Using the Remote Desktop App
The Remote Desktop app allows you to control a computer from a remote location. It's often used to access computers on a corporate network from a home PC or vice versa. It's also very commonly used by system administrators to remotely manage Windows servers. Remote Desktop is different from Remote Assistance in that, with Remote Desktop, you're remotely logging on to a computer and controlling it remotely as a single user. With Remote Assistance, the session includes the local user and the remote expert.
Before you can connect to a remote computer on your office network, a network administrator on the corporate side needs to set up that capability, enabling Remote Desktop Connection inbound to the network (or providing a VPN connection to the remote network for the user). Likewise, if you want to connect to your home computer from the office, you need to configure your home firewall to forward port 3389 to the home computer you want to manage. How you configure the firewall depends on the firewall, so we can't give you specific steps. At this point, we assume that whichever direction you're going, the necessary network and firewall changes are in place to make it possible.
Tip: If you're connecting to another computer on the same network segment as the one your computer is on, no local firewall configuration is needed other than having Remote Assistance in Windows Firewall enabled.
To connect to the remote computer, you need to know either the hostname of the computer or its IP address. If the computer is on your local network segment, you can use the computer name. To connect to a computer on a remote network segment, you need to use either the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the remote computer, a private IP address on a private network or its externally (public) facing IP address. This IP address is the public address that is mapped in the firewall to the private address assigned to the computer. The computers you connect to must be set up to allow Remote Desktop connectivity.
Note: An FQDN is a name in the common host.domain.tld format.
When you have the information you need, making the connection should be easy. You have to be online, of course. If the company requires connecting through a virtual private network (VPN), make that connection as specified by your company's network administrator. With Windows 10, you also have the option of using a Remote Desktop Gateway server, if your company allows it. With the Remote Desktop Gateway server, a VPN is not required to be set up.
Next, open Remote Desktop by clicking the Windows 10 Remote Desktop on your computer section of the All apps list. The Remote Desktop app opens. If you can't find the Remote Desktop app for some reason, you need to connect to Windows Store and search for Remote Desktop App and install it (don't confuse this app with the classic Remote Desktop Connection application, which is built into Windows 10).
In the field in the Remote Desktop app window, type the name of the PC to which you want to connect. Click Connect or press Enter.
If the remote computer is password protected, the Enter Your Credentials window appears. Enter credentials that will allow you access to the remote computer. If you don't have an account on the remote computer, or you don't know the username and password of a user on that remote computer, you won't be allowed to connect to it.
After you enter the credentials, you can click the Remember My Credentials check box to store those credentials for the remote computer. This enables you to connect to the remote computer next time without entering credentials. Click Connect.
If the identity of the remote computer cannot be verified or reached, the message Cannot connect to the remote pc appears.
Allowing remote connections on a home network
You can also use Remote Desktop to control your Windows 10 PC from any other PC within your home network. For example, say you have a notebook computer that you use for work and a home computer that you use for personal use. You no longer need to hook up a monitor, keyboard, or mouse to the home computer; instead, you can simply open a Remote Desktop connection to it any time you need to use it. Likewise, you can connect to the other computers in the house when you need to fix something on them.
Note: Remote Desktop is not required for normal home networking tasks such as sharing folders, files, and printers. Nor is it required to access those shared resources. You use Remote Desktop only if you want to operate the remote computer from the screen, keyboard, and mouse on another computer in the network.
Because the notebook computer has a wireless connection to your home network, you can use your personal PCs from anywhere in the house, even outside on the deck when the weather is nice. To set up this type of remote connection, you first need a home network. The computer you want to control remotely needs a version of Windows that offers Remote Desktop, including all versions of Windows 10, 8/8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Finally, you can log in only to password-protected accounts on the Windows computer. It can be a standard account, but it has to be password protected.
The remote computer also needs to have an edition of Windows that supports Remote Desktop. Home editions of Windows, such as Windows 10 Home, do not include Remote Desktop capability that would allow you to connect to them remotely, but they include a client that enables them to connect to other computers that do support it.
Assuming that you have all the hardware and software to meet the requirements, the first step is to set up the Windows 10 computer to allow remote connections. Doing so requires administrative privileges and the following steps:
- On the Windows 10 computer, log in to an account that has administrative privileges.
- Display the Desktop.
- Press Windows+X.
- Launch Control Panel.
- Choose Large Icons or Small Icons from the View By drop-down list.
- Choose System and then click on the Advanced system shield icons in the left side of the dialog box The System Properties dialog box now loads.
- On the Remote tab, under the Remote Desktop heading, choose the Allow remote connections to this computer option.
Note: The last option in the list of Remote Desktop choices, NLA (Network Level Authentication), provides more-secure Remote Desktop connections but isn't available in older Windows versions. For more information, click the Help Me Choose link.
- Click the Select Users button.
- Use the Add button to add usernames of people who are allowed to connect remotely. The administrator is added to the list automatically. We've added the username Brian as the third person who can connect remotely.
- Click OK in each open dialog box.
Make sure you know the computer name or IP address of the Windows 10 computer. You can see the name to the right of the Computer Name label on the main page of System Properties. To find the IP address of the computer, log in to the computer you want to control remotely. On the desktop, press Windows+X and choose the Command prompt. Then type ipconfig in the command console window and press Enter. The IP address appears on the IPv4 Address line and is in the form similar to the following: 192.168.2.12.
