Hello all, i am just about to buy a win 7 pc which will be a workhorse that is tucked away somewhere. Is it possible for me to use remote desktop to take control of the win 7 machine using an old XP laptop? I have a little home plug network at home if that helps, i can easily have them linked on LAN. Appreciate your thoughts Cheers
easiest way is to use logmein if you want a quick login easy setup (just run an installer) and access from anywhere in the world, besides that there is always remote desktop in windows and many other alternatives
Like deathtaker said. You can remote desktop into your machine, but something like logmein or teamviewer would also do the trick
Yes, Windows Remote Desktop (built-in Windows) allows you to do this. All you have to do, once setup (easy to do), is to type in your computer IP address or computer name. For example: I have 2 computers. -> COMPY1 with a network IP address of 192.162.1.100 -> LAPY486, with IP 192.162.1.101. All I have to do, is have both computer turn on (not sleeping, of course). on LAPY486 computer, I start Windows Remote Desktop, and type in as address: COMP1 or 192.168.1.100 They will both connect to COMP1. It's that simple. If your outside of your home network.. let's say your laptop is at a coffee shop, then obviously, you need to enter your home IP address. Trying COMPY1 or 192.162.1.100 will not work, as Remote Desktop will look if they are any of these computers on the coffee shop. How to setup Windows Remote Desktop: Requirements -> Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, or 8. (Windows 2000 can't be connected to it) -> The computer that you want to connect to, must any edition that is NOT a home edition of Windows. So that means, in your case, your Windows 7 needs to be Business or Ultimate edition (Or Enterprise). If it is Home Premium, then you can't connect to. All it can do, is connect to OTHER computers that fits the above. -> The account that you will connect via remote desktop needs to have a password. This is obvious, else anyone that knows your IP address can connect to your computer. Setup -> All you have to do , is turn it on. Go to Start > Computer > System Propreties > Remote Settings (on the blue right side column) You see the following panel: Now, you want to select the option in the middle (circle in red). This will allow you older Windows (Windows 2000 and XP) to connect to your system. It's less secure medium (not as well encrypted). Click on OK, and your done! To be able to connect from the outside to your home computer. You need to configure the router. It's actually not hard, and this is once configuration. The reason why you need to this, is because, well firstly your router needs to know that it should accept connections from remote desktop, second to know to which computer it need to redirect it to. Remember you have 1 IP address to your home. how is it supposed to know which computer you are trying to connect. So that is what we need to do. So it's really easy. Refer to your router instruction manual for assistance. But what you want to find is the section in the option panel of your router called Port Forwarding. (it's at the same configuration panel, that you accessed via your web browser to set up your wireless password). It's actually the exact spot where you configure your games network, to allow hosting of online matches. In the case of Linksys routers, in your web browser type: 192.162.1.1. Then you go under Applications & Gaming > Single Port Forwarding Looks like this: Set any name, set the port to 3389 (I got that from the help doc of remote desktop, if you wonder), and set the last digit of the computer that I want to connect to, of my home network. To know what is the home network IP address, of the computer you wish to connect to is simple. In Windows, open the Windows Command Prompt (XP: Start > Run > type: cmd > Enter, Win7: Start > type: cmd > Enter), and type in the command prompt: ipconfig, and hit Enter. Once set, click on Save settings button on the web page, and your done, and ready to go. Benefits of Windows Remote Desktop: -> Excellent compression and speed -> Connects directly to YOUR computer. It is not depending of another server. So it's more secure, and more private -> Built-in Windows, Windows knows when a dialog box shows, when a window changes, and so on.. so it can refresh only the spot that changes, so you end up with amazing performance, and never miss on anything that happens. For example, if an error message pop-up of a software, you are sure that you'll see, and your won't go "Why I can't click anymore on the program" -> It also support Windows Vista/7/8. User Account Control dialog boxes, So you can do administrator elevated stuff from distance. -> Uses a direct port to access a computer, so it's a lot faster than using HTTP where HTTP was designed for web pages transfer, not constant stream of pictures.
One catch - Home versions don't have Remote Desktop server. Or better said, it is disabled. So if you want to use it legally, you need at elast W7 Pro.
It's a illegal. There is no "gray area". Stop trying to void people Windows activations (as mentioned in the End-User License agreement of Windows)
Fine, removed the name of the "solution". Btw, do you realize it is still available on Windows Experts Community, and the post and whole thread was not removed by Microsoft for more than 2 years. That is why i said legally grey area. If Microsoft would really try to block this, wouldn't be their own forums the first thing to clean ?
Teamviewer is really v good when you are working over the internet with someone else that cant set up a router. On your own network then RDP is by far the best. I used to connect to home from work via RDP until I got win 7 and it didnt have it in hp!
