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I want to RDP in to machines on my local network from my work laptop when I am at home. The problem is that my work laptop has a default domain. So it postfixes the domain onto any machine address I use. I can get around this by looking up the IP address but it's annoying. Is there anyway I can get around this?
TheColonel26
Posted 2015-07-06T02:25:48.550
Reputation: 121
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All you need to do is edit your host file on the laptop.
Right click on your shortcut to notepad in the programs menu and select Run as Administrator
In notepad select File -> Open to open the file open dialog.
In the filter dropdown at the bottom right of the file open dialog select All Files (*.*)
Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and select the file named hosts (it has no extension).
Add a new line to that file which looks like this:
192.168.1.1 pcname pcname.yourworkdomain.com
Replace 192.168.1.1 with the actual IP that the machine uses, replace both pcname instances with the name you want to call that PC and replace yourworkdomain.com with the actual domain used at work.
You may also want to set the target PC to use a static IP so that you don't ever need to change this. No restart is needed. It should work instantly upon save. As long as you don't name your PC something that is in use at work you shouldn't need to make any changes between work and home and it should just work.
krowe
Posted 2015-07-06T02:25:48.550
Reputation: 5 031
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You can bypass this by adding a "\" before or in front of the username in the RDP screen.
Jeroen
Posted 2015-07-06T02:25:48.550
Reputation: 236
This doesn't work. It only changes the domain controller used to authenticate. That is not my problem. – TheColonel26 – 2015-07-11T00:58:31.690
Thank you, but if I gave it a static IP then I wouldn't need to use the name because I would always know what the IP is. – TheColonel26 – 2015-07-11T01:00:07.837
Also, If you want, you could do this for just one machine. Simply choose one machine at home that you'd be willing to give a static IP (it could even be a VM just for this if you want). Connect to that first and, from there, you 'll be able to RDP to any of the other machine easily. – krowe – 2015-07-11T05:54:02.907
A better option is to add rules to your DHCP server to reserve IPs for each machines MAC address. You may want to make a shortcut to open the host file as admin and update the file as needed. If your router supports 'Dynamic DNS' then that is the very best way to do this but if not (and you aren't running your own DNS server) then this is probably the best. – krowe – 2015-07-11T06:05:55.113
If you have multiple connections you could also just use the one you don't use at work to connect to your home workgroup (the settings you are using to add the suffix are connection specific). Even USB wifi would work for this. Alternatively, you could just go to that setting and edit the dialog to disable that setting until you get back to work. – krowe – 2015-07-11T06:12:45.937