WHS remote desktop connection problems...??

[bobn4burton]

OK...so I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas I could try. I have a friends WHS box setup and working good. He has a Vista Home Premium laptop that he connects to his network and that laptop is backed up by the WHS.

I applied the termsrv patch in order to enable Remote Desktop connections to the Vista Home Premium laptop. The patch seems to work. I also made a little registry patch setup as a scheduled task to run every 10 minutes to enable the remote desktop in the WHS console. This also appears to work...at most waiting 10 minutes for the remote desktop to become available on the Vista Home Premium laptop.

The problem is that I can't seem to connect to the Vista HP laptop through the WHS console. It starts to connect, gives me the pop-up window with check marks for sharing clipboard/printer and then after I press ok it waits for about 5 seconds and then pops up a message saying the remote connection timed out.

If I forward port 3389, then I can connect directly to the Vista HP laptop via Remote Desktop. If I remote desktop into the WHS and try to Remote desktop into the laptop...I also get an error.

So for some reason, I can remote desktop directly into the laptop. But I can't seem to go through the WHS console...any ideas???

Thanks for any help. I'm stumped??

 

[bobn4burton]

Few more details. I just did a little more testing...
When I refer to Laptop below, it has Vista Home Premium with hack to enable Remote desktop connections.


Here are the cases that WORK PERFECTLY:
1. From WAN I can access my WHS via the console and also the desktop of WHS via advanced admin console add-in.
2. From WAN I can remote into WHS via RDC with port 3389 forwarded to WHS
3. From WAN I can remote into Laptop via RDC with port 3389 forwarded to Laptop
4. From WAN I can remote into Laptop via RDC with port 3389 forwarded to Laptop and then use RDC to remote into the WHS box (basically over the LAN from Laptop to WHS)
5. From WAN I can get to desktop of WHS (via advanced admin console or directly with RDC) and using WHS RDC I can connect to the Laptop with remote desktop fine.

Here is what I cannot do:
1. From WAN I cannot remote desktop into the Laptop using the WHS console (even though it says the Laptop is available for connection).

Any ideas??? Why does RD work for every scenario but from WHS->Laptop???

 

[extide]

I just use different outside ports for my different boxes

3389 incoming on my router goes to 3389 on my room mates box
3390 on the router goes to 3389 on my main box
3391 on the router goes to 3389 on my server
3392 on the router goes to 3389 on one of my other boxes, etc

then you can just rdp to blah.myip.com:3391 or whatever

 

[bobn4burton]

Thanks for the suggestion extide, but I'd prefer to use the WHS console if possible.

I have one more update. I logged into the WHS and thought I'd check for any updates. Well, there happened to be an optional update for Remote Desktop Connector v6. I downloaded all updates (including the RDC v6) and restart the WHS. Now...that update appears to have helped somewhat. Remote desktop works from WHS to Laptop when using the RDC. However...it still pops up a time out error when trying to use the WHS console.

Any ideas why it would work from RDC from the WHS desktop but not through the WHS console??

I'll update my can/can't list above...

 

[bobn4burton]

So to summarize...

I can successfully connect to the Laptop running Vista Home Premium in basically every way EXCEPT NOT through the WHS console.

 

[Archer75]

why would you want to connect to the laptop through the console? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Connect to WHS through the console on the laptop?
The hole point is to have WHS as a headless machine and connect to it via the console. Or am I not understanding your wording here?

Are you talking about remoting in via the web homeserver page to control the laptop through the console?

Remoting in via RDC or through the homeserver page require no patches or registry tweaks at all.

So my question in an attempt to solve your issue: Is the person running WHS using OpenDNS?

 

[bobn4burton]

Are you talking about remoting in via the web homeserver page to control the laptop through the console?
...
So my question in an attempt to solve your issue: Is the person running WHS using OpenDNS?

Yes...I probably wasn't clear. I'm talking about remote access to the Laptop through the WHS webpage/console.

Not sure what you mean by OpenDNS?

 

[oldpablo]

I don't know, but seriously this is an awesome free product for easy remote control via a browser.

https://secure.logmein.com/products/free/

In my experience it's superior to RDP because you can mess with a lot of options RDP doesn't give you.

 

[Archer75]

Yes...I probably wasn't clear. I'm talking about remote access to the Laptop through the WHS webpage/console.

Not sure what you mean by OpenDNS?

