Windows 7 / Networking

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Remote Desktop

Remote Desktop allows you to log on remotely to a computer running Windows 7 and to interact with that computer it in the same manner as you would if you were sitting in front of it. Remote Desktop allows you to print using printers connected to the remote computer, or print to a local printer from an application running on the remote computer. Remote Desktop functions well as a management tool because it allows employees responsible for managing, maintaining, and configuring client operating systems to perform many of those tasks remotely.

Note For the purposes of clarity, when discussing remote management throughout this tutorial, the management computer is the computer that the user is logged on to directly. The remote computer is the computer to which the user is making a remote desktop connection. All remote management technologies require that there be network connectivity between the management computer and the remote computer.

You can perform a logon using Remote Desktop if no one is currently logged on to the remote computer, though the remote computer does need to be switched on. If Wake On LAN is configured for the physical network interface, it is possible for the computer to wake from sleep or hibernate mode when an incoming remote desktop session is detected, though configuring Windows 7 to support this functionality is beyond the scope of the 70-680 exam. If a user locks the screen on their client running Windows 7, it is possible for that user to connect to that client remotely and resume the session over Remote Desktop. It is also possible for the user to disconnect from that session and resume it when they log back on directly.

If another user is logged on when an incoming Remote Desktop session is initiated, she will receive a message indicating that another user wants to log on remotely. The logged-on user has the ability to deny the remote user access, even when the remote user has administrative privileges and the logged-on user does not. If a user is logged on remotely and another user attempts a local logon, the remote user will be prompted in the same way. A currently logged-on user, whether that logon is remote or local, is able to deny another user's logon request. If a user is disconnected, her session remains in memory and she can reconnect at any time, similar to the way a user's session remains in memory when you use the Switch User option from the Shutdown menu.

You can make Remote Desktop connections through NAT devices to hosts on the Internet. A technology available in Windows Server 2008 called Terminal Services Gateway allows users to make Remote Desktop connections from hosts that have Internet connectivity to hosts on an internal protected network. It is possible to make Remote Desktop connections over modem and VPN links. Remote Desktop connections can use both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol and it is possible to make a Remote Desktop connection when a computer connects to the network using DirectAccess.