Remote Desktop trouble..again

[Jason]

I have two Win 7 Pro machines on my home network. I have tried everything
I could think of to get one to connect to the other with no luck
yet...until yesterday. I tried it and nearly fainted when it connected -
everything worked fine.

However, it only worked once. After I terminated the session, I tried to
start again and got the same old Unable to Connect error. I rebooted both
machines but that didn't help.

Does the fact that it worked at all, even if only once, suggest something
I should look for?

TIA,
Jason

 

[Char Jackson]

I have two Win 7 Pro machines on my home network. I have tried everything
I could think of to get one to connect to the other with no luck
yet...until yesterday. I tried it and nearly fainted when it connected -
everything worked fine.

What were the things that you could think of? What were the error
messages, verbatim?

Can these two computers see each other on your network, aside from
Remote Desktop? Can they ping each other? Can they access each other's
public folders? How are they connected to your network, and to each
other?

 

[Jason]

What were the things that you could think of? What were the error
messages, verbatim?

Can these two computers see each other on your network, aside from
Remote Desktop? Can they ping each other? Can they access each other's
public folders? How are they connected to your network, and to each
other?

Both machines can ping each other. They are both in a workgroup.

File sharing works fine in both directions. I do not have a homegroup
defined, but RDC had worked fine (with the workgroup) before I upgraded
the laptop from Vista to Win 7. I haven't defined a homegroup because it
looked like that would rule out simple file sharing with an XP machine I
also have.

There are accounts with the same username/pw on each.

Jason

 

[Jason]

After about 10 seconds trying, a popup reports that the connection cannot
be completed and lists 3 possible reasons: remote machine isn't enabled
for RDC, remote machine is off, or the network isn't available. Not
true...

 

[Metspitzer]

What were the things that you could think of? What were the error
messages, verbatim?

Trying to give verbatim errors is hard. It sure would be nice if
Windows would change the way printscreen worked. If printscreen would
take a snapshot and automatically save it to disk, it would be very
useful in tracking down problems.

Keyboards come with an email key and a calculator key. Having a
snapshot key would be nice.

 

[Jason]

On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:03:08 -0400 "Metspitzer"

Trying to give verbatim errors is hard. It sure would be nice if
Windows would change the way printscreen worked. If printscreen would
take a snapshot and automatically save it to disk, it would be very
useful in tracking down problems.

Keyboards come with an email key and a calculator key. Having a
snapshot key would be nice.

Actually Abby OCR software comes with a very useful screen capture
utility that will allow you to capture a window or an arbitrary area and
then convert it to text. I didn't use it for this thread because it's
installed on the server, not on the machine where I'm having trouble
connecting.

 

[Metspitzer]

On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:03:08 -0400 "Metspitzer"


Actually Abby OCR software comes with a very useful screen capture
utility that will allow you to capture a window or an arbitrary area and
then convert it to text. I didn't use it for this thread because it's
installed on the server, not on the machine where I'm having trouble
connecting.

I have actually taken a photo of the desktop before.

 

[Robin Bignall]

On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:03:08 -0400 "Metspitzer"


Actually Abby OCR software comes with a very useful screen capture
utility that will allow you to capture a window or an arbitrary area and
then convert it to text. I didn't use it for this thread because it's
installed on the server, not on the machine where I'm having trouble
connecting.

True. But it's a pretty expensive screen saver.

 

[Metspitzer]

On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:03:08 -0400 "Metspitzer"


Actually Abby OCR software comes with a very useful screen capture
utility that will allow you to capture a window or an arbitrary area and
then convert it to text. I didn't use it for this thread because it's
installed on the server, not on the machine where I'm having trouble
connecting.

No need to covert to text BTW. I use this site and post the URL in
the text message.

http://imgur.com/

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Jason:

Both machines can ping each other. They are both in a workgroup.

File sharing works fine in both directions.

I have no rational justification for this - but since you are
spending a significant number of man hours on this and this idea
will only take about 20 minutes....

Download/install TeamViewer on both boxes and see if it works.

If it does, go with it and don't look back.

Like I said, no rational justification... but it won't take more
than 20 minutes of your time.

 

[Char Jackson]

After about 10 seconds trying,

Are you attempting to access the other computer by its IP address or
by its hostname? Use the IP address...

a popup reports that the connection cannot
be completed and lists 3 possible reasons: remote machine isn't enabled
for RDC, remote machine is off, or the network isn't available. Not
true...

