Unable to RDP to a PC over the internet

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Unable to RDP to a PC over the internet

Linkzor

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#242489 30-Oct-2018 19:48

I am trying to RDP to my PC over the internet however the connection is timing out because of no response from the remote device.

*gasp* Yes, I'm aware this is pretty stupid but this is only a short term thing, in the long term I'll get a VPN set up but I'm happy to accept the risks for now.

The router (Asus RT-AC58U) connects directly to the ONT while the PC I am trying to RDP to connected to one of the LAN ports on the router.

I have a Gigabit UFB connection with Skinny. To the best of my knowledge Skinny are no longer using CG NAT as the WAN IP of my router is the same IP I get when I enter what's my IP on Google from my PC.

I have configured Port Forwading/Destination PAT (WAN address:5555 --> 192.168.1.30:3389) as per below

I tested on various port forward checking websites and it's showing the connection as closed/filtered.

Troubleshooting done so far :

- When an RDP connection is made from an external device on the internet, in this case from a 2degrees 4G connection, from the connection logs I can see on the Asus router, it appears to be allowing the inbound TCP connection as per below

Oct 30 18:37:29 kernel: ACCEPT IN=ppp0 OUT=br0 MAC= SRC=118.148.x.x DST=192.168.1.30 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=248 ID=48485 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=11138 DPT=3389 SEQ=728927993 ACK=0 WINDOW=4380 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405AC010303030101080AC3B100AB0000000004020000)
Oct 30 18:37:32 kernel: ACCEPT IN=ppp0 OUT=br0 MAC= SRC=118.148.x.x DST=192.168.1.30 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=248 ID=2910 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=11138 DPT=3389 SEQ=728927993 ACK=0 WINDOW=4380 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405AC010303030101080AC3B10C630000000004020000)
Oct 30 18:37:35 kernel: ACCEPT IN=ppp0 OUT=br0 MAC= SRC=118.148.x.x DST=192.168.1.30 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=248 ID=41649 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=11138 DPT=3389 SEQ=728927993 ACK=0 WINDOW=4380 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405AC010303030101080AC3B1181B0000000004020000)
Oct 30 18:37:38 kernel: ACCEPT IN=ppp0 OUT=br0 MAC= SRC=118.148.x.x DST=192.168.1.30 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=248 ID=50754 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=11138 DPT=3389 SEQ=728927993 ACK=0 WINDOW=4380 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0 OPT (020405AC04020000)

- Turned off Windows Firewall/Defender

- Tried using other external ports - 3389, 5150, 7777, etc

- Confirmed inbound RDP is enabled on the PC

- Confirmed port TCP 3389 on the PC is listening

- Ran a Wireshark capture on the PC when making a connection attempt; I do not see any inbound RDP traffic at all

From what I gather the inbound traffic is getting past the firewall but for some reason never arrives at the destination. I'd appreciate any advice to troubleshoot this further.

SATTV

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#2117101 30-Oct-2018 20:39

Make sure RDP is allowed through the windows firewall.

Does RDP work when you are in the same lan?

John

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Yogi02

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#2117102 30-Oct-2018 20:40

I have found that sometimes when there is an intermittent problem, just re-entering the saved password will make it work.

Is it possible the IP address has changed?

Good Luck

davidcole

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#2117104 30-Oct-2018 20:42

Is that saying source port 11138?

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michaelmurfy

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#2117120 30-Oct-2018 21:18

Instead of doing that and opening yourself up (even if it is just for a short time) give Anydesk a go: https://anydesk.com/remote-desktop

Tree, tiny, works fast and is secure. Doesn't require you to open any ports etc and works through the harshest of firewalls.

I have it running as a service on my parents laptop and have a 100% success rate with logging in.

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Linkzor

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#2117131 30-Oct-2018 21:53

SATTV:

Make sure RDP is allowed through the windows firewall.

Does RDP work when you are in the same lan?

John

Yep I have added a rule on the Windows firewall and also tried with the firewall on and off. I am able to RDP to it from another device in the same network (192.168.1.0/24).

Yogi02:

I have found that sometimes when there is an intermittent problem, just re-entering the saved password will make it work.

Is it possible the IP address has changed?

Good Luck

Yep I am definitely trying to RDP to the correct public/WAN IP address. I have verified this in the router.

I have statically configured the IP address 192.168.1.30 on my PC.

I never get a prompt to enter the user name and password when trying to RDP, it just eventually times out because of no response from the remote end.

davidcole: Is that saying source port 11138?

That is the source port which is randomly generated. I tried connecting again and it used a different source port. The destination port is 3389.

michaelmurfy:

Instead of doing that and opening yourself up (even if it is just for a short time) give Anydesk a go: https://anydesk.com/remote-desktop

Tree, tiny, works fast and is secure. Doesn't require you to open any ports etc and works through the harshest of firewalls.

I have it running as a service on my parents laptop and have a 100% success rate with logging in.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out now. Do you know if it supports wake on LAN?

xpd

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#2117171 31-Oct-2018 07:36

I use Anydesk every day, great product.

As for WOL, I dont think it does.

XPD / Gavin

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surfisup1000

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#2117178 31-Oct-2018 08:07

It should be working and you have done most of the things I'd have tried.

So, something is conflicting in either the router or in windows.

Reset your router to factory settings, and reconfigure port forwarding.

Then try resetting your windows networking...

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network reset.
On the Network reset screen, select Reset now > Yes to confirm.

Wait for your PC to restart and see if that fixes the problem.

Can you run a DMZ test? Or possibly reinstall windows if it is an old installation could be messed up.

Linkzor

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#2117190 31-Oct-2018 08:27

surfisup1000:

It should be working and you have done most of the things I'd have tried.

So, something is conflicting in either the router or in windows.

Reset your router to factory settings, and reconfigure port forwarding.

Then try resetting your windows networking...

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network reset.
On the Network reset screen, select Reset now > Yes to confirm.

Wait for your PC to restart and see if that fixes the problem.

Can you run a DMZ test? Or possibly reinstall windows if it is an old installation could be messed up.

I only had a few minutes to spare this morning before work so didn't have time to do a factory reset but thanks for reminding me about the DMZ feature on the Asus router. I placed my PC in the DMZ and was able to RDP to it over the internet finally. When I removed it from the DMZ I was still able to RDP to it so all is well now

Hooray for consumer grade junk eh.

michaelmurfy

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#2117192 31-Oct-2018 08:32

Just remember with DMZ you're exposing your whole PC to the internet. If it is not if, it is when to it being pwned.

surfisup1000

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#2117236 31-Oct-2018 09:01

michaelmurfy:

Just remember with DMZ you're exposing your whole PC to the internet. If it is not if, it is when to it being pwned.

Yes, that is true.

But I suppose this proves that it is the router or router config which is causing the problem.

I would think exposing RDP ports is probably a huge risk anyway. I used to do this years ago, but i was getting some events in my event log that looked like someone had gained access to my machine.

CYaBro

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#2117237 31-Oct-2018 09:03

And if you do get it working I would definitely put something like Duo on there for 2FA.

It's free!

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