Beginner: Remote Access A XP from Vista

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hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Topic # 67423 1-Sep-2010 16:47

Hi fellow Geekzoners,

My parents are always on the phone to me asking me to guide them through certain stuff. This gets quite frustrating as they are not that tech-savy.

I would love to be able to remotely control their computer (XP) from my machine (Vista). So that if they needed help, I could do it for them.

How would I go about setting this up? Is it secure enough so that my parents wont freak out and worry someone else could gain access to their PC?

Does anyone have a good guide as to how to set this up?

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hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 375376 1-Sep-2010 17:14

Wheres the edit button gone? lol

I did download this; www.unet.fi/fransblog/2007/08/30/enable-remote-desktop-connection-on-vista-home-premium/

As I read Vista Home doesnt enable remote desktop. I installed it and it seems to have enabled it...

I also know my Parents IP address, and have got them to enable remote desktop on their machine. I tried to connect, but it just came back with a disconnection error.

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BlakJak

646 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 375380 1-Sep-2010 17:21

behind a DSL router?

Pinholed Port 3389 yet?

Otherwise ensured Port 3389 is not firewalled?

This would be me...

hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 375396 1-Sep-2010 17:53

On their machine?

They use a Dylink ADSL modem yep :)

I should add port 3389 to exception list on their firewall?

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BlakJak

646 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 375462 1-Sep-2010 20:03

USB or Ethernet connected to the Dynalink?

If Network, you need a pinhole in the router which will forward port 3389 to the internal address (192.168 or 10...) of the PC. Pinhole may be a 'firewall forwarding rule' or some other term depending on the router and firmware version, etc.

You then need an exception for 3389 on their host firewall.

This would be me...

hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 375488 1-Sep-2010 20:55

Ah ok thanks for the tip! I will do that on their router next time I am over there.

I tried 'Windows Remote Assistance' earlier tonight. got my parents to create an 'invite' which they then sent me. I just got a connection error on that one too, so its probably the same issue.

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Ragnor

8029 posts

Uber Geek
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Reply # 375498 1-Sep-2010 21:13

There are heaps of services/products that do this sort of thing.

They also can reflect the connection over https via port 80 through their servers so port forwarding and firewalls at each end aren't an issue, eg:

https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/US/HelpDesk/Home.aspx
https://www.copilot.com/

hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 376656 4-Sep-2010 17:19

Ok,

I believe I have configured [i]their[/i] modem correctly, (DLink) and opened port 3389. I also did the same thing to the wireless router they have.

I at their place now, but I am still getting the same error 'computer cannot connect to remote computer'. I went through and have double checked everything, and it should be working according to the guides online.

^ thanks for the suggested software, but copilot costs $ to use , and the 'Remote Desktop' function on windows is free.

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BlakJak

646 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Reply # 376716 4-Sep-2010 21:16

you do know that if you're behind NAT you can't connect to your own external IP address, right? You will not be able to test the success of your configuration changes internally, you need to come at it from outside.

A long long time ago now I wrote up a description of the way ADSL works and the way to get services to work behind it, and put it on my website... it's still there:

Linky

Slightly dated but still possibly relevant and helpful...

This would be me...

hamisht

383 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 376726 4-Sep-2010 22:13

Oh DOH! thank you

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jamezb3

15 posts

Geek

Reply # 377094 6-Sep-2010 12:16

I use team viewer it is free and extremely basic and takes care of all firewall problems for you.
When you start the session it gives you an id number and password that you pass on to the person wanting to connect. All you do is enter those number into the create session panel and in 3 to 5 seconds you have control of their mouse.