up vote 0 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I want to work from home. My office computer is connected to an internal LAN and it doesn't have any publicly accessible IP address.

There is one server which is both publicly available as well as connected to the internal LAN.

When I want to connect to my computer, I Remote Desktop to the server and then inside that I Remote Desktop to my computer. This makes it awfully slow.

Is there a way I can connect directly to my computer?

This is a small office and I have all the rights to the server. I've heard there are ways of opening up some port and then remote desktop-ing directly to an internal LAN computer.

Thanks

link|improve this question
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

There are a few ways that you can go about this. The biggest difference between them is the impact on security and the flexibility they provide. You have:

  • Forward port through router directly to your machine
    • pro: simple connection direct to your desktop from home
    • con: leaves a port open to the outside world
  • Configure a VPN endpoint on your router
    • pro: gives you direct access to most of your office resources
    • con: somewhat vulnerable, harder to configure
  • Use a web-based solution like LogMeIn
    • pro: somewhat secure, easy to setup
    • con: runs in browser, different to remote desktop, free versions may not contain all features
link|improve this answer
I like the Port opening option. How does it work? Can you point out a tutorial/step by step guide? Thanks. – Muneeb Aug 24 '10 at 14:59
I wouldn't recommend it but - configuring port forwarding is usually specific to the router. Remote desktop works on port 3389. You tell your router to direct all internet traffic on a specific port to your internal IP at port 3389. You then connect to the chosen external port. Google 'remote desktop port forwarding'. How do you remote desktop to the server now? – Ajw Aug 24 '10 at 15:44
Thats the point. There is no router involved. I just need to somehow port forward on windows server. I think it'll be much easier but I can't find a way. Not even on google. There must be some option in Control Panel somewhere. – Muneeb Aug 24 '10 at 15:46
1  
@Muneeb Are you saying that the server is dual-homed, i.e. has a WAN interface with public IP address and a LAN interface? In that case, are you using ISA or RRAS to route between the two? – Ajw Aug 25 '10 at 0:56
1  
@Muneeb You say you have no router. That means your server must be acting as a router. This would be probably done with ISA Server or Routing & Remote Access Services (RRAS). You can configure port forwarding using 1 of them. – Ajw Aug 26 '10 at 2:47
show 2 more comments
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

link textTry using LogMeIn. There's a free version for personal use, which is quite limited, but you can work pretty well if you just want to run the computer remotely. You can even buy paid versions depending on what features you want. Look at this guide:

https://secure.logmein.com/US/whichproduct/

You can also try the completely free, widely acclaimed TeamViewer. I am not sure how you can access your computer remotely. I have just used it for remote support.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.