Have you made sure the box is checked to enable Remote Desktop
connections (on the target computer), and you've checked the firewall
status to make sure RDC is allowed? Are you running any "Internet
security" programs? They are notorious for doing exactly what you're
describing.

Can you make Remote Desktop connections in the other direction?

 

[Char Jackson]

Trying to give verbatim errors is hard. It sure would be nice if
Windows would change the way printscreen worked. If printscreen would
take a snapshot and automatically save it to disk, it would be very
useful in tracking down problems.

Fortunately, Windows doesn't do that. Instead, it does something far
more useful by simply placing the screen snapshot (or partial snapshot
if Alt was used) in the system clipboard, where you can use your
favorite application to manipulate it before saving it in a location
and format that you prefer.

Keyboards come with an email key and a calculator key. Having a
snapshot key would be nice.

PrintScreen works perfectly for me, and it's already there. BTW, my
keyboard doesn't have a Calc or Email key.

 

[Stan Brown]

What were the things that you could think of? What were the error
messages, verbatim?

Can these two computers see each other on your network, aside from
Remote Desktop? Can they ping each other? Can they access each other's
public folders? How are they connected to your network, and to each
other?

Char asks good questions. I'll add one: have you tried RDP by
specifying an IP address rather than a machine name? I don't know
much about RDP, but I have seen IP address work in a few cases where
machine name did not.

You can find the IP address of the target machine by opening a
command prompt and typing the command
ipconfig
You want the IPv4 address in the output.

 

[Stan Brown]

Trying to give verbatim errors is hard. It sure would be nice if
Windows would change the way printscreen worked. If printscreen would
take a snapshot and automatically save it to disk, it would be very
useful in tracking down problems.

Huh?

Just paste it into your favorite image viewer. (If you don't have
one, download the free IrfanView, or hold your nose and use Paint.)

Note that you can't attach screen shots to Usenet messages and expect
them to be seen, because this is a text group. Post them to your Web
site or an image hosting service and then include the URLs in your
article.

 

[Stan Brown]

Are you attempting to access the other computer by its IP address or
by its hostname? Use the IP address...

Sorry, Char. I sent my query before seeing yours. I've canceled
mine, but we know what cancels are worth in today's Usenet.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Fortunately, Windows doesn't do that. Instead, it does something far
more useful by simply placing the screen snapshot (or partial snapshot
if Alt was used) in the system clipboard, where you can use your
favorite application to manipulate it before saving it in a location
and format that you prefer.


PrintScreen works perfectly for me, and it's already there. BTW, my
keyboard doesn't have a Calc or Email key.

+1 for everything you just said :--)

I installed the Snipping Tool. One thing I noticed is that when I select
it, the screen freezes. This makes it easy to save, at nearly the
Decisive Moment(TM), a picture of a changing window.

 

[Char Jackson]

Sorry, Char. I sent my query before seeing yours. I've canceled
mine, but we know what cancels are worth in today's Usenet.

No problem. I just saw yours, as well. GMTA!

 

[Jason]

Both machines can ping each other. They are both in a workgroup.

File sharing works fine in both directions.

I have no rational justification for this - but since you are
spending a significant number of man hours on this and this idea
will only take about 20 minutes....

Download/install TeamViewer on both boxes and see if it works.

If it does, go with it and don't look back.

Like I said, no rational justification... but it won't take more
than 20 minutes of your time.[/QUOTE]

Pete,

That was suggested last time I ran into this trouble and I did try it. It
worked just fine, but the screen update behavior was quite slow compared
to the mstsc. I want to get mstsc to work, but if I can't I'll go back to
TeamViewer.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Jason:

but the screen update behavior was quite slow compared
to the mstsc.

I am surprised to hear that.

I'm sort of a closet type-A when it comes to response times and
it's rare that one of my TeamViewer sessions irritates me and it
is almost always when the remote PC is on a very slow connection.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Char Jackson:

ortunately, Windows doesn't do that. Instead, it does something far
more useful by simply placing the screen snapshot (or partial snapshot
if Alt was used) in the system clipboard, where you can use your
favorite application to manipulate it before saving it in a location
and format that you prefer.

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a little utility called
"SnagIt". It's two Killer Features, IMHO, are the ability to
restrict the snapshot to a rectangle that the user specifies and
the ability to snapshot the entire contents of a window even
though one would have to scroll to see them.

It's a real time saver when writing documentation and one wants
to capture only the relevant area of a screen.