You can check out the website to see what openDNS is. But it's basically free DNS servers for you to use to replace your ISP's servers. They cause issues with WHS connections via the console.

So when you try to login via the webpage, does the webpage even come up at all? Or it does come up but you can't connect under the computers tab?
If it's not coming up at all then the router is not setup correctly. If it's a upnp then you can have WHS set it up automatically. This is what I do. If not you have to manually tweak everything yourself.

 

[bobn4burton]

Oh...I see. No...just whatever default DNS servers that Qwest uses.

I see the web page fine. Everything works 100% except making that RD connection (using the web console).

I can log into my web page. DL/UP files to my shared folders. I can even see the WHS desktop using the advanced admin console add-in. If I view my WHS desktop via advanced admin console add-in, then I can even connect to the Laptop successfully using the Remote Desktop Connection utility on the WHS.

The problem just comes when I try to connect to the Laptop through the webpage 'computers' tab. The laptop shows up, and even says that its available for connection. When I click on it, it acts like its connecting, gives me the pop-up window saying that a website is initializing a remote desktop session (the pop-up where you can check to include clipboard or printer). When I press OK on that pop-up, it thinks for about 5-10 seconds and then pops up the time-out message.

 

[Archer75]

What browser are you using? I've only been able to accomplish this with IE7 or IE8.

Beyond that I would think that the router settings are incorrect perhaps.

 

[bobn4burton]

I am using IE8. I have manually setup my router (which consisted of manually forwarding ports 80, 443 and 4125 to the WHS box).

 

[bobn4burton]

Not sure if this clue helps any...but I checked the event viewer on the Vista Home Premium laptop and get the following error when I attempt to connect to it through the WHS web console.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: TermDD
Event ID: 50
Description:
The RDP protocol component "DATA ENCRYPTION" detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client.

 

[bobn4burton]

Not sure if this clue helps any...but I checked the event viewer on the Vista Home Premium laptop and get the following error when I attempt to connect to it through the WHS web console.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: TermDD
Event ID: 50
Description:
The RDP protocol component "DATA ENCRYPTION" detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client.

Well...I tried a few more times. And while that error does come up sometimes...it doesn't appear for every failed attempt. So that must not be the sole problem...

Man...this is driving me nuts. There is no reason it shouldn't work???

 

[nessus]

So to summarize...

I can successfully connect to the Laptop running Vista Home Premium in basically every way EXCEPT NOT through the WHS console.

So to summarize, you have modified an OS in a manner unsupported by the manufacturer (violating your license agreement)

There is no reason it shouldn't work???

and an unsupported configuration doesn't work. Surprising?

When you've completed your full reverse decompile of the code and reviewed it to find no issues with the configuration (also a violation of your licenses agreement). At that point, it would be surprising...

 

[zupahwez0e]

try forwarding port 4125 to your whs

 

[bobn4burton]

So to summarize, you have modified an OS in a manner unsupported by the manufacturer (violating your license agreement)

How dare you accuse me of violating my license agreement!?! Yes...its true, I can often times be found on the weekends pillaging villages and stealing from women and children...but VIOLATING my license agreement?? I would NEVER!

So you can sleep at night, know this. My cousin has a friend that is friend's with Bill Gates himself. He gave me special written consent to use his software in the manner I have described above. So rest at ease young stripling warrior for truth and honor! There has been no ill done here!

and an unsupported configuration doesn't work. Surprising?

Yes...still a little surprising because there are tons of people that DO have this config working.
http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Enable_Remote_Desktop_Connection_For_Vista_Home_Premium
Is it supported by M$? No...that's why I'm not on the phone with them asking for help.

When you've completed your full reverse decompile of the code and reviewed it to find no issues with the configuration (also a violation of your licenses agreement). At that point, it would be surprising...

Thanks for you very helpful reply. When did [H] turn into a M$ forum?? I thought [H] was an enthusiast site?? I sure hope you haven't found the overclocking sub forum here. You could spend all day admonishing everyone there that they are using their hardware in an unintended way. It would also be prudent for you to inform them of their loss of warranty by their despicable behavior...

Again...thanks for your helpful post!

 

[bobn4burton]

try forwarding port 4125 to your whs

I assume you mean in my router...and yes I have that port forwarded. I assume there is no problem there because I can login to the WHS console just fine from the WAN (which I assume uses the same Remote Desktop protocols...thereby using port 4125 just like it would to other pc's. Although I could be wrong here...