Windows XP Remote Desktop with ICS? 1

[crazy888s]

This may be a simple question and it may have been asked before, but I cant find a solution. Here's the scenario: I want to access my XP machine over the internet using the built-in XP "remote desktop connection" software. My setup at home has a cable modem going into a windows 2000 pro machine. This Win2000 machine shares the internet using Internet Connection Sharing to my XP machine and has ZoneAlarm Installed. How do I let a computer located outside my network access my XP machine over the internet? From within my network at home, the program works perfect. I know that a router can fix this, but I want to know if it can be done using my current setup. Thanks in advance!

 

[bcastner]

You need to forwared port 3389.

Here's how:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q231/1/62.asp&NoWebContent=1

A good source of information:

http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com/

 

[jpm121]

See crazy, I told ya someone would have an idea...

 

[bcastner]

It does not hurt to forward port 80 as well. Often a web server wants this port, but you can configure custom ports as the articles above indicate.

 

[bcastner]

This is the GUI interface to the process, which is the easiest way to approach the job:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...sxp/home/using/productdoc/en/hnw_dc_using.asp

 

[crazy888s]

Yeah jpm121, I knew somebody on this site would have something too, haha. That's why I love this place.

Alright, here's an update on my status. First of all, thanks for all the input bcastner. In your first link, the inf file didnt seem to work. Could it be because it's a Windows 2000 machine that needs the port forwarded? The article says the INF file is for Win98 and ME. I tried it on my 2000 machine anyway, and I'm pretty sure I changed everything as explained in the file...it had pretty simple instructions to follow actually. But it didnt work.

The last link didnt tell me much except little things, like how to show the ICS connection on the taskbar, or how to rename it, etc. I tried to browse a little bit there, but I eventually realized that all of that setup information is for windows xp, and again, the windows 2000 professional machine is the one that needs to be configured to forward that port to xp, right?

 

[bcastner]

Yes, the forwarding direction is done on the ICS host machine to the XP machine.
The process is identical under XP, but here is a Win2k specific description of the GUI method.

You want to do this twice. Once for 3389, and once for 80:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...professional/help/howto_share_conn_config.htm

 

[crazy888s]

Yeah, last night I did some google searching and I tried the procedure described in the link above. I'm not at the machine now though and wont be able to be on it for about 3 hours. But I tried forwarding ports 80 and 3389 both like you said. I tried it in the applications tab, then in the services tab, then in both. I tried selecting TCP and then UDP even though I think TCP is what i want. None of the combinations worked. Yes, I turned ZoneAlarm off just in case it was blocking me.

Could it be maybe the INF file I tried before is still installed and i didnt do something right on it....should i uninstall it or is it ok?

Could it be that when I try to access my XP machine over the web, i'm sitting at my windows 2000 machine. In the remote Desktop Connection program, I tell it to connect to my own internet IP Address. I'm thinking that this goes over the web, then should come back like any other computer trying to gain access to my PC. It should see the port, forward it to my XP machine, and connect to it if I'm not mistaken.

Anothter thing I read last night had to do with installing Internet Information Services (ISS) from the Windows Components, particularly the Remote Desktop Web Connection settings. Would this have to be installed and set up any certain way? I dont know much about it. I did install it last night just to experiment a bit. It gave me web access to my 2000 PC using Internet Explorer and my IP address. It seemed to make my win2000 PC act as a web server. I ended up uninstalling these components though as I still couldnt get to my XP machine.

Thanks so much for listening to my ramble and for your patience on the matter.

 

[bcastner]

Several things.

One, you do not need to use the Web Client, but it is a nice thing.

"NOTE: For those that use a firewall or cable/DSL router, make sure you open port 3389 TCP Inbound to your server running remote desktop. Keep in mind that the IIS Server only needs to be running if you need to use the WEB CONNECTION portion of Remote desktop. If you have a Windows XP machine using as the client, you can avoid using the web server to handle the Remote desktop connection. If you use IIS specifically for Remote desktop web connections, we suggest you put the IIS server on an alternate port other than port 80. This may help avoid any issues with worms such as NIMDA and others that search for IIS servers on port 80."

My only addition here is that you can use the


Two, the important value is the listening port. Make sure this is set properly on the XP:

Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
Locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber

On the Edit menu, click Modify, click Decimal. Does it read 3389? if not, change it.

Third, from your remote site. Make sure you edit the connection information properly:

For example, to connect to port 3390 on a computer named "MyXPPro," type the following information:
MyXPPro:3390

To connect to port 3391 on a computer with IP address 10.10.10.1, type the following information:
10.10.10.1:3391

Remember you do not want to use the IP of the XP host, you want to use the WAN IP obtained by the ICS host on its internet interface.

So if the XP desktop on the LAN has an IP of 192.168.0.4, this is not the IP you would use.

Which leads me to my next thought.

Four, if you are going to be doing this regularly, you should use a DDNS service. There are free ones available. Essentially this takes your ICS host WAN IP and allows you to give it a name accessible from regular internet DNS servers. So if you used such a service, and set up the relay client on the ICS host, a name you choose acts just like any other internet name like

http://www.yahoo.com.

