MAC to Windows Remote Desktop

I have been using Windows since 3.1. Don't laugh, I am only 28

Anyhow, my job is that of an IT professional. I MUST remain tethered to Windows in some form or another for work. However, that does NOT mean my home PC does. I would like to STRICTLY use my mac as my main machine. The only problem I forsee banishing a couple of minor issues here and there, is the fact that I need to connect remotely to work (windows).

Is that possible on a Mac? Going from Mac to Windows remote desktop? Or will I suffer and continue to have to use my Windows laptop?


Thanks!
Kris

technologist said:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx#Others

Click to expand...

Pure GOLD!!!

Thank you so much. The switch is getting easier!

Windows Remote Desktop won't work if your connecting from your mac at home to your pc at work assuming that your work is not your home.

Again assuming that this new beta version works like the old WRD, where you can only connect to windows computers on your local network.

For this you would have to have Chicken of the VNC on mac and UltraVNC at work.

milessthomas said:

Windows Remote Desktop won't work if your connecting from your mac at home to your pc at work assuming that your work is not your home.

Again assuming that this new beta version works like the old WRD, where you can only connect to windows computers on your local network.

For this you would have to have Chicken of the VNC on mac and UltraVNC at work.

Click to expand...

Oh, so no home to work connections?

AbSoluTc said:

Oh, so no home to work connections?

****!

Click to expand...

No not necessarily. You just need to forward a port from work and use ultravnc to serve the vnc. Then connect to the vnc server from "Chicken of the Vnc" on your mac.

milessthomas said:

Windows Remote Desktop won't work if your connecting from your mac at home to your pc at work assuming that your work is not your home.

Again assuming that this new beta version works like the old WRD, where you can only connect to windows computers on your local network.

Click to expand...

Um...no...not the case at all.

RDC will work just fine from anywhere VNC does. But both require that any firewall(s) allow their traffic.

milessthomas said:

Windows Remote Desktop won't work if your connecting from your mac at home to your pc at work assuming that your work is not your home.

Again assuming that this new beta version works like the old WRD, where you can only connect to windows computers on your local network.

For this you would have to have Chicken of the VNC on mac and UltraVNC at work.

Click to expand...

Kris: I'm in nearly the same boat as you; 29, been using Windows since 3.1, and MUST have some type of connection to Windows due to my job in IT (supporting Windows). I use the Remote Desktop Client linked above with no problems what so ever. You just need to be able to get into your work network from home, no different than using a Windows machine at home. I connect via VPN and fire up RDC to connect to my work desktop where all my admin tools are installed. Easy as cake after that.

Oh yeah, download the RDC beta. It's better than the old (1.0.3) one.

You can download and use either of the following 2 options.

1) Microsoft RDP client - this requires that you have access to setting up port forwarding in your companies firewall to allow the traffic to be directed to your work systems and that your target machine have RDP running as a service. If you are not the network admin this is not likly to be an option for you.

2) Setup a free account at www.logmein.com and install the client on your work machine. With this you can have an unlimited number of workstations (MS or Mac) setup and you can remote into any of them from any browser at any computer anywhere.

The RDC beta sucks. Do not use it. You'll get a horrid impression!

I use windows machines at work and sometimes connect from home with my mac using RDC.
VNC is ssllooww. LogMeIn in ssslllooowwweeerrr. And RDC has built in file sharing when connected AND xfers audio too (if so desired)!

I've spent a long time trying out many remote desktop configs. RDC is the best for controlling PCs remotely.

FYI, RDC can run on other ports than the default 3389. I set mine to xxxx so that you can have multiple rdc'd computers through the same router/firewall.

Get a better internet connection. Any of the options you listed work with 0 latency and as if I were right in front of the computer when I use them. And I use logmein daily to administer the networks of 5 different companies. RDP daily to connect to 2 different companies, and VNC to connect to 3 computers that I haven't bothered putting logmein on yet.

kfordham281 said:

Kris: I'm in nearly the same boat as you; 29, been using Windows since 3.1, and MUST have some type of connection to Windows due to my job in IT (supporting Windows). I use the Remote Desktop Client linked above with no problems what so ever. You just need to be able to get into your work network from home, no different than using a Windows machine at home. I connect via VPN and fire up RDC to connect to my work desktop where all my admin tools are installed. Easy as cake after that.

Click to expand...

Thanks kford. From what I am gathering, it will work just fine as long as the firewalls allow it? As of now, I don't see why not. We don't have firewalls with the setup we have.

When I connect from home - I connect to the office computer (no firewall). That computer then has access to every other network I need to connect to. Those networks are firewalled, but it does not matter because once I get to the office system it should be smooth sailing from there. My only concearn was point A to point B. Again, it just sounds like the firewalls need to be in check.

Sounds good to me!


Since your situation is nearly the same as mine - what do you think of the Mac OS ? Obviously you like it if your still here - I would guess it was not too hard for you if at all? I personally am tired of the crashing, the constant "Mr. Fix It" stuff I have to do to my own machine and blah blah blah. I want something that just works you know. Come home, hope on and do what I want!

Thank you all for the help/advice

Better connection? It's not fibre. But I'm not home/cable business/cable.
LogMeIn runs through Java. That is the bottleneck. It's not the pipe.

RDC gets the screen before it hits the video card. It's piped right out the connections. It's super faster because of that.
All the others wait for the screen to be drawn. Then they read the screen. Then they send the images. Now add java on top of that...

Using the MAC RDC beta with no problems here... We use Hamachi to access remote systems. Hamachi X Beta works great for me on the Mac.

I found that RDC was slow and it always crashed on me. I started using CoRD and never looked back.

Cheers!

I could never get the rudimentary implementation of hamachi to work reliably on the mac. The last hamachi update was june 2006 (the unofficial gui was updated may 2007).
Left on for several hours, it will eat ALL of your ram on an intel mac. 2GBs of ram? POOF gone.

CoRD crashes with multiple sessions and will not connect to Vista. Try RDC Menu instead!

AbSoluTc said:

Since your situation is nearly the same as mine - what do you think of the Mac OS ? Obviously you like it if your still here - I would guess it was not too hard for you if at all?

Click to expand...

It's looking pretty doubtful I'll ever go back to Windows at home. OS X isn't all that much difference from a basic user perspective. Click this, double click that, right click here (or command click), it's all pretty similar. The overall enjoyment of my computer though has increased significantly. For most users, they could switch to OS X will minimal issues. Hope you are enjoying the Mac Kris!

I'm confused, I'm using Windows Remote Desktop:mac

I have remote desktop enabled on my pc

I know my ip address for my pc

I login on my mac but it wont connect

Do I have to configure anything on my mac end to get this to work?

CoRD rocks:

http://cord.sourceforge.net/