Control your home computer with Remote Desktop From Anywhere

As you know, using Remote Desktop you can control your computer but to be able to do that you will need to be connected to the same network. So if you are connected to wi-fi at home you are fine. But how about from anywhere using 3G? The answer is YES. And here is how;

First you will need a VPN software. I think the best one for this is the Hamachi Client. It is really good and it is free. You need to install the hamachi client both to your computer and to your phone so that they can be in the same network. I am attaching the cab for windows mobile. You can get the one for your computer from https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/hamachi2/.

Once you set up a VPN network and add all your computers you want to control remotely, open the hamachi client from your phone. Copy the IP address created by the hamachi client for the computer you want to remote control and paste it to remote desktop IP address section. Type in your username and password and you are in.

If you want to associate the IP address and your computer name for easy access, this is done by creating a registry. It is the same as modifying the hosts file in your computer. I am attaching a software that will do it for you. Copy to your phone and run it. Just type the name of your computer then paste the IP address you copied from the hamachi client. After that, instead of typing the IP address on remote desktop, you can just type in the name of the computer.

Hope this helps. It works like a charm for me.

And also if you have windows 7 home premium or vista home premium, you can still use Remote Desktop. Just google "enable remote desktop windows vista/7 home premium".




http://mobilitydojo.net/2008/10/09/using-a-hosts-file-on-windows-mobile/
https://secure.logmein.com/labs/

On your home computer, right click my computer and then go to properties. Click on computer name and put that name in your phone. If you didn't associate the ip address with the computer name like I described open the hamachi window, copy the ip address of your home computer from hamachi and paste it as the computer name to your remote desktop. Then enter the username and password you use to login to your computer, leave the domain empty (unless the computer is on a domain)

Hope this helps

Getting error message:

Cannot connect. Likely reasons are:

1.Specified computer name or ip does not exist.

2. A network error occurred while establishing the connection.

1 Triple checked comp name. 

2 still connected as I am able to chat.

I will try the IP address for the comp name and see if that works.

No i hadn't tried the software you provided yet. Guess I'll do that and associate the ip then.

On a side note:
When I tried using the IP in the name field, it took a little longer trying to connect, then gave me a new error window with the reasons 1. The remote computer is not setup for this. 2. reached the maximum number of connections. 3. the ol' network error occurred while connecting.

Going to lunch. Will look at it some more when I get back.

Thanks Vsansal for your help.  I'll be back!

I have the home version  , but it has remote desktop software already on it. (I didn't install it, wondering if it was in one of udpates I downloaded when I reinstalled on a larger hard drive).  I'll look into how to activate it.

Thanks again.

Alternatively you can use a program called zaDesktop, which can be googled.

I always had trouble using the MS remote desktop app. It would never connect properly. zaDesktop has connected everytime over wlan and externally over 3g.

Remote desktopping this way requires some editing of your router settings. You can find a tutorial on the web to help you, or just send me a private message and I can try to help.

The other thing to note is that most computers these days run some kind of anti virus software, which includes a firewall. Your firewall will also have to be configured to allow remote desktop access.


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