Remote Desktop Connection. I can't log into my host computer "@home" from my laptop elsewhere? I need help

Question

I can connect my laptop computer "client" and home computer "host" when I am at my home's wireless router. I can log into via: on the same network at home using Remote Desktop but I cannot do the same when I am on a different router (for eg. at my dad's house). I would like to connect to my home "host" computer from a different location. How can I make this work?

Answer 1

You need to see if you are forwarding the ports for remote desktop from your router to the machine you want to reach.

Your router will not direct traffic from outside to anywhere on the lan if it has not been told to do so! (That is one item that a router does well.) Think of it a the "FIRST WALL" when attempting to connect from outside in.

When you attempt to open remote desktop from "outside" the first thing it connects to is your router. Your router then asks what am I to do with this request? If you havent told it to forward that request (port) to a specific IP on the LAN then it just rejects the request and you dont connect.

The port used by Remote Desktop is 3389 (I think its the same as terminal services) so you need to be sure your router forwards port 3389 to the local machine you wish to connect into. You can see the full list of ports used for various services at :
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/support/articles/ref_net_ports_ms_prod.mspx

Good Luck

Answer 2

Go through this you might get better idea about
Remote Desktop Connection.

This software package will install the client portion of Remote Desktop on any of the following operating systems: Windows 95, Windows 98 and 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000. (This is the same version of the client software as in Windows XP Service Pack 1.) When run, this software allows older Windows platforms to remotely connect to a computer running Windows XP Professional with Remote Desktop enabled.

This package provides flexible deployment options of the full Terminal Services Client, including auto-repair through Windows Installer technology and application publishing via IntelliMirror™ management technologies or Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS).

Note The Remote Desktop Connection software is pre-installed with Windows XP. To run it, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection. This software package can also be found on the Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition product CDs and can be installed on any supported Windows platform. To install from the CD, insert the disc into the target machine's CD-ROM drive, select Perform Additional Tasks, and then click Install Remote Desktop Connection.

Answer 3

Only thing I could suggest is opening up an MMC by going to and typing MMC and adding snap-ins such as and . With that I believe there is a way to create a group policy or something to where you can log on from a remote router.

If you want help with that, send me an e-mail to [e-mail] and I can give you some instructions that could work.

Answer 4

Maybe your home's router configuration, you have to add your public ip adrdress that's in your dad's home to your home's router allowed accessed list , or simply you can use Gotomypc