Firstly lets look at which operating systems which allow computer remote control through RDC

Windows Vista, XP, 2000, 2003 server & ME all allow you to control other computers.

But only Windows Vista, XP and Windows 2003 system allow hosting, or you to connect and control them from any of the above operating systems.

To use computer remote control via RDC you’ll need at 2 pc’s one of each operating system type as above.

A host computer (the one you want to access remotely) that is running Microsoft Windows XP Vista or 2003 and is connected to the Internet.

Appropriate user accounts and permissions configured on the remote Windows XP Professional to allow remote access.

The IP address of your home computer. You can figure this out by simply typing CMD from run on the START menu and then typing IPCONFIG, this will then give you your IP address it will be something like 100.100.100.100

You will need to have tcp port 3389 open on your firewall. If your machine is behind a firewall or NAT’d router you will need to forward traffic on tcp port 3389 to your host computer.

Another point to think about is most IP addresses are allocated dynamically which means unless you either specify a static IP address or set your router to allocate the same address to your computer, the IP address will change at some stage, so if one day you connect fine and then next day you have no pc remote control connection this is most likely the reason.

On the host computer, double click the system icon, this can be found from the Start Menu/Control Panel. Click the Remote tab, and then click to select the Allow users to connect remotely check box. Administrators are granted access by default, but there is an option to add other user accounts if needed, this will then allow any specified users to connect and user pc remote control . Click on OK to save your changes.

Connecting to your computer

On the client PC, you will need the Remote Desktop Connection software or RDC. This will allow the pc remote control .

Computers running Windows XP, Vista and 2003 have this installed already, any other operating systems can run this but you need to download it free from Microsoft.

The next step is to run the Remote Desktop Connection software to being the pc remote control procedure . To do this, Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, Communications, and click Remote Desktop Connection. From here you just need to enter the IP address or DNS host name and click on connect.

Hopefully now you should have remote control of your required system.

pc remote control connection problems

If you fail to connect a few things to be aware of are Firewalls can easily stop RDC remote control If your behind a router the it may be NAT’d so you’ll need to setup a port forward from here and actually connect to the router rather than the pc and it should forward the connection for you.

NOTE
By enabling host computer remote control you are creating a security risk so please be aware of this, controlling pc’s from behind a firewall is certainly much safer than across the internet.

But if you have no choice simply make sure that you can disable any pc remote control each time you do not need to use it. This can simply be done by disabling the port forwarding after use, or by someone physically disabling the computer remote control service.
Need to use a different remote control application checkout our other articles..