problem connecting to Remote Desktop

[ThePiston]

I can easily get onto my frontdesk's Remote Desktop (RD) by just putting "frontdesk" into the Computer on the RD logon. I can't connect using the computer's IP address though. This is the list of firewalls I have and how they are setup:

Router: port forwarded to "frontdesk" for special port I made up for RD (5555 for sake of argument). Also, all macs are properly input and working properly into the mac filter.

Software firewall: all of my trusted IP zones are inlcuded and working properly.

I put in 123.123.123.123:5555 for "Computer" and get error that syas can't connect.

I made the computer the DMZ host, but still isn't working.

Can you think of something easy I'm overlooking? I'm getting the "can't connect to his computer" error which means it can't even reach my computer much less begin the RD process. I turned off the software firewall and still got same error.

Any other way to trouble shoot? I can ping the router and I added my router's mac to the mac filter list.

 

[Gillbot]

Windows firewall on?

 

[ThePiston]

nope, shoulda told u that, sorry

 

[RebateMonger]

Are you trying to connect to your router's EXTERNAL IP address from INSIDE your office, and then forward that to an internal Remote Desktop computer?

If so, try it from an OUTSIDE computer. Routers often intercept requests to your own IP addresses and refuse to forward them properly.

I've spent hours trying to test an internally-hosted website, with no success. Only to realize that it was working all along. The router was messing with me. I just had to come in through an outside computer.

 

[ThePiston]

yeah, i'll try to do it from home - i thought i could do it from here. A friend of mine can't get onto it either though from his external PC. Just wondering if there's somethign special i need to do since I'm using 2 NAT computers.

 

[RebateMonger]

Maybe I don't understand what you did....

You've got an incoming router that is doing Port Address Translation (port forwarding) of some port (normally TCP 3389) to a single IP address within your network? That should work fine, assuming that all the inbound firewalls are open for that port. If you aren't using port 3389, then be sure to reconfigure Remote Desktop on the receiving computer to listen on the non-standard port.

Configuring Remote Desktop to Listen on non-standard Port.

What are your "two NAT computers"?

 

[ThePiston]

yep, i changed the port 3389 to 5555 for security reasons. The port forwarding router is forwarding all 5555 requests to the computer that I configured to use Remote Desktop with port 5555. I am using ip:5555 as my "Computer" logon address (I can use "frontdesk" in the intranet)

My 2 NAT coputers are 1) the one with RD enabled on it and 2) the one at home I'd like to use to get to #1.

 

[justinmann]

Hmm... if you can type in "frontdesk" then it sounds like your port is still set to 3389. If you've already changed the listening port to 5555, then you'll need to reboot the computer and log in before you connect (the regedit doesn't take affect until you log back in (go figure)).

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: ThePiston
My 2 NAT coputers are 1) the one with RD enabled on it and 2) the one at home I'd like to use to get to #1.

Your home computer being NAT'ed isn't the problem. I Remote Desktop to client's servers, through their routers, from my NAT'ed PC all the time.

 

[scottws]

Ok, on my router I can route external port requests to another port internally.

For instance with remote desktop what I would want to do (assuming I didn't change the registry regarding the port Remote Desktop listens on by default) is to have the router redirect externally originating requests coming in on 5555 to port 3389 for the IP address of the computer on which I have Remote Desktop Configured. Then for the software firewall on the actual PC, I open up port 3389.

Remote Desktop is listening on port 3389 unless you change the registry, regardless what port you want to direct requests to. So if externally you are typing 123.456.789.123:5555* and then the router is directing that traffic to 192.168.2.3:5555 (port 5555 on the PC on which RD is configured), Remote Desktop isn't going to "hear" it.

You want your router to direct trafic coming in on port 5555 to 192.168.2.3:3389, or change the registry to have RD listen on 5555.

*All IP addresses are for example only.

 

[RebateMonger]

ThePiston,

Have you gotten Remote Desktop to work using the standard 3389 port?

Getting Remote Desktop to work is normally a piece of cake:
1) Allow inbound TCP traffic on port 3389 through all firewalls.
2) Do Port Address Translation for TCP Port 3389 to the IP address of the computer you want to remotely control.
3) Set the client (PRESUMABLY Windows XP Professional or Server 2003) to allow incoming Remote Desktop connections.
4) Allow Remote Desktop connections for the User account doing the connection.

Bingo. That's all there is. Done it a zillion times with no problems.

I assume:
A) The router port address translation isn't working properly or is set up incorrectly.
or
B) Not all of the inbound firewalls have been told about 3389
or
C) The MAC address settings are screwing you up.

Obviously, you aren't setting MAC address screening for the computer trying to remote in, since MAC addresses aren't readable across subnets...not to mention across the Internet....

 

[ThePiston]

fixed it - something stupid just like i knew it would be. I didn't reboot after I changed default port, works fine now.... thanks everyone.

 

[Wyck]

Some DSL 'modems' have built in firewalls that they don't advertise. Even if you have your firewall/router configured properly, the modem may be holding up the show. Due to a lack of documentation I once had to call an ISP to figure this out. Have you been able to make any internal services available via the internet?

 

[ThePiston]

i fixed it, something stupid - forgot to reboot