XP/2000 Remote Desktop network setup

[rchadd]

help- i want to setup my Win2000 desktop pc to be able to connect to my mame cab using remote desktop access. my cab pc is running WinXP Pro. i got a crossover network cable.

can anyone provide help on what network stuff i need to setup to do this?

i assume that both pc's machine would have to be on the same ip sub-net?

my desktop pc is connected to internet 100% using cable modem and has ip address allocated dynamically.

i want to still be able to access the internet on the desktop pc, whilst also connecting to the cab via the remote desktop client..

appreciate any help you can provide on how to do this.

[Hoagie_one]

VNC is what i use to log onto my basement computer from the livingroom laptop

And its free

[Darkstalker]

help- i want to setup my Win2000 desktop pc to be able to connect to my mame cab using remote desktop access. my cab pc is running WinXP Pro. i got a crossover network cable.

I belive you have to send an invitation from the XP machine in order to get "Remote assistance" so that might not work.  I've never messed with it myself, I only have experience with the Terminal Server in 2000 Server.  I would suggest VNC as rchadd suggested, PCAnywhere, or GoToMyPC.  VNC is pretty CPU intensive on the host, and I don't think it supports sending files yet, but it is the only one of the three that are zero cost.

can anyone provide help on what network stuff i need to setup to do this?

Two NICs, and a crossover cable.

i assume that both pc's machine would have to be on the same ip sub-net?

In order to skip needing a router to hop networks, you assume correctly.

my desktop pc is connected to internet 100% using cable modem and has ip address allocated dynamically."

That gets a lot trickier.  I don't think you can assign a static IP address and still have DHCP active on the card.  In Win2k, when you go to the TCP/IP settings on the NIC, the Advanced section says "DCHP enabled" so you can't add in a second address.  XP will only let you assign a static IP as a failover option with DCHP enabled.

It would probably be easier to put a second NIC in your desktop PC and use the private addresses on that card.

i want to still be able to access the internet on the desktop pc, whilst also connecting to the cab via the remote desktop client..

If you put a second NIC in your desktop system, that shouldn't be a problem.

[CMIVXX]

Ok, I can help ya.

#1, Make sure you have the terminal services windows component installed on the Win2k machine.  Check it by going to CONTROL PANEL > ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS > ADD/REMOVE WINDOWS COMPONENTS (on the left).  Look through the list to find Terminal Services.  You may have to dig around a little since I haven't installed a 2k machine in a while.

#2, DHCP (dynamic IP) is gonna make ya miserable if your trying to do this on a regular basis.  I'm assuming your using some kind of a router right?  That means you can statically assign an IP.  If you've already done this, skip to step 3, if not, continue.   You will need the IP address of the machine (2k) in order to connect to it, so on the win2k machine, do the following: START > RUN > type "cmd" (without quotes) in the box and hit ok.  Now you should have a black DOS style screen.  Type "ipconfig /all" (without quotes).  A bunch of info will be on the screen, and one of the lines will read IP Address.  Viola, you have the IP.  Just rerun this IP anytime you want to connect to the 2k machine and you'll be good.

#3, Open up the remote desktop client on XP and type in the IP Address you just got and away you go.  Keep in mind that only users with password can connect via RD, so you may have to assign passwords to users to get this to work.

***  This is how I will work with managing my cab once it's completed.  Remote Desktop is the king.  VNC is good, but this one kicks ass.

***  Also note that I hope you don't plan on trying to actually play any of your games over remote desktop.  It will more than likely screw something up and crash one or both of the machines.   Just FYI.

Good luck, and PM me if you need any additional help.  I do this network crap all the time.  

[bishmasterb]

First off, I assume you are only connecting to the XP computer for admin purposes, right? You won't be able to play games over RDP, or any other remote control protocol.

Yes, definitely use RDP (Remote Desktop), it's free from MS and has much better performance than VNC.

The server component is already built into XP Pro, simply go to the System Control Panel, remote tab and turn on Remote Control, additionally, tell it which users have the ability to attach and run a terminal session (by default the local administrators group will have access, so if your user is already in that group you are good to go).

Secondly, download the latest RDP client for Windows 2000 Pro, available from MS:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8255ffc-4b4a-40e7-a706-cde7e9b57e79&DisplayLang=en

Lastly, ensure that you have a proper physical and protocol connection between the computers. Crossover cable will work if you only have two computer. Setup static IP addresses on the two machines such as 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

Ensure you can ping between the computers, run the Remote Desktop Client from the Win2000 computer and you are all set.

[rchadd]

thanks bish - thats pretty much what i thought

yes i just want to admin the cab - copy files over etc

as i need to assign local static ip addresses to establish RDP connection over TCPIP i assume during this time i will not be able to access internet on the desktop machine?

is there a way that i still can keep the inet connection active?

i dont have a router - desktop pc is connected directed to inet via usb cable modem

[Calawala]

is there a way that i still can keep the inet connection active?

There is a way.  It is called "Internet Connection Sharing" in XP.   Goto the start menu, then Help and Support, then do a search on it.

