Remote Desktop

macgabhs

Hi folks,

Just wondering if anybody has any experience using remote desktop to a windows machine behind a sonicwall vpn? Is it possible to do this natively on a Mac or would I be better off looking to use a windows virtual machine with parallels or similar? Any help is appreciated.

S

ZENER

Your post is a little confusing to me. Do you want remote desktop so you can use Windows XP on your Mac or do you want Windows XP because you think it will make remote desktop work better via your firewall ?

Microsoft RDP requires several ports to be opened on your firewall. Obviously you will need access to the firewall config tool to do this. If you have then maybe we can help you set it up.

As for making XP available on your Mac I'd suggest one of the many VM implementations available, Parallels Desktop, Crossover Mac, VM Fusion etc.

ZEN

macgabhs

Sorry I can see why that sounds confusing! What I would like to do is access my windows xp work computer from home using my Mac. While I have an old laptop that I can use for this purpose I would like to be use my new Mac if possible. Currently I use a Sonicwall client on the laptop to access my work vpn then use Remote Desktop to control my work PC. So my question is can I have a similar arrangement using my Mac? Obviously if there is a native OSX method for doing this it's preferable but it might be easier to just install a windows virtual machine and use the same method as I have being using on my laptop.

Hope this clears things up and thanks for your help.

S

J-blk

The problem I can see is with the Sonicwall VPN client - I'm not familiar with it and don't know if a version exists for Mac OS X and this is going to be the main issue. Unless you're connected to the company's VPN, you won't be able to remote desktop into the XP PC. There's also a chance that your IT admin/department may not be willing to install it on a Mac, even if a version of it exists, for support reasons.

I use a different VPN client to connect to my work network, but as it is Windows only, I've ended up going the route of having Windows XP installed in a VMWare Fusion VM. Remote Desktop from the Mac directly to a Windows Home Server on my private network though works just fine so as mentioned above, if you can figure out the Sonicwall VPN, you shouldn't have issues with getting Remote Desktop to work. Best of luck with it.

Talisman

If you have local administrator access to your PC in work then you can install LogMeIn Free and access your computer through a web browser.

Junior

You can get RDC for mac, just nat port 3389 to your desktop PC in the Sonicwall, if your on a static IP tie down 3389 just to your IP.