MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I'm running Windows 7 64bit and trying to connect to a 32bit Windows Vista machine using Windows Remote Assitance over the internet. The client machine sends an email invitation which I (Windows 7) respond to and enter the agreed password only to be, eventually greeted with an error message stating, unhelpfully, that the connection couldn't be established. Considering the possible combinations of hardware and software issues that might get in the way, a slightly more informative error would have helped (a failed Remote Desktop Connection from the Windows 7 Control Panel states rather cryptically "[i]An error has occurred[/i]").
To narrow things down I've disabled my software firewall and the router's firewall with the same effect. There is some mention on the internet that port 3389 needs to be open for remote assistance to work but with both firewalls off I would have thought that all ports would be accessible. The client Vista machine is connected directly to the internet via an ADSL modem I believe. I have no idea whether it's the client or my computer that's at fault but I can happily run a Remote Desktop Connection to a SBS 2003 machine from my Windows 7 computer, so not all remote control options are failing.
Any thoughts as to the next thing to try? For reference my router is a BT Home Hub and port forwarding 3389 to my computer doesn't help either.
Local firewalls on the PCs maybe?
I wouldn't bother with the built in windows stuff anyway. It's easier to download something like teamviewer and get the user to run a session with that and you connect in.
Plus that is free for home use 🙂
On the router, you need to make sure the port is mapped to the ip address of the PC you're trying to control.
Use TeamViewer instead. Far less fannying about and almost always Just Works.
You as support should install the full version; the supportee clicks the "join a session" link on the website, installs and runs the client. It'll give them an ID number and a PIN, you type those into yours and Robert's your mother's brother.
Can I do a Remote Desktop Connection instead, if I have the client IP address?
I don't know, can you?
Chances are, no. Unless the remote PC has a public IP address, which is unlikely for a home user, they'd have to set up port forwarding on the remote router to forward TCP 3389 to the NATed host. Good luck with that.
Use logmein
I suspect that I'm a bit out of my depth with all this, but I can do a Remote Desktop Connection to our work's server (SBS 2003) so whatever's gumming up the RA connection doesn't seem to be hampering RDC. The computer I'm trying to connect to isn't behind a router, it's a single machine connected to the internet via an ADSL modem (I think). Although it's undoubtedly a dynamic IP address, the currently assigned IP address is included in the RA invitation; I'd assumed that once the RA invitation had been received and accepted the IP addresses were used to connect.
It might be easier to pop around.
LogMeIn is better for unattended support, ie to get to machines without end user intervention. TeamViewer is better for the user for ad hoc support, because you can't automatically get on their PC whenever you like. It's also a lot less faff to get working, generally.
Ah, right.
In which case, yes, you should be able to RDP to it, [b]if[/b] RDP is allowed in the various firewalls between the two of you.
Also, be careful with "I think" - users lie(*) and assumptions are dangerous things (-:
(* - Cougar's Third Law of IT - "Trust no-one")
Right basics here - the public IP you have is the IP address of their router, the router doesnt know that port 3389 should be forwarded to the IP address of your mates computer.
They'll be a NAT table somewhere in the config settings of their router where you can map ports to internal IP addresses.
Or yeah, use something like logmein.
I think you can request assistance though live messenger these days and that, if the router is playing nice will open the port in a 'state-full' fashion for you 🙂
It's a while since I tried to get RA working; if I remember right, the problem was that the invitation gave the private subnet IP for the target machine, which my machine then couldn't find. Port forwarding doesn't fix that. Although PJay does say the target IP is in the invitation... but also it "isn't behind a router, it's a single machine connected to the internet via an ADSL modem" - in my experience ADSL modems are actually 1 port routers, unless NAT has been turned off.
I use the free logmein now; it just works.
Last time I used an ADSL modem, which was some time ago, I'm 99% sure that it was just a modem; to wit, the host IP was a 'real' public IP.
Whether that's the norm or not, who knows.
Teamviewer or logmein.
Far easier...
I was getting a similar issue the other day. Connecting to a remote 32 bit Windows instance from a 64 bit Windows instance was giving me the same error. However trying the same connection from a 32 bit instance worked fine.
In the end I gave up with remote assistance and investigated LogMeIn. Worked very well indeed and even allows me to connect to Windows PC's from my Mac or iPad. Good stuff.