Remote Desktop Web Connection
Published: January 14, 2002
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The Remote Desktop Web Connection provides a simple way to connect to your Windows XP Professional remote desktop, even when you don't have the Remote Desktop client software installed on the computer you're currently using (called the client computer). Before you can use the Remote Desktop Web Connection from home or the road, you need to set up Remote Desktop on the remote computer. See my earlier column Tuning Remote Desktop for instructions.
Installing Remote Desktop Web Connection
Remote Desktop Web Connection isn't installed by default in Windows XP Professional, so you'll need to add it yourself to the remote computer. And to add it, you'll also need to enable Internet Information Services (IIS) on your remote desktop. To install the Remote Desktop Web Connection component and enable IIS on your machine, grab your Windows XP Professional CD, and then follow these steps:
1. | Open Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. |
2. | Click Add/Remove Windows Components to bring up the list of Windows Components. |
3. | Select Internet Information Services, and then click the Details button. |
4. | Select World Wide Web Services, and then click the Details button to open the World Wide Web Service dialog box shown in Figure 1. 
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5. | Select the Remote Desktop Web Connection check box, click OK, and follow the wizard's instructions. You'll be prompted to insert your original CD, so have it handy. |
Connecting to the Remote Desktop
After the installation is complete, you can connect to your Windows XP Professional host machine using any computer that is running Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. You don't need to have the Remote Desktop client software on the computer that is doing the connecting. To connect:
1. | Open Internet Explorer, and in the Address field, type: http://machinename/tsweb where machinename is the WINS or DNS resolved machine name for your Windows XP Professional-based computer. You'll see a Web page like the one shown in Figure 2 below. 
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2. | You can use this page to connect to your Windows XP Professional-based workstation, or any other computers on your network that have Remote Desktop installed. Yup. You can use your own Windows XP computer to act as a gateway to other computers on the network that are running Terminal Services (the underlying protocol for Remote Desktop), even though they aren't themselves running the Remote Desktop Web Connection. Figure 3 shows an example, logging on to a Windows 2000 Advanced Server using a Remote Desktop Web Connection. 
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3. | If you want to include logon information in the original connection to your Remote Desktop server, select the Send logon information for this connection check box and two new fields open on the form, allowing you to enter your user name and domain name. |
Proxy/Firewall Issues
Regardless of how you connect to a Remote Desktop server, if either your client or your server is behind a firewall or proxy server, you won't be able to connect unless you open up the necessary port, 3389, to permit the Remote Desktop Connection capability to pass through.
Note I'm using server in the lower case sense here, meaning the computer that's actually serving up the Remote Desktop session. This could be a Windows XP Professional-based computer running Remote Desktop Services, or earlier versions of Microsoft Windows NT/2000 Server running Terminal Services, or even a Windows NT 3.5-based computer running Citrix.
You can easily open up the Remote Desktop port when you're using the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) included in Windows XP. Heck, you don't even need to remember the port number, but if your network is running some other firewall, you'll need to work with your network administrators to sort out the details for it. For ICF, it's simple:
1. | Click Start, point to Connect to, and then click Show all connections. Right-click the connection you use to connect to the Internet, and then click Properties. |
2. | Click the Advanced tab, and select the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet check box. |
3. | Click the Settings button, and under Services select the Remote Desktop check box. Click OK a couple of times and you're there. |
Remote Desktop Web Connection means you can work from home or the road, and access all the data and capabilities of your office computer. Bookmark your remote desktop in Internet Explorer and you can get to work even quicker.
