# remote desktop in server 2008



## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

I enabled remote desktop on server 2008 and can connect to it on my local network, but not externally. I have my router forwarding all incoming requests on port 80 to the internal IP of my server. Is there a firewall rule I am missing somewhere or something? I CAN connect with the internal IP address locally, but not with the external IP address locally.


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

You may need to open the following ports, depending on the services you want to make available:

Port 25 TCP &#8211; SMTP (Outgoing Exchange e-mail)
Port 80 TCP &#8211; HTTP
Port 443 TCP &#8211; HTTPS (RWW, OWA, remote desktop or Terminal Server sessions)
Port 987 TCP &#8211; External secure Companyweb access
Port 1723 TCP &#8211; PPTP (VPN)
If port 80 is not open, then you must specify https:// for RWW connections; otherwise if port 80 is open you can use http:// and the session will be redirected automatically to port 443. If your router is configured to use UPnP, the Internet Address Management Wizard (IAMW) will open port 80.


And you will never be able to access the external IP localy.


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

I opened all of the ports you said on the server firewall and my router. I had someone try to connect remotely and still got an error. I did not have him specify a specific port, just the IP address (which worked when I tried it locally). Any idea what it could be? Is there a log or error message somewhere that I can look at?


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

How exactly are you trying to connect remotely? What address are you using to do this?

You cannot use the local address to acccess it remotely.

For example on most networks I just use the IP like https://111.111.111.111/remote for RWW.


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

I am using Remote Desktop that is built into windows. When I try to connect from another computer on my network to the local address (192.168.1.103), I can connect. When I had someone across town try to connect to it, they got an error that said it couldn't connect to the address. I know that the external IP is up, because I can access the website that it is hosting.


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

So if you use

https://your external IP/remote

what happens?


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

I get the website it is hosting.


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

Hmmmm, well I don't have a site hosted on my SBS server (generally considered a very bad idea) so when I remote in to mine I get a page with my domain name and Remote Web Workplace below the domain name along with a place to put in my username and password.

This is on the right side of the screen and the Windows SBS logo and words on the left.


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

What happens if you try going to http://yourexternalip:3389 ?


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

Well, my server is for me to experiment with, its not an important hosting server or anything. I can't take it with me to college, so I am trying to set it up so I can administrate it remotely. I thought about using tightVNC, but I would prefer to get remote desktop working.


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

wedor said:


> What happens if you try going to http://yourexternalip:3389 ?


I get "Unable to connect" (404 I think).


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

Do you have 3389 forwarded to the server? Can you remove the site for now?

Did you use the wizards when you installed SBS and all of its components?

Have you installed all the components of SBS?


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

Ah, my mistake, this is not SBS, just forward 3389 and use the http://ip:3389 to access it


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## aloishis89 (Jun 5, 2007)

Got it. Forwarding port 3389 on the router and server got it working. Thanks for the help!


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## wedor (Nov 7, 1999)

Thanks for the patience and letting us know how it turned out.


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