Windows 2000 Remote Desktop client

One of the tools shipped with Windows XP Professional is Remote Desktop. Remote Desktop allows you to connect to a remote computer [see Figure 10-15] as if you were sitting right in front of it. This is useful in situations where you need to access the network resource in your office while you are on the road [in which case Remote Desktop should be used through a VPN; see Section 4.2 in Chapter 4].

Remote Desktop uses the Remote Desktop Protocol [RDP], the same protocol used by Terminal Server [also known as Terminal Services in Windows 2000]. Remote Desktop works on low-bandwidth connections, since it transmits only keystrokes and mouse events to the host, which then sends back screen information for the client to display.

10.3.1 Setting Up Remote Desktop

To allow remote users to connect to your computer:

10.3.2 Using Remote Desktop

To use Remote Desktop to connect to the remote host:

Using Remote Desktop, you can:

• Enable the local filesystem to be made available to the remote host.

• Redirect print jobs from the remote host to the local printer.

• Allow local serial and parallel ports to be accessed by the applications running on the remote host.

• Share the clipboard between the local and remote host.

The Remote Desktop Connection client comes installed on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems and can be installed on other platforms such as Windows 2000 Server and workstations. The Remote Desktop Connection client installation software is available for the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition [Windows Me], Windows NT 4, and Windows 2000.

For these operating systems, you can use these deployment options to make the Remote Desktop Connection client available to remote users:

• Install from the Windows Server 2003 installation CD. On the Windows Server 2003, the client setup is in the Support\Tools folder. The client setup and the install shield are included in a single executable: Msrdpcli.exe. Simply copy to the client to the target computer and double-click to run it. On the Internet, the client can be downloaded from //www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/remotedesktop/.

• Copy from a server system and install. On a Windows Server 2003 system, the client setup and the related installer programs are in the %SystemRoot%\System32\ Clients\Tsclient\Win32 folder. The installer package is named Msrdpcli.msi. If you start the Setup.exe program in this folder, it will check for the necessary version of the Windows Installer Package and install this as part of the client tool installation. Two installer packages are provided: Instmsia.exe and Instmsiw.exe.

Note Windows Server 2003 uses Remote Desktop Protocol [RDP] version 5.2. The Remote Desktop Connection client that was originally shipped with Windows XP uses RDP version 5.1. When you install Service Pack 1 or later, the Remote Desktop Connection client is updated so that it works with RDP version 5.2.

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Other deployment options include storing the client installation software on a network share and publishing the location or using Microsoft Systems Management Server [SMS] to publish the Windows installer RDC. RDC also supports Microsoft Windows CE and can be installed on Windows CE-based handheld professional devices and Windows CE-based terminals. A Windows CE version of RDC is included in the Windows CE .NET Platform Builder and can also be installed by Windows CE hardware vendors.

Continue reading here: Running the Remote Desktop Connection Client

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