RemoteDesktop between WinME and XP

RemoteDesktop between WinME and XP - how?

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Ogg - 14 Apr 2005 00:26 GMT

Does anyone have any experience in getting a Remote Assistance request to
work between a WinME pc (the viewer), and an XP pc (the one making the
request)?

I installed the Remote Desktop available from the MS site, onto my WinME pc.
I send out an email "Invite" from the XP pc. I receive the email attachment
fine (filename is "rcBuddy.MsRcIncident"), but WinMe's doesn't seem to know
what to do with it. I try to Open With "Remote Desktop", but then I just
get a blank pop-up that is waiting for "Computer name". I tried the
remote's IP address in there, but that didn't work; I just received an error
message saying "disconnected from remote". There was no field for typing in
the prearranged password.

What am I doing wrong?

--
???`????,??,????`????,??, ..Aug

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Mike M - 14 Apr 2005 01:07 GMT

To provide remote assistance to a user running XP requires the "expert" to
be running either XP or Windows 2003 Server.

What Win Me users can do though is log on to a PC running XP Pro using the
Remote Desktop client which needs to first be installed on Win Me. I have
done this on a number of occasions here.

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> Does anyone have any experience in getting a Remote Assistance
> request to work between a WinME pc (the viewer), and an XP pc (the
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> What am I doing wrong?

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Mike M - 14 Apr 2005 01:22 GMT

PS. Is the XP Pro PC configured to receive remote desktop requests? You
can check this on the System Properties | Remote tab. Check also that any
firewalls are configured to allow remote desktop traffic, the easiest way
being perhaps to enable UPnP if available. Then when you launch the
Remote Desktop client you will need to enter the IP address of the target
PC, together with a valid username and password and, if applicable, the
domain. If the target is on a LAN you may also need to use port
redirection at the gateway/router and then include the port with the IP
address of the target.

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> To provide remote assistance to a user running XP requires the
> "expert" to be running either XP or Windows 2003 Server.
>
> What Win Me users can do though is log on to a PC running XP Pro
> using the Remote Desktop client which needs to first be installed on
> Win Me. I have done this on a number of occasions here.

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Ogg - 14 Apr 2005 20:19 GMT

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote in message ...

> To provide remote assistance to a user running XP requires the "expert" to
> be running either XP or Windows 2003 Server.
>
> What Win Me users can do though is log on to a PC running XP Pro using the
> Remote Desktop client which needs to first be installed on Win Me. I have
> done this on a number of occasions here.

Thankyou.. Meanwhile.. I think I understand what caused my confusion. I was
confusing Remote Desktop (RD) with Remote Assistance (RA). I now realize
that RD supports "clients" across different WinXX versions, but the
controlled pc must be XP Pro.

And I realize that RA is a completely different thing, and only works
between XP (pro/home) machines.

I have an XP machine networked behind an ICS host (my WinME pc). I was able
to initiate an RA request from this XP pc! That was a great relief because
I didn't want to disable ICS inorder to use the XP machine that way.

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Mike M - 14 Apr 2005 20:50 GMT

> Thankyou.. Meanwhile.. I think I understand what caused my confusion.
> I was confusing Remote Desktop (RD) with Remote Assistance (RA). I
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> relief because I didn't want to disable ICS inorder to use the XP
> machine that way.

I'm glad to read you've got it sorted. I initially made the same mistake
and hit the same problem as yourself when I tried to use an RA request
file created on this PC (XP Pro SP2) on a Win Me box here which has the
Remote Desktop client installed. Things then clicked for me and I
realised the problem. XP's remote assistance is handled by XP's Help &
Support (helpctr.exe) rather than by the remote desktop client
(mstsc.exe).

Cheers,

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

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Ogg - 14 Apr 2005 23:29 GMT

"Mike M" <No_Spam@Corned_Beef.Only> wrote...

> I'm glad to read you've got it sorted. I initially made the same mistake
> and hit the same problem as yourself when I tried to use an RA request
> file created on this PC (XP Pro SP2) on a Win Me box here which has the
> Remote Desktop client installed. Things then clicked for me and I
> realised the problem.

Astonishing that we had the same confusion. I think this is a testimony to
the poor documentation about RA and RD.

> XP's remote assistance is handled by XP's Help &
> Support (helpctr.exe) rather than by the remote desktop client
> (mstsc.exe).

Have you tried RA from behind a NAT-based network? My understanding is
that RA requests initiated from within Windows Messenger of MSN Messenger
are the only way to automatically resolve the IP addressing. And when it
works.. it works really well. Too bad there isn't a WinME-compatible client
software that can resolve RA requests!

But thankgoodness for VNC as an alternative.

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Mike M - 15 Apr 2005 00:16 GMT

> Astonishing that we had the same confusion. I think this is a
> testimony to the poor documentation about RA and RD.

More I think to my being initially confused by your post as I simply
followed the scenario you set out. The moment it didn't work I realised
the problem so I can't really blame any documentation as I didn't read
any. <vbg>.

> Have you tried RA from behind a NAT-based network?

Yes. As I mentioned earlier I circumvent problems by having UPnP enabled
on my systems and having a UPnP enabled router.

> My understanding
> is that RA requests initiated from within Windows Messenger of MSN
> Messenger are the only way to automatically resolve the IP
> addressing.

I have never used Windows Messenger to receive RA requests but rather have
always received RA requests via e-mail. I regularly help users where we
are both behind NAT enabled routers. As long as one of us is UPnP enabled
all should be well. See KB301529 - "Supported Connection Scenarios for
Remote Assistance" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=301529). Note the
reference in the KB to Win Me only relates to how an XP PC might be
connected to the net, i.e. through ICS where a Win Me PC is acting as the
host.

> And when it works.. it works really well. Too bad there
> isn't a WinME-compatible client software that can resolve RA requests!
>
> But thankgoodness for VNC as an alternative.

Signature

Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

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