Windows Vista: Remote Desktop

Both Windows Vista Ultimate or Business editions include a feature called Remote Desktop. This feature is also included in Windows XP Professional. The Remote Desktop service allows you to control a machine from another computer on the same network.

There are two main parts to remote desktop, there is the service which runs on the host computer that allows to you to remotely log in to it. Then there is the Remote Desktop client, which allows you to connect to the remote computer which is running that service.

The remote desktop service is disabled by default for security reasons, but its not very hard to turn it on. Follow the instructions below to find out how to enable it:

• In the Control Panel open the System applet (or right-click the Computer icon in the Start menu and select Properties)
• In the left pane, click the 'Remote Settings' link.
• Select the 'Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)' radio button. This allows older versions of remote desktop to connect to this computer. Or, select the 'Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authenticate (more secure)' radio button. If you're going to connect to this computer with Windows Vista or an updated version of the Remote Desktop client.
• Press the 'Select Users' button and add the user accounts that you want to allow to connect to the machine from a remote computer.

When enabling the Remote Desktop service, Vista will automatically open ports in your firewall to allow the Remote Desktop Protocol through it.

There are a few things that you need to know. The Remote Desktop service, doesn't work when the host computer's in sleep mode. Also, when you log into the host computer remotely, no one can use the local machine while your logged in. So this means that the host computer can't be shared.