Accessing Your Domain Computer Remotely

If you frequently travel with a mobile computer, or if you work from locations such as a central office, branch office, and home office, you don't need to have all your programs and data files on all the computers you work with. You can use the computer you have at hand to work virtually on your own computer by using Remote Desktop. If the computer is not on the same network as your own computer, you can use this handy feature only if you first establish a VPN connection to the domain.

Before you can connect to your own computer, you need to configure it to allow remote access. You can allow access via Remote Desktop from computers running a previous version of Windows or only from computers running Windows Vista. Restricting access to computers running Windows Vista provides a greater level of security because of its method of authentication (user verification).

After connecting to the remote computer, you see its desktop on your local computer's monitor. You use your computer's keyboard and mouse to start programs, move around, and work just as if you were sitting at the remote computer. Even the sound from the remote computer plays on your local system. You can select other local resources that you want to have available, such as printers, from the tab in the Remote Desktop Connection window.

During a remote session, the Connection bar (a yellow tab) appears at the top of the remote desktop. With the Connection bar buttons, similar to the window-management buttons found in the upper-right corner of a window, you can minimize or shrink the remote desktop to work on your local computer, while maintaining the connection to the remote computer. You can hide the Connection bar by clicking the thumbtack icon on its left edge, and display it again by pointing to the top of the remote desktop.

When you are ready to disconnect from a remote session, do not close the remote desktop or shut down the remote computer. Instead, you must log off from the remote computer by clicking the Shut Down Options button on that computer's Start menu, and then clicking Log Off (or if connected remotely to a computer running Microsoft Windows XP, clicking Log Off on that computer's Start menu). If you shut down the remote computer, it will actually turn off, and you won't be able to access it again until you or someone else physically restarts it.

In this exercise, you will set up your computer so that it can be accessed via Remote Desktop. Then you will connect to a computer configured for Remote Desktop from another computer. There are no practice files for this exercise.

1.	In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then under System, click the Allow remote access task. Then in the User Account Control dialog box, if you're logged on as an administrator, click Continue. Otherwise, enter an administrator password, and click OK. The System Properties dialog box opens, displaying the Remote tab.
2.	Under Remote Desktop, to allow Remote Desktop connections from any other Windows computer, select the Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop option. To restrict connections to computers running Windows Vista, select the Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication option.
3.	If your computer is set up to go to sleep after a specific period of non-use, a Remote Desktop message box advises you that you won't be able to connect through Remote Desktop while the computer is in sleep mode. Click OK to close the message box. See Also For information about managing your computer's power plan, see "Improving Your Computer's Performance" in Chapter 11, "Optimizing Your Computer System." Tip Any administrator of your computer is by default authorized as a remote user. If you want to authorize additional remote users, click Select Users, and then in the Remote Desktop Users dialog box, click Add. You can add individual users or groups of users.
4.	In the System Properties dialog box, click OK.
5.	From another computer on the domain, on the Start menu, point to All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Remote Desktop Connection. The Remote Desktop Connection opens.
6.	If the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box does not display the multi-tabbed area, click Options. Tip You can control the availability of your computer's resources during a remote session by selecting options on the Local Resources tab.
7.	In the Computer box, type the name of the remote computer you want to access, and then click Connect. Tip If you don't know the computer name, you can click the Computer arrow, click Browse For More in the list, locate the computer you want to connect to in the Browse For Computers dialog box, and then click OK. The Windows Security dialog box opens.
8.	Enter your computer or domain credentials and, if you will be connecting to the remote computer from this computer on a regular basis, select the Remember my credentials check box. Then click OK. Tip To connect to a computer on a domain, enter your domain user name in the User Name box, in the format DOMAIN\user name. The domain shown below the Password box updates to reflect whether you are using computer or domain credentials. A new window opens on your screen, displaying the desktop of the remote computer. [View full size image]
9.	Explore the remote computer, and then when you are ready, log off from it.

Storing and Managing Network Passwords When you connect to a domain remotely, Windows Vista automatically stores your user name and password (collectively, your credentials) on the computer. You can change a password even if your computer is not connected to the domain. You can also remove passwords that you no longer use. If you change the credentials stored on your computer, Windows Vista passes the new credentials to the domain the next time you connect. To store a network password: In Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, and then click User Accounts. In the Tasks list, click Manage your network passwords. In the Stored User Names and Passwords dialog box, click Add. The Stored Credential Properties dialog box opens. In the Log on to box, enter the server, Web site, or program for which you want to store credentials. In the User name and Password boxes, enter your credentials for the server or Web site. Under Credential type, select the type of entity for which you are storing credentials. Then click OK.