Accessing the Windows desktop remotely

[bdl]

I thought it was time for a new thread in the 'Windows' forum, I'm getting tired of looking at the other one (yeah you know what I'm talking about). Anyway I need some input on something.

I've got an idea to have an XP / W2K machine on my network that I can keep as a headless machine and just access it remotely from another room; I need to be able to utilize it more or less exactly as I would a regular Windows box, just be able to run 4 or 5 applications on that machine (no gaming, obviously) from my local desktop. IIRC there is a method for doing such a thing, I'm not all familiar with RPC or remote access on Windows, so if anyone has done this or has run across this prior, please provide any input you can...

TIA

[sde]

vnc is free and supported on windows/*nix: http://www.realvnc.com/download.html

i don't think you have control over what port it runs on, so i use radmin. www.radmin.com $30, but well worth it.

there is built in remote connection in XP ( start-programs->accessories->communicatinos->remote desktop connection ) , but i'm not sure if that's supported by win2k .. i think maybe win2k advanced server.

but they are all essentially graphical remote controls just as if you were sitting in front of the computer. ( except a little lag and slower screen redraws. )

is that what you were looking for?

[bdl]

Yes that looks to be exactly what I'm looking for; I'm going to evaluate both and I'll let you know how it goes...thanks!

[rdove]

Originally posted by sde
vnc is free and supported on windows/*nix: http://www.realvnc.com/download.html

We use VNC at work and it is pretty awesome. I will say though that if you don't tweak the settings, it will seem extremely slow.

[bdl]

Originally posted by rdove
We use VNC at work and it is pretty awesome. I will say though that if you don't tweak the settings, it will seem extremely slow.

I've tried both and am using VNC (mainly since it's free and I don't care about all the added features in remote admin); it is slow, but I am using it on a 11mbps wireless link, so I took it as being due to the slow link rather than any settings I might use. I'm testing it with W2K and the desktop is stripped down to bare minumum; no flash whatsoever.

[rdove]

I don't have it in front of me at the moment, but I believe we set ours to 8-bit color when connecting, it runs a whole lot faster because it is just dealing with the basics.

[idx]

Originally Posted by sde

i don't think you have control over what port it runs on, so i use radmin. www.radmin.com $30, but well worth it.

Sorry to bring this thread up from the dead..

I use TightVNC at work and I believe you can specify the ports. (1.3dev5 at least) You can use the traditional display numbers (0=5900/1=5901/etc.) or set the ports manually. Its also starting support some new features like file transfer, partial screen/app usage and probably a few more I haven't found. (no clue how this compares to realvnc, but I hear they share code from time to time.)

(and yes, 8bit seems to make a big difference. You also might want to try using the DFMirage video hook. I haven't tried yet, but it's supposed to really speed up windows-based vnc servers.)

Also fairly easy to roll out to numerous PC's if necessary.


-r

[creed]

i've been trying remote desktop that comes with win xp and 2003, works fine other than the limitation that you ahve to logout whoever is using the computer (which is bloody annoying)