Need Remote Access to PCs On Home Network

[Happy_Meal]

pcAnywhere is too costly for licensing. I have heard good reviews of RealVNC (http://www.realvnc.com/), but don't know anyone who uses it. Running XP Home on 2 computers and VISTA on 2 computers.

Can anyone offer me any assistance? Thank you for your help.

[jaketo]

Hey HM,

There's plenty of options here, but an you please explain exactly what you're trying to achieve? For example, are you at home on one PC trying to access other PCs in your house, or are you away from your home and trying to access your home PCs?

[Happy_Meal]

I am at home on one PC trying to access other PCs in my house. I am running a wireless network with only one PC wired into the router.

[Fianor]

Remote Desktop Protocol -

It's built into windows, at least in pro, not sure about home. Works like pcanywhere without all the sucking, not suite as nasty of a security hole, and it's included in windows.

realVNC is superior to pcanywhere, as is goverlan. You could also use gotomypc, but I only suggest that for people who want their computers hacked, spied on, and potentially all of their data shared with everyone else who can see the internet.

The type of network connection between the computers is mostly irrelevant, it only matters for speed. Only pcanywhere is remotely acceptable over dialup, the rest are fine with any real network connection. Wireless being at least 11 meg is fine for any of them.

I'll look into vista and home to see if RDP is part of them. What version of vista do you have on the vista PC's? I'm fairly certain it's going to matter.


RDP appears to be installed in xp home. Go to Start -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connection

If you can't find it try this: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx


http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/ea4680d1-6962-463b-b29b-351efa676f9e1033.mspx

that may help with vista.

[Kalki]

If they have remote desktop connection then it's already installed and stuff.
You have to set up which users can remote connect.

Right click my computer, choose properties.
Click the "Remote sessions" tab.
There you'll find settings :)

I'd suggest you use RDC.

To start the client it's either where Fianor said or in the "communication" subfolder in accessories.

[Happy_Meal]

Remote Desktop Protocol -

I'll look into vista and home to see if RDP is part of them. What version of vista do you have on the vista PC's? I'm fairly certain it's going to matter.


We are using Vista Home Premium

[vengefuldeath87]

xp home doesnt have remote desktop server, which is what you need, only the client.

try real vnc - http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/download.html

as for vista, you need business, enterprise or ultimate for remote desktop.

[Happy_Meal]

xp home doesnt have remote desktop server, which is what you need, only the client.

try real vnc - http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/download.html

as for vista, you need business, enterprise or ultimate for remote desktop.
I would prefer not to add any third-party software unless it's absolutely necessary.

If I understand you correctly, my computer, from which all remote activity will be initiated, is the server. Thus I would need to upgrade that one to Vista Ultimate. The others PCs on the network are the clients, therefore no upgrades will be necessary for them.

Is my terminology correct and am I grasping the overall concept accurately?

[vengefuldeath87]

yes, your server pc is the one you want to access, which needs the connection software installed. if you just want every other pc to connect to it, then they wont need anything else, unless you go for a third party soloution.

[jaketo]

HM, there are many flavours of remote control built into the various versions of Windows all of which are based pretty much on MS Terminal Services. Even the versions of Windows that ndo't include anything by default can be modified accordingly and once setup and configured correctly it provides a good solution. However, to do this will take a little time and effort on your part.

If you're looking for an effective solution that will be quick to deploy and to start using then I'd concur with the suggestion to use RealVNC. There is a small installation which will create a service on each PC but it's very lightweight and does exactly what it says on the tin. I've been using it for years with no problems whatsoever. It's also freeware :)

When it's installed on each PC you'll be able to connect from any PC to any other PC and see the desktop of that remote PC in a window (you can then connect from that remote PC to another remote PC etc but it can get a little hairy..!)

On your question regarding terminology, technically the remote PC is the server and the PC you connect from is the client, but that's of no real consequence and if you ask ten people you'll get ten different answers ;) You won't need to upgrade any of your PCs to do get this working exactly as you want it.

[Fianor]

You got that backwards happy, The one you are accessing is the server, the one you access from is the client. So all of your computers have the appropriate software to talk to another which has server installed, but none of them have the software which can answer when your pc calls.

If you are trying to talk to # of remote computers from one computer in say your bedroom, then you'd need the server software (vista ultimate, XP pro, 3rd party software) on # of remote pc's and can use the XP home/vista home in the bedroom to access all of them. You would not however then be able to access the home version pc in your bedroom from the others without putting the srver software on it also.

As none of your computers have the appropriate OS for playing the server role, you'd either need to upgrade all of them, or you can just get real VNC and be done with it. I agree with jake and venge, I'd go with real vnc if I were in your situation.

[Happy_Meal]

Thanks guys. It's nice having access to technical people who don't feel the need to impress me with technical gobbledegoop. I learned more in this thread than hours of reading on Microsoft's website. Thank you again for all of your help.

[Kalki]

Oh, this might be a stupid question but... are you sure it's remote controlling you want to do? If it's just sharing resources like files and printers you can get away with setting up your permissions right and if you want to have them be in the same domain / workgroup (dunno if workgroups are still used in Vista).

[Happy_Meal]

Remote control, definitely. I need to be able to adjust parental controls, install/uninstall software, check internet history and IM conversations, etc. All those things teenage kids don't want their Dad to see. :D

[Kalki]

Ok, well you prolly need remote control for Installing and uninstalling software, the rest you can access via files.

Though, it's good to be able to remote anyways so... go for it :)

[vengefuldeath87]

realvnc would be more suited than rdc, as you can login and observe what it happening on the screen, rdc kicks the current user off.

[Happy_Meal]

Also I found out that the latest version of vnc freeware won't work with vista so I will download their enterprise edition for a free 30 day trial.

[jaketo]

Also I found out that the latest version of vnc freeware won't work with vista so I will download their enterprise edition for a free 30 day trial.

Useful to know!

Thanks for that, HM :)