Remote Desktop setup

I'm trying to set up remote desktop for my mom and I'm having some trouble, especially since I'm trying to do it over the phone and she is inexperienced. She has dsl and uses a westell g90 modem (I think it's in the westell 6100 family since its part # is wg906100vol). She does not use a router so bridge mode isn't possible. I understand uPnP must be turned on and did find that in the modem setup and based on Mom's feedback, I got it turned on. I also set up port forwarding for 3389. However, when I look at the RAInvitation that is created, it still only lists the local 192.168.1.45 ip and doesn't have the actual modem ip so it's useless for access. Any ideas on what I'm missing that might get a proper RAInvitation?

Accepted answers

Klgore

Well, excuse my hasty reply! I got it working. The second of your suggested links,

http://www.petri.co.il/whats_remote_assistanc.htm

had the format for adding in the public IP address to the private address in RAInvitation. (For some reason, the space between the addresses was necessary for name resolution although a microsoft site showed it without it) It is added directly before the private address (from the site):

Open Notepad or another text editor and edit the RCTICKET field, adding the external IP address of the NAT device before the internal IP address. For instance, if your NAT device uses an external IP address of 24.100.255.255 and your private address is 192.168.1.105 and your machine name is Groucho, this field should read as follows:

RCTICKET="65538,1,24.100.255.255:3389; 192.168.1.105:3389;groucho:3389,encrypted connection info

The router's address was on the first page encountered when accessing the modem (192.168.1.1) so it was easy for mom to give it to me. It didn't work at first but some poking around made me realize that the port forwarding we had set up had not been activated and once it was, I was able to connect. So, the problem sitll exists in that RAInvitations do NOT automatically include the routable IP address (I suspect XP's uPNP UI needs to be installed but I didn't want that) but it can be added manually and that is sufficient to access the computer if port 3389 has been properly forwarded.

PS If you repeat the information above in a separate post/reply (so that others will see if they go looking), I'll mark it as the accepted solution and kudo you. 🙂

All comments

dslr595148

#1 At http://www.dslreports.com/faq/13600

They talk about the While and Blue Firmware and the Red and Black Firmware.

Which one does shw have?

#2 What is the OS and Version of her computer? For example, Windows XP.

#3 What is the OS and Version of your computer?

#4 What software firewall is on her computer?

#5 What software firewall is on your computer?

Klgore

Thanks for the reply-- 1. From the description there, I'm fairly certain the Red and Black Firmware. 2. Windows XP pro, sp 2 3 (at this point, my computer isn't involved as she issues the invitation and I inspect it for the ip information. But to be complete, xp pro sp2) 4. windows xp's. symantec v9 antivirus (but not the firewall) 5. ditto K

dslr595148

Ok.

#1 In the router go to Advanced -> IP Address Distribution.

#2 What is the DHCP range?

#3 In the router at Advanced -> UPnP, is it enabled or disabled?

#4 In the router go to Firewall Settings.

#5 What level is the firewall set to?

#6 What does ditto K, mean?

She has Windows XP's symantec v9 antivirus?

Klgore

Hi again,

Sorry for the slow reply--home repairs kept me from the computer and I

have to get answers from mom.

#1-2 192.168.1.5 through 192.168.1.47

#3 Enabled

#4-5 Minimum

#6 that my setup is like my mom's: windows xp's firewall; symantec antivirus

There should have been a <newline> before the K. It's my sig.

Klgore

I realize I've been loose with my Title/terms--I want to access my Mom's computer through Remote _Assistance_, not remote desktop. Some of my answers (RAInvitation) suggest that but I wanted to be explicit. I regularly access work computers with remote desktop so on this end I'm set. I just can't get mom's computer to put anything but the non-routable IP into the RAinvitation.