Connecting to Your Computer

client iconOnce your computer is configured for Remote Desktop you can connect to it from a remote machine. There are two ways to connect to the host computer using Remote Desktop.

  • The first method is to connect by using the Remote Desktop Client, which is pre installed on any Windows XP or Vista machine. The Remote Desktop Client software can be downloaded and installed on Windows 95-2000 computers and Mac OS X computers.

  • The second way is to access your computer with Remote Desktop Web Connection (see Web Connection below). This method requires Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher on any version of Windows higher than NT 4.0 or 95. Remote Web Connection also requires some additional configuration steps on the host computer and your Windows XP CD.

Note: The host computer must be turned on and connected to the network or Internet in order to connect to it using Remote Desktop.

Using Remote Desktop Connection Client

  1. The Remote Desktop Client software is pre installed on any Windows XP or Vista machine. To download and install the Remote Desktop Client software for a Windows 95-2000 machine, see the Microsoft Remote Desktop site. If you are accessing your computer remotely from a Mac OS X machine, you can download and install the Mac OS X client from Mac's web site.

  2. Once you have the Remote Desktop Client software installed on the remote machine, all you need is the IP address or hostname for the host computer.

    • If you are planning to remotely connect to a computer that is joined to a University of Iowa Active Directory Domain, use the Full computer name for the hostname. To find the Full computer name, click Start | Control Panel | System and choose the Remote tab. The Full computer name is listed in the Remote Desktop area (for example, abc-xy-123.iowa.uiowa.edu).

    • Users accessing computers that are not connected to the Active Directory Domain should use the IP address of the host computer. If you don't know the host computer's IP address, go to Start | Run, type cmd and click OK. A black window will appear. Type ipconfig and press enter. The system will display a list of information. Look at the section for IP Address and write it down. It should be a set of four numbers separated by dots. A typical IP address on the UI campus might look like 128.255.163.127.

      command prompt

  3. To connect remotely, start the client software on the remote computer (Start | Programs | Accessories | Communications | Remote Desktop Connection on a Windows machine). Enter your hostname or the IP address and click the Connect button.

    remote desktop connection

You should be presented with a log in screen for the host computer. Enter your username and password for the account and click OK. You should now be logged in and able to remotely use your computer!

Using Remote Desktop Web Connection

  1. Open a web browser on the remote computer. You must be using Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher on Windows NT 4.0/95/98/ME/2000 or XP in order to access Remote Desktop Web Connection. Type in your IP address/tsweb or hostname/tsweb like in the examples below:

    http://128.255.163.127/tsweb (IP address) or http://abc-xy-123.iowa.uiowa.edu/tsweb (hostname)

  2. The Remote Desktop Web Connection page will display. Enter the name of your computer in the Server field and click the Connect button.

    Remote Desktop Web
    RD Web Connection

  3. Enter your username and password to connect to your computer.

Return to Remote Desktop Support Center