work on Vista.
I can now confirm that the Home Premium Host hack works, first download the termsrv.zip buried in the link provided by Scoobydeux.
Do a System Restore point and market it pre remote hack
You must be in Administrator.
Extract the files in the Zip file.
Turn OFF Account Control in Control Panel(classic View)->User Accounts->Turn User Account Control on or off.
Run the premium.bat from the extracted zip file and check all commands are sucessful.
Turn on port 3389 in Control Panel(Classic view)->Windows Firewall->Change Settings-> Exceptions[tab]- add port
->Name: Remote Desktop
->Port: 3389
->ok
***Note with Home Premium you can only remote host connect to Administrator Accounts, also you can only turn OFF remote host by blocking port 3389. You have no options System Properties settings shown above, you can only get this by upgrading to Ultimate.***
You will also have to unblock 3389 on any Anti Virus checker installed.
Hi there!
I'm having problems accessing remotely a windows 2003 server from my Vista Home Basic, anyone can give a good reason why? How can I fix this? Anything please I'm out of ideas.
I am trying not to interpret these comments as the fact that windows vista home premium does not support terminal services or remote desktop. Please tell me that this is not true?!?!? Can any one suggest a way to work remotely on my Vista Home machine????
Yes it is true.
I am afraid you have to upgrade to get full featured RTP Host.
Home Basic -> Business or Ultimate
Home Premium -> Ultimate.
Its get out your wallet.
Or…you can just go to http://www.logmein.com and download that mirror driver for free and connect to any Windows OS. Try it!
The problem with such products they have to be installed on the client machine, where as, RTP is on all Windows operating systems, many users at work don't have admin rights.
Also they tend to take over the host pc a bit too much, controlling mouse and keyboard movements something I don't really like.
Thanks for the info. I looked at the dialog box. I have the same box except i don't have remote desktop as an option. I have remote assistance. I guess I have to upgrade. My vista is a basic home edition.
I'm at wits end trying to set up remote desktop between my Desktop running XP Professional SP2 and my Laptop running Vista Ultimate. I will be happy to pay someone (that can set it up & show me how). If you live in Queens, New York please leave me a contact e-mail and let me know your fee.
Dell has been no help and all the knowledge bases between here and microsoft have not gotten Remote Desktop to work; neither have all the kings horses and all the kings men.
Thanks,
Pat (pulling my hair out)
Pat, The most likely the reason RTP is not working, assuming you have enabled it in system properties is because;
1. In Windows firewall Remote Desktop is not enabled on the Host PC ( the pc your tring to connect to).
2. Security software is preventing port 3389 from being open, such as Norton 360, Internet security.
3. Your Internet router ( if you have one) is not configured properly. Usually only a problem if you are connecting from the Internet
4. Your trying to connect using the wrong ip address of your host pc.
If you can get it working on a local network your half way there.
im lost, I know the rules and exceptions and I have it all set up right but I cannot get my ultimate host computer to remote to my home premium laptop. Help?
I have configured remote desktop correctly but two things happen:
First when I am asked for credentials my username and password for the computer I am remoting into don't work.
Second to get to the logon screen I have to go back and forth between two different public ip addresses.
Any help?
If the Host PC is not excepting the user name and password (of a user of host PC I might add). Then you have not added them in Select Users found in system properties->remote.
Also make sure you have updated to latest RDP client if calling from XP or earlier. Found in windows update custom.
.
am trying to log into a XP machine and a SMB server from Enterprise and it won't let me. I went into the settings on my Vista machine and they seem set up just fine, any ideas?
what is the SMB server? a regular client windows machine? or a server running DNS? netbios/smb is the windows protocol - make sure it is enabled or forwarded through routers on your local LAN.