The link site I gave earlier has examples using TZO DDNS, but the example is perfectly apt for other such DDNS services.

http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com/ow.asp?Remote_Network_Home/RemoteDesktop/HowtoArticles#h3

Do a Google search on DDNS to find the many available, some free.

Please report back if you continue to have problems. One subtle thing that does help: Make sure you have upgraded your Directx version to at least 9.0a.

 

[crazy888s]

I can’t get it. There has to be something we’re missing here…this is so frustrating! Don’t you just love computers…jeeze. Yes, the registry says port 3389 is listening on my xp machine. I’ve known the nameort syntax and I have tried that with multiple combinations. Anything I type that uses a local name or address works. But that isn’t what I want. For example, ‘adam’ is the name of this XP machine. If I tell the program to connect to ‘adam’, it works. If I tell it to connect to ‘adam:3389’, it works. If I tell it to connect to its local address of ‘192.168.0.101’ or ‘192.168.0.101:3389’, it works. (also, I tried “192.168.0.1:3390” as a port test and it didn’t work. So 3389 is for sure the port it’s using). This local connection doesn’t help me though. I want to get access to my XP machine from outside my LAN over the internet. Anything that has comes from outside my network though cant get in. For example, if I tell the program to connect to my ISP assigned IP address of 12.xxx.xxx.xxx, or 12.xxx.xxx.xxx:3389, it doesn’t work (that is the IP of my ICS computer).

I completely uninstalled ZoneAlarm thinking it may be blocking something even though it’s supposedly disabled (I’ve had that happen before). That didn’t help though.

I’ve have DirectX 9.0b. installed.

Bcastner, did you forget something when you said “My only addition here is that you can use the” then stopped suddenly…haha. Were you going to say something about accessing it with the web client? And I’d like to figure out how to make it work this way before I get DDNS service, although that is a great idea that I will look into.

 

[bcastner]

“My only addition here is that you can use th"

I though I had edited that line better. I started to explain how to use the RD client on non-XP machines but quickly realize it was not an issue.

Not trying to be mysterious.

BTW, the Web Client is kinda cool.

 

[bcastner]

Do me a favor as a test. Connect the XP machine up directly to the internet and try it from a friends XP or again from the office and tell me what happens.

This rules out everything possible between your work machine and your home XP.

I think we could learn a lot from this. Like, if it does not work, we need to look well beyound ICS.

I will ponder the problem tonight.

 

[crazy888s]

I will do that...I'll let you know what happens! thanks for not scaring away in my times of pain...haha.

 

[crazy888s]

Ok, I connected my XP machine directly to the internet with my cable modem. I used a laptop to dial an ISP and got online. Using the same method as before, I successfully connected to my XP machine no problem! So the problem has to be within my win 2000 ICS computer somewhere, or in my network setup somehow.

The XP machine right now is being dynamically assigned an IP address from the 2000 ICS machine. I know this and i have made sure the address is accurate with that INF file you recommended earlier. I messed around with it some more a bit, but ended up taking out all of those new registry keys because I dont think they are necessary in windows 2000 and may just be making the situation worse. The instructions on the INF page said for 98 and ME anyway. And on a website i was researching, it had the 2000 port forwarding and 98/ME instructions on completely seperate pages. It had the 2000 method using GUI as described in the microsoft/win2000 link you put above... no reg keys or inf file. Where i was going with this was that in the 2000 port forwarding GUI, you dont have to supply an IP address, but you can instead forward to a computer name. So i figure no matter what IP is assigned to my XP machine, the WIN2000 machine should know where to send the packets. When i do a "Ping Adam" (the name of my xp machine), it finds my machine and pings the IP successfully. That convinces me that dynamic addressing should be ok. However, nothing else seems to work! =) So maybe i should try static?

Eh...no more tonight for me! We'll continue this war again tomorrow....

Out.

 

[bcastner]

Okay, starting to look for "gotchas"

One issue that has bothered me is the use of the Netbios name for the Service/port forward entry.

Note this obscure fact:

To configure a service to be redirected to an internal host, use the following steps only if ICS is enabled for the connection:
Click the service in the list and make sure its check box is selected.
Click Edit.
In the Name or IP address box, type the name or IP address of the internal host on which the service is running.

It is typically a good idea to use a fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) name when you specify a name. For Windows XP, ICS uses MSHOME.NET as the domain name. Therefore, if the name of the internal server is SERV1, the fully qualified name is SERV1.MSHOME.NET.

***** end quote

Now, I do not know what Win2k uses as the default Domain name for the ICS host machine. But it seems clear to me that rather than specify a Netbios name for the service entry, an IP address would be preferred.

 

[crazy888s]

I bought a router. Yes, I gave in...i feel ashamed. But hey, the remote desktop sharing finally works like it's supposed to! Time to move on to better things...

thanks for all the assistance and brainstorming though.

 

[crazy888s]

and as for using a 'fully qualified name'...I did try the current IP address of the 'Adam' machine. I think that would be the most reliable and accurate method of routing ports, but that didnt work either.

The only reason i didnt want to use the IP address and was attempting to use the computer name was because the network is setup with dynamic IP addresses, so the IP would have always been changing. It was either try using the computer name or assign static IP addresses, and i just never got around to trying that. thanks again.