Remote desktop to bypass filtering @ college = hard to set up

[mrapoc]

Hey,  I really want to know how to setup a remote desktop between my laptop (XP pro) and my pc (Vista ultimate). I have tried the windows one, enabling all kinds of stuff and trying different configs, I can connect from my pc to the laptop but not the other way. I tried with both firewalls off and opened ports in router and the same thing happens.

I gave up on the windows one and tried "realvnc". I have tried different configs on this and still no connection (its a bit more complex so couldnt get a connection either way!)

Ultimately I want to be able to setup a remote desktop connection on port 80
then on home pc change the RDC listen port to 80
then at college connect to it using my ip (so i can have a "private" browsing experience, not being filtered and blocked at every thing worth visiting on the web)


I've tried all logicalness to no avail, any one want to have a guess please

Thanks

[Rik]

You're way over my head, Sam, sorry... 

[mrapoc]

Well basically, I want a program which will allow me to browse at my college on my laptop without havign all urls filtered (violence, gambling, shopping etc.) so i can go on youtube or myspace for example (usually blocked). I would also find it helpful to redirect my traffic past their firewall so i can play cs 1.6 (on my laptop) during spare time (the only way i can see this happening is bypassing my traffic straight to a home server but im not sure).

All programs ive seen so far are cr*p, need money, need a lot of money or require a lot of configuration 

[Rik]

Oh I knew what you wanted to do, Sam, I just don't know how to do it.

[Lance]

RealVNC is the tool for the job. I would have another go with that - I'm sure there will be quite a few guides floating about the web.

[mrapoc]

apparently logmein should work as it goes through the port 80...i hope so

[Lance]

Let us know how you get on

[mrapoc]

Been told remote desktop (the windows one) would be the fastest and best bet. I have edited the registry so that i automatically uses port 80 (http and most likely to be one of the few ports actually open at the college  )

I can connect to the laptop via the laptop
I can connect to th laptop via the pc...

But cannot seem to connect to the pc from the laptop although remote connections are allowed etc. :/

Any ideas to try? Might just set pc back to xp professional - vista is now officially terrible for gaming lol, Company of heroes takes up all 100% of my 2gb of ram :/

[somanyholes]

Hey Mrapoc

Just to confirm, are you unable to connect to your pc (vista) to your laptop (xp pro)?

Are you able to do this on your on local lan at home?
Whats the exact error you get?
Is there anything in eventvwr?
do you see a connection being made if you telnet to your laptop on port 80?

If you are testing locally does it make any difference changing the port back to 3389?

cheers

[mrapoc]

Im at home...it didnt work when i tried it with the port as default. Basically:

PC (vista) can view notebook files etc when on the network easily enough and can also connect to it with remote desktop

Notebook (xp pro) on the other hand can never "see" the folders shared on my pc (vista ultimate) plus can never connect to it - as if a firewall i do not have is blocking its view  lol...

Anythin to check? I dont think the router would be blocking it...is there a way to open anything in router to see if it works then? (speedtouch 580)

cheers

[Rik]

Is there a way you could try with the same OS at each end, Sam? That might narrow down the issue a bit.

[mrapoc]

Well vista is starting to pische me off so yeh, looks like xp pro will be creeping in any second

[Lance]

I remote desktop from my vista laptop to my XP machine no problems . I just set it up and it worked first time!

[RobMc]

hmmm, well I only have vista home premium on my laptop, but I can see the machince from my xp pro desktop on the same network and fully interact with the files on the vista shares that I've setup. I can also use Windows Remote Desktop Connection on my vista laptop to view my XP Desktop PC and also a Windows 2003 server over a VPN connection (at a remote site). So the problems with sharing locally on your network does sound like a local issue somewhere, probably a firewall somewhere (sorry to be so vague). I've had the same problems with interconnecting pcs of all flavours on "home networks" before, sometimes it works a dream, sometimes you just feel like screaming at the inanimate boxes to "just work !!!!".

On the matter of trying to connect to a remote pc from a third-party-network, I think you will probably be unsuccessful. Your collage has decided to implement a rather significant limitation on what it is prepared to allow it's users to do with respect to the internet. As they have gone to the effort of filtering certain websites, I think it's probably fair to assume that they will blocking almost everything else other than websites that pass their filters. They will most likely be trying to stop people doing voip, p2p, ftp, vnc, rdc etc etc. This is similar to some of the companies that I have worked for.

To be fair it's their right to dictate what their networks and communications can be used for. I'd throw a word of caution into the topic, not just to the OP but to anyone in similar circumstances... You will probably have agreed to an "Acceptable Use Policy" before being allowed access to the third party network. This will should have told you what you can and can't do with the connection. Working out of how to circumvent the constructed security for a harmless reason *could* be considered misuse.

Rob.

[somanyholes]

Hi Lance

Not sure if you have run through any of this so far but it may help.

Can you ping it?

Turn off all security services.

Windows firewall, any other firewall you are running, any anti-virus, anti-spyware, windows defender etc. If your pc came bundled with security software, i.e. the dreaded norton completely remove it, even if it is not installed, then can you ping it or rdc?

cheers

[Lance]

Hi Lance

I think you mean "Hi mrapoc"!!!

I was just illustrating that it is possible to remote desktop from a vista machine to an XP machine