I have never set this up as I use an external router (Netgear RP614), but I suspect that all it takes is to establish connection between the 2 PCs as Bish described, and then enable internet sharing on the USB connection, which should show up as a seperate connection in the Network Connections control panel.  This will in effect turn your XP pc into a router.

edit:  after you have read up a bit on the Internet Connection Sharing, run the "Network Setup Wizard" on the XP pc to help you set it up.  The wizard can be found in two places: Goto the start menu, all programs, accessories, communications, Network Setup Wizard.   Or open up the Network Connections control panel and goto the File menu.

[namzep]

Along these same lines of question what if I wanted to connect to a PC running XP Pro (remote desktop is already setup on it) from a PC running Win 98.  What program would be best to do this with?  Basically, I'd like to be able to control some torrents that I leave running on my machine when I go to visit my girlfriend.

[Calawala]

Namzep, follow the link Bish posted to download the RDP client.  It will work on win98.

From the download web page link:

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center Edition

[CMIVXX]

Oops...   I just realized I had the computers backwards...   My bad.  

[Ted_Striker]

The Remote Desktop stuff is also on the XP cd.  If you want to run it from a Windows 98 box to XP, just pop in the cd and install the Remote desktop client on the 98 machine.  Then use remote desktop like everyone has told you too.  No need to download it if you have the cd.

[mcdo15]

The Remote Desktop stuff is also on the XP cd.  If you want to run it from a Windows 98 box to XP, just pop in the cd and install the Remote desktop client on the 98 machine.  Then use remote desktop like everyone has told you too.  No need to download it if you have the cd.

this is the easiest and correct answer ...
you can download this also

just on the xp side, make sure you enable remote connection enable (PRO  not HOME) and make sure your user account you want to access has a password

[cdbrown]

And I think the remote pc needs to be logged off.  I may be wrong on this but that's how I do it.  My home PC is XP Pro with Remote Desktop enabled.  Also make sure to go into Services and set all the Remote services to Manual.  I originally had some set to disabled (tweaking services) and of course it didn't work.

I have successfully connected to my home pc in the cab from work.  I just installed the Remote Desktop program on 2K pro using the XP pro disk.  It is very simple to set up.  Big thanks to planetjay for helping me get it going.  It's nice to have full control over my cab from work.

[bishmasterb]

If the host PC is logged on, it will be logged out automatically when you connect to it (although the remote PC will get a warning).

Also, I forgot to mention, that unlike VNC and PC Anywhere, RDP gives you a separate, distinct session on the remote box, not a view into the current session, hence the need for logging out the current user.

[cdbrown]

Also if it's just so you want to copy files etc, you can set the mame folder on the cab as a share folder then you don't actually need to remote into that pc.  You can see the directory as a network share and be able to copy, delete etc.  To do this you'll need to properly set up the network - domain etc.

If the PC is set up on the domain then you can just type the name of the PC into Remote Desktop Connection instead of the ip.

can you tell me the ip of your desktop - this will be issued by the modem most likely.  Using the cab pc you can set the ip of that network card but most likely it won't change too often anyway.

[drunkatuw]

http://www.dslwebserver.com/main/sbs-remote-desktop-overview.html

This is the best step-by-step guide I've seen for using RDP.  I've been using it for a year and it's 10x faster than VNC.  Another nice thing is that you can open it inside a web browser (IE only) so you don't even need to download the client software (of course you can do this with most VNC clients as well).

[rchadd]

i've just tried setting up RDP but having problem when trying to use the client to connect to the host.

I have set up TCPIP network connection between my client machine (win200) and host machine (xp) using crossover cable and manually assigned ip addresses. I am able to ping each machine from the other using its assigned ip address. i have enabled RDP incoming connections on XP's System control panel.

so why do i get the attached error message when i try to connect to the host using the RDP client?

how can i check that rdp host is running correctly? are there certain processes that should be running?

incidently...in the network neighbour hood on the win2k client machine i do not see the other machine listed. why is this? i can ping it ok? is this related to being unable to connect using the RDP client?

thanks for any advice to get this working - i really would like to use RDP to do some maintenance to my mame cab

[Darkstalker]

i've just tried setting up RDP but having problem when trying to use the client to connect to the host.

I have set up TCPIP network connection between my client machine (win200) and host machine (xp) using crossover cable and manually assigned ip addresses. I am able to ping each machine from the other using its assigned ip address. i have enabled RDP incoming connections on XP's System control panel.

so why do i get the attached error message when i try to connect to the host using the RDP client?

The service is not running, or the port is blocked.

how can i check that rdp host is running correctly? are there certain processes that should be running?

Check your services on the machine, should list Terminal Services or RDP host (whichever) as "running".

incidently...in the network neighbour hood on the win2k client machine i do not see the other machine listed. why is this? i can ping it ok? is this related to being unable to connect using the RDP client?

Probably not.  If you can ping it, that means the TCP stack is working and the computers can communicate on the line.  The problem is a services or port blocking issue.  If you installed SP2 on the XP machine, make sure the TCP/IP ports for remote assistance aren't blocked in the new firewall.  There's another setting to allow incoming requests as well, I believe in the System icon in the Control Panel.

edit: Exactly, see the above post to see where to check all of the required settings on the XP machine.

[Edgedamage]

Did you turn the RD on in the system menu?

[rchadd]

Did you turn the RD on in the system menu?

yes i have done that

do you know name of the processe/service(s) that should be running for RDP host to be operational?

i think i need to check they are running

[rchadd]

i've got it working now  

the Terminal Services service was disabled on the host machine!