Hi, my name's Jay and I'm new to Pc Help Forums. I have a challenge for all of you out there. It's about enabling Remote Desktop, hopefully I've posted in the right section.

I'm not a complete novice with computers, but I'm by no means a whiz either. However, I have been trying to enable Remote Desktop on my home machine for months without any luck. I have posted my problem on a couple of other forums and have failed to get a solution.

Anyway, here are the details....

I have a home wireless network set up, my desktop pc is the one I want to connect to. It has Windows XP Pro, and I have enabled 'Allow users to connect remotely to this computer' in 'System Properties > Remote', and then added myself as a Remote User. I have also made sure that Windows Firewall is on but allows exceptions, and Remote Desktop is checked under exceptions. I don't have any other Firewall software installed, just AVG Free.

Annoyingly, I have an old laptop as well with exactly the same settings on it. It is Win XP Pro and also in the same room, connected to the same network and I can connect remotely to my laptop from my desktop, but not the other way around, which is what I need!!

When I try connecting to my machine, the Remote Desktop client thinks about it for a second and then resumes as if nothing has happened. I have no idea where the problem is, or what to do. I have tried everything that I can think of, but I must be missing something!



So this is the challenge, can ANYONE help me??? No one has come up with a solution so far, and it's getting to the point where I think there is no solution to this problem and I will never be able to access my machine from my own network, let alone from my office!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. Sorry for the long post, but if you need any other details or information, please let me know, I'll try anything to fix this pain in the backside!


Jay

Just to get rid of any possible port issues, forward port 3389 and add it to firewalls.

If you need help port forwarding go to PortForward.com - Free Help Setting up Your Router or Firewall and select your router. Although I think ports should automatically be sorted out for RDC, worth a try.

Thanks for your replies guys....

Hengis : I'd love to use another client but my office doesn't allow us to use any other remoting software. And I do not have any other Firewall software, only Windows firewall.

upgrader : I have already forwarded all ports on my router to my machines network ip address, but as I am trying to access it from my home network I shouldn't need to. The proof is I can connect to my laptop from my PC and it has no ports forwarded to it at all. Additionally, even with the port forwarded on my router, I cannot access my machine from my office.

________

But........ I had some progress yesterday. Someone told me to disable the password for my user account on my PC. So I did. I tried connecting and it didnt work as Remote Desktop doesnt allow you to connect unless the account has a password. Then I added a password, and tried to connect again, and Hey Presto!, it worked! I was shocked, as I had been trying all this time to sort it out and all I had to do was turn off and then turn on the password. HOWEVER, I could not access my machine from my office today (having left port forwarding enabled on my router), so I was annoyed. But even more annoying, when I came home and sat downstairs (my PC is upstairs) and tried to connect to my machine, it didn't work!!!! I was annoyed to say the least. When I try to connect using my machines network ip address, it does that thing where it thinks about it for a split second and then returns to normal as if nothings happened. If I use the computer name, I get this message:

"Remote Desktop Disconnected

The specified remote computer could not be found. Verify that you have typed the correct computer name or IP Address, and then try connecting again."

That is soooo frustrating, seeing as though it was working a dream yesterday, and now it isn't. And the error states that I might have the machine name or ip address incorrect, and I clearly haven't - It's driving me up the wall!

Hope this info helps........

Desperately,
Jay

Here are a couple of screen shots of my router's port-forwarding configuration. Seeing as though I've NEVER been able to connect to my macghine outside of my LAN, I though I'd ask if I'm doing anything wrong here.

The IP Filters you have on your screenshot don't need to be there, you have it set to always block traffic on port 3389 which is most likely the cause of your problems. Try deleting the filters and see if you can connect.

Have you tried setting up a new user on the PC specifically for remote desktop.

Setup a test user called XPShare, give it a password and allow it remote access, also make the user an Administrator. Try connecting with it. If not try temporarily disable windows firewall - can you connect with the new account that way.

Have you tried logging off the current user on the pc, then connecting via RDP?

Try disabling Remote Desktop in Control Panel > System - then reenable and add the new user. Can you connect now.

Thanks for your reply DIIRE, I'm at the office at the moment so I'll try some of your suggestions over the weekend and get back to you...

DIIRE - I have disabled those client IP filters on my router. Correct me if I am wrong, but if I am trying to remotely access a machine on my LAN via another machine on my LAN, the settings on the router shouldn't matter right? And if I can't access my machine from within my network, it shouldn't work from outside my network. Is this the correct way it works?

I will try your other suggestions later this evening.

Thanks for your comments....

I have tried everything you suggested, DIIRE, but nothing has worked. I'm left with exactly the same problem. I can't believe it was working 2 days ago, and now, nothing. This has left me really frustrated and drained, and I'm struggling to believe this can be fixed for good. Any other options I could try? Any troubleshooting I could go through that might be of any help?

Thanks in advance....

Try using just the IP address to connect to problem PC instead of computer name. This will make it easier to troubleshoot.

Does the problem pc a have static ip address. If not set it to 192.168.1.2 as per your screenshot above.

Have you at any time had another antivirus aside from AVG running on the problem PC.