Connecting from a remote home network PC
To connect remotely to the Windows 10 PC from another network in your local area network (LAN) or home network, you can also use the open the Remote Desktop app we discussed earlier on your local computer. However, for this task we will use the classic Remote Desktop Connection application, which you can launch from the Windows Accessories in the All Apps list. See also the next section in this tutorial. In the window that opens, enter the remote computer's IP address or computer name and click Connect. If the user account name of the computer at which you're sitting is different from the user account on the Windows 10 computer, click Use Another User. Type in the username and password for the user account on the Windows 10 computer and click OK or press Enter.
Depending on the display settings you used for the connection, the remote computer's screen either appears in a window or fills your local display. If you're running the connection in full-screen mode, move the mouse to the top of the screen to access the connection bar, which you can use to minimize, restore, or close the connection. From the local computer, you use the remote computer exactly as you would if you were sitting at that computer. When you've finished with your remote session, log out of the remote user account. That is, click the connection bar and click the close button. If you're connecting remotely to an earlier version of Windows, such as Windows 8.1, 8, 7, or Windows Vista, click the Start button on the remote computer and choose the Log Off option.
For more information, check the Remote Desktop Help on both computers that you intend to use in your own local network.
Using Classic Remote Desktop
Although the new Windows 10 Remote Desktop app provides a Windows 10 interface and is easy to use, you may be more comfortable using the previous version of Remote Desktop Connection. If so, you can still run it, but you must launch it from its executable filename: MSTSC.EXE. Use either of these methods to launch it:
- Click the Start button, click on All apps, and from the Windows Accessories folder, click the Remote Desktop Connection icon.
- Open the command prompt. Type MSTSC and press Enter.
The Remote Desktop Connection window appears.
Before you connect to a remote computer, you may want to click the Show Options button and look at the options on the various tabs. The only required option is the name or IP address of the computer to which you're connecting. The following sections describe the tabs and options.
Display
Use the Display Configuration settings on the Display tab to specify the screen resolution for the Remote Desktop Connection. If you have multiple monitors connected to the local computer, you can select the option Use All My Monitors for the Remote Session to span the Remote Desktop session across your multiple monitors.
Use the Colors drop-down list to specify the color depth for the remote session. A lower color depth provides faster response for the remote session.
The Display the Connection Bar When I Use the Full Screen option, if enabled, causes Remote Desktop to display a connection bar at the top of the display when the remote session is using full-screen mode. Moving the mouse to the top of the display shows the connection bar, which then enables you to minimize, restore, or close the remote session window.
Local Resources
The settings on the Local Resources tab enable you to configure how Remote Desktop uses local and remote resources. For example, click the Settings button in the Remote Audio group to open a dialog box that enables you to specify whether Remote Desktop plays audio from the remote computer at the remote computer, brings it to your local computer, or does not play the sounds. You can also specify similar settings for remote recording.
Use the drop-down list in the Keyboard group to specify how Remote Desktop treats Windows key combinations such as Alt+Tab - sending them to the local computer or remote computer, or sending them to the remote computer only when using full-screen mode.
The Local Devices and Resources group lets you specify how local resources such as your printers, Windows Clipboard, ports, disk drives, and other resources are made available during the remote session. This capability can be extremely useful. For example, by enabling the drives on your local computer for the connection, you make them accessible in the File Manager on the remote computer. This means that you can easily drag and drop files between the two systems. By enabling the Clipboard, you can cut and paste between the systems.
Experience
The options on the Experience tab help you control the performance for the remote session. You can choose an option from the drop-down list, which determines which options in the list below the drop-down are enabled. You can also simply select which options you want to use.
Advanced
The Advanced tab offers options that control authentication alerts and Remote Desktop Gateway. The drop-down list on the Advanced tab lets you specify what action Remote Desktop Connection takes when you connect to a remote computer that doesn't satisfy the security requirements as defined by your local system security policy. You can choose to have Remote Desktop Connection drop the connection, warn you so that you can choose the action to take, or connect without warning you.
The Settings button opens the RD Gateway Server Settings dialog box, which lets you specify how Remote Desktop Connection works with a Terminal Services Gateway Server, now called Remote Desktop Gateway Server. RD Gateway acts essentially as an intermediary between your computer on the Internet and remote computers behind a firewall, such as at your office. RD Gateway uses SSL (port 443) rather than the usual port 3389 used by Remote Desktop Connection. RD Gateway, therefore, makes connecting to remote computers possible without having a VPN or opening port 3389 in the firewall. What's more, it enables connection to multiple back-end computers, rather than just the one that would otherwise be possible with a hole in the firewall for port 3389. The RD Gateway Server Settings dialog box.
Remote Desktop Connection can detect the RD Gateway server settings automatically, or you can specify them manually. The first two options on the RD Gateway Server Settings dialog box let you specify which method to use. If you choose to specify the settings yourself, you can enter the server name, login method, and whether to bypass the gateway for computers on your local network. If you enter the settings manually, you also have the option of specifying that Remote Desktop Connection will use your RD Gateway credentials to authenticate on the remote computer to which you are connecting.
Tip: In most cases, you can open a remote session in Remote Desktop Connection without changing any options.