Vista Remote Assistance, NAT and Firewall/Routers

Im trying to provide help with my parents computer remotely using Vista
Remote Assistant. My parents solicit the invitation and when I accept/invoke
the ticket at my end, my computer is unable to establish the connection.

Both computers are running Windows Vista Home Premium
Both computers are behind a firewall router

Having done some reading on this over the last couple of days, it **seems**
the following configuration changes will make this work;
1) Configure Windows Firewall by enabling Remote Assistance as an exception
2) Enable Remote Assistance from the "Remote" tab under "System Properties"
3) Ensure the device network is set "Private" under Vista "Network and
Sharing Centre"
4) Ensure "Network Discovery" is on under "Network and Sharing Centre"
5) Configure the remote router to enable Port forwarding to the remote
computer on port 3389 (Windows Terminal Server), ensuring that the IP
address of that computer is static

All good so far, however MS Technet "Remote Assistance and Resulting
Internet Communication in Windows Vista" says "Transmission Protocol and
Port: the port is dynamically selected by Remote Assistance"

If the latter is true, I'd appreciate some help with the following;
** How is it possible for Remote Assistance to work (over IPv4) across two
devices which are 'separated' by an ADSL Gateway/Firewall without either
placing the remote device in the remote firewall DMZ, or simply disabling
the remote firewall (neither are particularly desirable)?
** I see that Vista places the LAN IP address of the soliciting device
(which is subject to NAT) into the Remote Assistance Ticket. Assuming the
Firewall issue above is sorted, do I need to substitute this IP address, in
the ticket, for the WAN IP address of the remote firewall/router before I
use the ticket?

Many thanks for your help
Mark

Try using TeamViewer .




On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:51:52 +0100, "Mark Spencer"
<mspencer_home@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Im trying to provide help with my parents computer remotely using Vista
>Remote Assistant. My parents solicit the invitation and when I accept/invoke
>the ticket at my end, my computer is unable to establish the connection.
>
>Both computers are running Windows Vista Home Premium
>Both computers are behind a firewall router
>
>Having done some reading on this over the last couple of days, it **seems**
>the following configuration changes will make this work;
>1) Configure Windows Firewall by enabling Remote Assistance as an exception
>2) Enable Remote Assistance from the "Remote" tab under "System Properties"
>3) Ensure the device network is set "Private" under Vista "Network and
>Sharing Centre"
>4) Ensure "Network Discovery" is on under "Network and Sharing Centre"
>5) Configure the remote router to enable Port forwarding to the remote
>computer on port 3389 (Windows Terminal Server), ensuring that the IP
>address of that computer is static
>
>All good so far, however MS Technet "Remote Assistance and Resulting
>Internet Communication in Windows Vista" says "Transmission Protocol and
>Port: the port is dynamically selected by Remote Assistance"
>
>If the latter is true, I'd appreciate some help with the following;
>** How is it possible for Remote Assistance to work (over IPv4) across two
>devices which are 'separated' by an ADSL Gateway/Firewall without either
>placing the remote device in the remote firewall DMZ, or simply disabling
>the remote firewall (neither are particularly desirable)?
>** I see that Vista places the LAN IP address of the soliciting device
>(which is subject to NAT) into the Remote Assistance Ticket. Assuming the
>Firewall issue above is sorted, do I need to substitute this IP address, in
>the ticket, for the WAN IP address of the remote firewall/router before I
>use the ticket?
>
>Many thanks for your help
>Mark

Jim wrote:

>
> Try using TeamViewer .

> On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:51:52 +0100, "Mark Spencer"
> <mspencer_home@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Im trying to provide help with my parents computer remotely using Vista
>>Remote Assistant. My parents solicit the invitation and when I
>>accept/invoke the ticket at my end, my computer is unable to establish the
>>connection.

(snip tortuous tale)

I'm completely in agreement with Jim. TeamViewer is free for personal use
and the parents don't need to install anything. It's way simpler to use
than Remote Desktop.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