I have tried and tried to connect my laptop (running Win ME) over the internet to my desktop (running Win XP). I cannot seem to get the computer name that is needed. I have looked in the obvious places (right click My Computer, left click proerties, cli
ck computer name), but the name I get there does not work. HELP!!!!!!!!!

How do I find out the ipaddress from halfway across the country?

----- draagekreik wrote: -----

> I have tried and tried to connect my laptop (running Win ME) over the
> internet to my desktop (running Win XP). I cannot seem to get the
> computer name that is needed. I have looked in the obvious places (right
> click My Computer, left click proerties, click computer name), but the
> name I get there does not work. HELP!!!!!!!!!

That name won't be recognized on the internet, only in your local network. To connect over the internet you need to get the public IP address of your computer. You can get the IP address of your computer by opening a command prompt window and typing in
the command ipconfig.

However, just having the IP address alone may not be enough to connect to your XP machine over the internet. If you are behind a router/firewall then you will need to make sure you have the appropriate ports open for the RDP protocol. Barb Bowman has wr
itten a column on access your home PC using a Smart Display across the internet. The article may be of interest as the Smart Display uses Remote Desktop to interact with the host PC. The article is available online at [url]http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/[/url]
expertzone/columns/bowman/03may12.asp.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Smart Display
[url]http://support.telop.org[/url]

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

draagekreik wrote:

> How do I find out the ipaddress from halfway across the country?

Since you didn't quote any part of a previous post, I don't know the
setup, but when I want to connect to a remote computer (to help my
brother across the country, for instance), I have him go to
[url]www.whatismyip.com[/url] and read me the ip address. This only works for
computers not behind a router, of course. If this isn't what you wanted
to know, then please post back with more details.

Cheers,

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
"Don't Panic!"

Trying to set up my laptop and desktop so that when I am a thousand miles away from home, I can access my desktop remotely. Problem 1: I need the ip address, and I need to not depend on someone else to give it to me. (This would be solved if I could us
e a constant computer name in stead of an ip address.) Problem 2: I have on my desktop Windows XP Home Edition, which apparently does not come bundled with the software capable of making it run as a remote server for this purpose. (I spent many hours b
efore I found out this tidbit of information.) Problem 3: Based upon someone else's recommendation, I have tried using TightVNC instead. The problem with all these is the same: The computer I am trying to access seems to be inaccessible to my laptop.
Must I either upgrade to XP pro or pay a huge bundle to a third party software company to get this capability? If so, I wish this bit of informatoin had been made available to me long before I started this little project.

----- Malke wrote: -----

draagekreik wrote:

> How do I find out the ipaddress from halfway across the country?

Since you didn't quote any part of a previous post, I don't know the
setup, but when I want to connect to a remote computer (to help my
brother across the country, for instance), I have him go to
[url]www.whatismyip.com[/url] and read me the ip address. This only works for
computers not behind a router, of course. If this isn't what you wanted
to know, then please post back with more details.

Cheers,

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
[url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
"Don't Panic!"

1 - you don't say but I assume your using dialup, which means your ip
address changes everytime you connect. If you had the desktop on
braodband(cable) you would get what they call a long lease ip address or can
even get a static ip address, which doesn't change. My long lease ip address
changes only a few times year. If remote desktop is something important to
you and your going to use it alot I would goto broadband on the desktop,
then you'll know what your ip is all the time(and in the event that it does
change while your away, them someone will have to give it to you, but thats
a slim chance)
2 - True XP home does not have remote desktop server capabilities. Only xp
pro can accept/host a remote desktop session.
3 - VNC should work just fine with xp home. You would have to setup the
desktop as the host and then use the laptop and connect to the hosts ip
address. You don't need xp pro to use VNC.

Most of this info is in help and support and the ms kb articles. Also
remember that if you have a firewall running on the desktop you will have to
open the ports in the firewall that remote desktop or vnc use in order to
make the connection. I'm using remote desktop right now to post this, with
broadband cable internet on both ends and xp pro. Works great.

draagekreik wrote:
> Trying to set up my laptop and desktop so that when I am a thousand
> miles away from home, I can access my desktop remotely. Problem 1:
> I need the ip address, and I need to not depend on someone else to
> give it to me. (This would be solved if I could use a constant
> computer name in stead of an ip address.) Problem 2: I have on my
> desktop Windows XP Home Edition, which apparently does not come
> bundled with the software capable of making it run as a remote server
> for this purpose. (I spent many hours before I found out this tidbit
> of information.) Problem 3: Based upon someone else's
> recommendation, I have tried using TightVNC instead. The problem
> with all these is the same: The computer I am trying to access seems
> to be inaccessible to my laptop. Must I either upgrade to XP pro or
> pay a huge bundle to a third party software company to get this
> capability? If so, I wish this bit of informatoin had been made
> available to me long before I started this little project.
>
> ----- Malke wrote: -----
>
> draagekreik wrote:
>
> > How do I find out the ipaddress from halfway across the
> country?
>
> Since you didn't quote any part of a previous post, I don't know
> the setup, but when I want to connect to a remote computer (to
> help my brother across the country, for instance), I have him go
> to [url]www.whatismyip.com[/url] and read me the ip address. This only
> works for computers not behind a router, of course. If this
> isn't what you wanted to know, then please post back with more
> details.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> [url]www.elephantboycomputers.com[/url]
> "Don't Panic!"