Try disabling AVG's Resident Shield. If it's blocking RDP you may need to restart the pc.
To simplify things I'm going to call the computer you have problems connecting to PC A and the other one PC B
On PC B, do the following:
Make sure all internet browser windows are closed.
Click Start > Run > type: CMD > Click OK.
at the prompt type: ipconfig /flushdns

On PC A - Click Start > Run > type: services.msc > Click OK
Is the Terminal Service running? If not start it - can you connect now.

EDIT: Can you also check Event viewer on the PC's to see if there's any error codes relating to the problem and post details of them in your next post.

Also can you temporarily disable the virtual server rules on the router until we get it connecting correctly.

Thanks DIIRE, I'll try your suggestions and get back to you....

Still haven't got round to trying those suggestions, but I haven't forgotten, just been a bit busy...

Just a quick note, it didn't work when trying to connect via my network ip address. Also, if I set a static IP address, do I need to enter DNS stuff? Where do I get that from?

I have had Norton running on the Problem PC (PC 'A'), but I have uninstalled it after running out of subscription.

I'll try disabling Resident Shield when I get back from the office...

DIIRE,

Using the ip address to connect doesn't work. I don't get an error message, it just tries to connect and then returns to normal after a second or so.

I changed the ip address on the machine I am trying to connect to from a dynamic one to a static one, and used OpenDNS as the specified DNS servers.

The only Anti-virus software on my machine is AVG Free Edition, and I use Windows Firewall. I did install Norton Internet Security, but the same day I uninstalled it because I had run out of subscription, and it clashed with AVG. I have disabled Resident Shield on AVG. I tried to run the command 'ipconfig /flushdns' on PC 'B', and got this message.

"Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

I checked and found that Terminal Services was running on PC 'A'.

I disabled any settings I had made on the router.

At every step, wherever I made a change to any settings or restarted PC 'A', I made a point to try and connect to it remotely, but I had no luck. Still the same error as before when trying to connect using the computer name and nothing happening when I use the network IP address.

However, I did check the event viewer and got some potentially useful information. In the System events I have this error a couple of times:

Date: 04/08/2008
Source: Application Popup
Time: (time)
Category: None
Type: Information
Event ID: 26
User: N/A
Computer: OPTIPLEX
Description: Application popup: : \SystemRoot\System32\RDPDD.dll failed to load

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp

I also have this error once. I'm not sure what it is exactly.

Date: 04/08/2008
Source: Dhcp
Time: (time)
Category: None
Type: Error
Event ID: 1002
User: N/A
Computer: OPTIPLEX
Description: The IP address lease 192.168.2.2 for the Network Card with network address 00173fc6d3f4 has been denied by the DHCP server 192.168.2.1 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp


I don't know if any of that is helpful. All I know is Remote Desktop still doesn't work....

RDPDD.dll error is due to your graphics cards drivers loaded on PC A. Certain nvidia and ATI graphics card drivers cause this problem with Remote Desktop - where you press connect and nothing happens. You also have the DHCP problem which we'll need to fix to.
You will have to disable windows firewall on PC A if you want to connect by computer name. Even with the Remote Desktop allowed, Windows Firewall blocks Netbios from working correctly.

DHCP Problem
1. On your router disable DHCP. We'll reenable it after we have RDP fixed
2. In Network Connections on PC A -
make the IP address 192.168.2.2
Make the default gateway 192.168.2.1
Also make 192.168.2.1 the preferred DNS
3. On PC B make the ip address 192.168.2.4
with all other info as per PC A

Test that you can ping the router and both pc's from command prompt and access internet from both.

RDPDD.dll Fix
There's a number of fixes that work depending on whether it's an ATI or Nvidia graphics card in PC A. This one's the easiest and should work regardless of which card you have.

Open notepad - copy and paste the text below in red. Make sure Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 is the first line in the file. Click File > Save As > Save in Desktop > Make filename RDPDDFix.reg > Change Save as type to All Files > Click Save. Double click file on your desktop. Click Yes to add to registry. Reboot PC - try to connect via RDP. Post back if this doesn't work.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"SessionImageSize"=dword:00000020

This is a LAN machine connecting to another LAN machine, nothing in your router needed as connections are internal, firewalls accepting all connections from port 3389 on any host and this works one way but not the other?

Has this ever worked both ways? Have you got terminal services and server started? Can the machines ping eachother. As this works one way and not the other I'm inclined to think its a firewall issue. Things to try:

turn both your firewalls off
go to start>run>rdpclip.exe on both machines
ping test both machines (you should know their IP's by now).
try using a something other than Windows remote desktop

If this isn't working over a WAN connection the reasons obvious - your work is blocking external connections (it's the default security policy for most work places). If you think its a firewall issue you can use a remote server to portscan your home IP - this will reveal whats available to the whole World, this website will do it: Online Port Scanner | Port Scan | Port Scanning | Portscan Tool obviously if 3389 doesn't come up the issues with the router or a firewall, if it does the issues with your work place.

Also if you still want to play with your firewalls allow full connectivity to all machines on the LAN rather than just opening one port.

There was an issue on a linux veriant of remote desktop a few months back, the issue related to the keyboards being different - e.g if a linux machine has a US keyboard and the RDP server is GB based with automatic settings a connection cant be established - this will however throw up errors on both the server and the client, in other words... you'd know.