Remote Desktop Connection to a home computer from work

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Can you remotely connect to a computer that's set on a workgroup if your laptop is on the same workgroup but on a different network?

Cody M.

Posted 2014-06-06T14:31:34.183

Reputation: 1

Answers

Yes. The workgroup is irrelevant. If you have Remote Desktop access to your home computer (through any firewall), you just need to put in the proper username and password.

Keltari

Posted 2014-06-06T14:31:34.183

Reputation: 57 019

Thanks, so the WORKGROUP doesn't need to be specified like the domain does (workgroup\username)? – Cody M. – 2014-06-06T14:36:03.250

It should default to the machine name, not the workgroup. if you have issues logging on, put the machine name in front. mypcname\administrator – Keltari – 2014-06-06T14:39:30.890

Yes, but I'm on a completely different network. How does my laptop know to go out and grab my home network and find my PC? I don't feel like I'm specifying enough for the Remote Desktop application to know where to go... – Cody M. – 2014-06-06T15:00:00.013

Ahhh, I think I understand what you are asking. Remote Desktop will not work without a connection to your home network. That will require a VPN or opening a port on your firewall. That is a different and more complex question. – Keltari – 2014-06-06T15:05:47.470

there is absolutely no need for your computer to be on the same workgroup. This only applies in the case of domains, and even then you can specify a different domain by typing the username as "domain\username".

To setup RDP from your work to your house, you need to do the following:

1)Enable RDP on your computer. This is usually in control panel > system > remote. Guide to enabling RDP

2)Setup static IP on your Home PC. This is so that your router knows which IP to forward RDP requests to when you remote back home. When setting up a static IP, ensure that you set your DNS, subnet mask and default gateway correctly. You can get this by opening cmd and using the ipconfig /all command to get your subnet mask, default gateway (most likely your router) and DNS Server IPs (also most liekly your router) - but do this before you start making changes Guide to Static IP in win7/8/8.1

3)Setup port forwarding. Remote Desktop uses TCP port 3389. You will need to forward this IP to your PC so that your router knows what to do with requests on this port. This will help forward any requests directly to your PC. Ensure that the IP you forward to is the IP you just setup for your PC. This webpage contains guides on port forwarding for loads of router models. Failing that, Google is your friend

4)find out what your external IP is. This page will tell you. This is the external IP of your router and is the address you will need to enter into your remote desktop client while at work. This will send an RDP connection to your router, which will then be forwarded to your pc by the router config from step 3 to your computer ip setup in step 2

5)optional! You could then go one step further. If you have a website or registered domain name, you could register your routers IP as a DNS record (you can also do this for free.. Google "Dynamic DNS Service") so that you can Remote desktop to "mypc.mydomain.com" instead of 12.34.56.78

Hope this helps.

Fazer87

Posted 2014-06-06T14:31:34.183

Reputation: 11 177

Awesome, thanks so much! I'll try this out and let you know. I appreciate the detail! – Cody M. – 2014-06-06T15:08:37.760

your very welcome - hope it all works out ok – Fazer87 – 2014-06-06T15:09:19.697