Remote Desktop

[maneetb]

and how do I find my external ip address! that's not the simple 192.168.1.100 I assume.

So it works when using wifi for me but I just can't do it without being on the same network as the computer. I want to be able to control thecomputer from like school or work.

[holo]

Originally Posted by maneetb

and how do I find my external ip address! that's not the simple 192.168.1.100 I assume.

So it works when using wifi for me but I just can't do it without being on the same network as the computer. I want to be able to control thecomputer from like school or work.

Your router should tell you, otherwise there are many sites out there that will tell you. A quick google gave this one: http://www.ipaddressworld.com/

Note that you will probably have to forward the port in your router (unless it supports UPNP and you have windows set to forward it automatically in your router (not sure if it will do this for remote desktop)...

If this is too confusing for you just try it with that address (and it may very well work without doing anything), if it doesn't work you will have to forward the port in your router. If it works now, ignore the next section:

This is accomplished usually by visiting http://192.168.1.1 on your home computer, logging into the router (often the password is simply admin with no username, otherwise you may need to look it up in your router's manual which is usually available online from your router manufacturer's website).

Go into the port forwarding area and forward port 3389 to your computer's internal IP (192.168.1.100). Note that this address can change if you have multiple computers connecting to your home network and you are using dhcp. You can set it to not change somewhere in your router config, or if you only have one computer on there it might not ever change and you might not have to worry about it.

[Nickles]

Originally Posted by holo

Your router should tell you, otherwise there are many sites out there that will tell you. A quick google gave this one: http://www.ipaddressworld.com/

Note that you will probably have to forward the port in your router (unless it supports UPNP and you have windows set to forward it automatically in your router (not sure if it will do this for remote desktop)...

If this is too confusing for you just try it with that address (and it may very well work without doing anything), if it doesn't work you will have to forward the port in your router. If it works now, ignore the next section:

This is accomplished usually by visiting http://192.168.1.1 on your home computer, logging into the router (often the password is simply admin with no username, otherwise you may need to look it up in your router's manual which is usually available online from your router manufacturer's website).

Go into the port forwarding area and forward port 3389 to your computer's internal IP (192.168.1.100). Note that this address can change if you have multiple computers connecting to your home network and you are using dhcp. You can set it to not change somewhere in your router config, or if you only have one computer on there it might not ever change and you might not have to worry about it.

this was a tremendous help for me..
i can now remote, from my work location, to my home PC through my device.
when i jumped for joy and ran over to show my developer buddies 3 cubes down, they laughed at how seemingly unsecured this was.
however, i had to 'allow' incoming connections from my device IP address, before my Kaspersky firewall would accept that connection.

with that said, IS this really all that secure, and could anyone with a packet sniffer actually connect to my IP address and log in ?

I also DID port forward 3389 in my router admin.. should i un-do that ? or is that the action that actually allows this connection..
i'm just amazed at how simple it is now to be able to remote to my home machine like this ! but am slightly concerned at the security of it now...
any comments ?

[holo]

Originally Posted by Nickles

this was a tremendous help for me..
i can now remote, from my work location, to my home PC through my device.
when i jumped for joy and ran over to show my developer buddies 3 cubes down, they laughed at how seemingly unsecured this was.
however, i had to 'allow' incoming connections from my device IP address, before my Kaspersky firewall would accept that connection.

with that said, IS this really all that secure, and could anyone with a packet sniffer actually connect to my IP address and log in ?

I also DID port forward 3389 in my router admin.. should i un-do that ? or is that the action that actually allows this connection..
i'm just amazed at how simple it is now to be able to remote to my home machine like this ! but am slightly concerned at the security of it now...
any comments ?

You have to forward this port for it to work. One way to make it more secure is to pick a random port and forward it for 3389 on your internal machine. You can, say, forward port 33421 to port 3389 on your internal machine. Then you enter your_ip:33421 into the remote desktop app. This would block 99% of people trying to get into your machine or looking for one to get into even if your remote desktop was not secure.

Remote desktop is secure though anyways, as long as you don't have any easy to guess passwords on accounts you allow remote connections on. Remote desktop is also encrypted so you can't just sniff it and connect. Many businesses use it.

If a security flaw is ever found in remote desktop, as long as you have windows update on, your computer will automatically patch it anyways, but changing the port will keep anyone looking for that kind of thing out.

Edit: use a port from about 10000 to 65535 (the maximum port number)....