Help using RDP

Hey Guys,

I use RDP myself but I use one MS account on all my machines and have had no problems with RDP. I understand that any Pro machine can access and control all other Pro machines but can not access Home. However Home can access and control Pro.

I'm helping someone who has 5 computers on his network. 3 with win10Pro, 1 with Win11 HOME, and 2 with Win11 PRO. All use 6 different LOCAL accounts, but he was logging in using pins and didn't know his passwords. All systems have RDP enabled.

Here is what I have tried. I took 2 of his machines, a win10Pro and a 11Pro.

1. I discovered RDP would not work with pins so we finally got a password working on both the machines

2. We opened RDP on Win10, entered Win11 computer name, and user name and local account password of Win11 PC. At connect, got a credentials error. Went to Win11 PC logged out and backin using password. Same thing happened. Looking in credentials manager both had his MS account listed. The only way I can figure out why a MS account is listed as a credential, is that account was used to purchase OFC 365 which he has on both machines. However his accounts are local accounts (Since he does not use onedrive at all and saves all his files locally, all his machines use the same MS account to access 365) So I tried using that account in RDP login. Still got credentials error.

4. I then set up a new credential on Win10 of /myserver/Win11 PC name/win11 username/win11 user password. Remote desktop then connected, he can see the Win 11 PC but cannot interact with it. I deleted this credential.

As long as one has the remote machine name, user name & password, one should not be getting credentials error. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong.

Hi Linda

Try this

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE—-SYSTEM—- CurrentControlSet—-Services—-LanmanWorkstation—Parameters

Right-click in Parameters and rename the new DWORD (32-bit) value to AllowInsecureGuestAuth with a value of 1 and save

It’s not really an ideal soloution though.

You can also do through Group Policy

How to enable insecure guest logons (not recommended):

• Open Group Policy Editor: Press "Windows key + R", type "gpedit.msc" and press Enter.
• Navigate to the setting: Go to "Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Lanman Workstation".
• Enable insecure guest logons: Find "Enable insecure guest logons", select "Enabled", and click "OK".

There is also the other method to try that I talked privately to you about.

Disable Windows Hello on the PC you’re connecting to. Remove the PIN if it’s an option although shouldn’t be needed with Hello disabled.

After successfully changing or remembering the password for that MS account, log out and log back in with the username and password instead of the pin.

The local account thing, I’m not sure about. There was a thread somewhere about local user account passwords that I can’t find.

If needed:

Sounds like you have physical access to his LAN? Or did you open ports?

If RDP is giving issues, have you tried Anydesk or Quick Assist?

If RDP is mandatory:
He can log into the PCs with pin and either
1) enable the Administrator and set a password for it
2) create a new Admin profile for remote connection purposes

How much of what you’re attempting to do on his PCs can you divulge? May be able to achieve the tasks via logging into them with one of the aforementioned methods and making registry tweaks from there, etc.

@antspants. Thanks for that info on changing account password if one doesn't know it. It will save a lot of time on the other machines when we get there.
I hope the lanman workstation thing does the trick. I thought that was when computers were not seen in networking, but I can see how it would make sense as RDP involves networking.. Not one article I read about RDP mentioned that.

@dacrone He wants to grab files from one computer to another between all 6 systems, but did not want to try file sharing as he read about problems regarding file sharing.

glasskuter said:

@dacrone He wants to grab files from one computer to another between available between all 6 systems, but did not want to try file sharing as he read about problems regarding file sharing.

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Just a one time type of thing or continual? If the former, you can do so easily via anydesk file transfer. If continual, a workgroup set up the correct way is his best long-term option (aside from some form of network attached storage).

dacrone said:

continual

Click to expand...

yes, ongoing

"I understand that any Pro machine can access and control all other Pro machines but can not access Home. However Home can access and control Pro."

To clarify;-

Pro can act as a server i.e. any version (as the client) can connect to a remote Pro session

Home can only act as a client but not as a server i.e. no version of Windows can RDP to Home.

Actually, some versions of Linux can act as an RDP server (using xrdp typically). Kali Linux is one of easiest to setup as a server.

You can manually add RDP capability to Home, but I still stand by a workgroup or network storage for continuous use.

dacrone said:

You can manually add RDP capability to Home

Click to expand...

Yes he had already found that. I looked at it lightly but didn't study it as I was having so much trouble getting RDP in Pro to work. From what I saw I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle it. Maybe when I study it closer there's not as much to it as it seemed. I'll be happy if I can get all the Pros working. I have so many other irons in the fire right now and other of his machines to deal with, this problem and others..

Dacrone, I tried to PM you to ask a question about one of your other posts, but am unable to. Do you have messages turned off in your profile?

glasskuter said:

Yes he had already found that. I looked at it lightly but didn't study it as I was having so much trouble getting RDP in Pro to work. From what I saw I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle it. Maybe when I study it closer there's not as much to it as it seemed. I'll be happy if I can get all the Pros working. I have so many other irons in the fire right now and other of his machines to deal with, this problem and others..

Dacrone, I tried to PM you to ask a question about one of your other posts, but am unable to. Do you have messages turned off in your profile?

Click to expand...

Yeah. But I’ll message you so you can reply to it

Could you not use Quick Assist instead?

z3r010 said:

Could you not use Quick Assist instead?

Click to expand...

He could but it would defeat his purpose because someone has to give interaction at the other end. Same goes for Chrome Remote Desktop. He has computers both upstairs and downstairs. At least with RDP no one has to do anything on the remote end. Right now if an upstairs PC has a file he wants downstairs he goes upstairs, copies a file to a flash drive, then goes back downstairs and copies the file on his PC. He's trying to avoid that.

Another roadblock he's going to run into is, unless he disables sleep on all his systems (or extends sleep time to an inordinant amount of time,) neither RDP Quick Assist, Chrome Remote Desktop, or file sharing will work most of the time as magic packets are not sent by any of them. He will probably have to pick and choose by use which ones to do this on as that's a lot of power with multiple monitors connected to most of them.

Don't anyone suggest Onedrive. He uses local accounts since he's been bitten by onedrive before.

I know of no ideal solution, other than maybe using a NAS which would be too much of an investment and not very cost efficient unless he accesses a ton of shared files.. If he has a usb port on his router, a large self powered external drive would be the cheapest way to go. (It would be a beast to image.)

LOL...DUH!! I just noticed I've been calling this RDP whe it's actually RDC Oh well, it's been a tuff day and I'm old. Very, very old..

Thanks to everyone for your input. I hope antpants idea wil work.

glasskuter said:

I just noticed I've been calling this RDP whe it's actually RDC

Click to expand...

Technology vs Tool… meh. Who cares.

Can I get a “Hell Yeah” from members for this person to use the same Microsoft Account on all their PC’s?

With TeamViewer you can set up a attended access. I use it to help family members far away.

antspants said:

Can I get a “Hell Yeah” from members for this person to use the same Microsoft Account on all their PC’s?

Click to expand...

Hi, what do you mean?
Is it not OK?
I do this on two machines, shouldn't I ?

Ciao, Han