[Rex32]

Hey Guys,

I'm currently installing Windows 7 Ultimate on my Lenovo T60p laptop as I recently got a Macbook Pro. I also recently started a company with a few buddies from college and I will be setting this computer up to solely run quickbooks for the company. What I need to do now is find a way for anyone to remotely access and control this computer - or just Quickbooks if need be - and I was hoping someone on the forums may be able to help me out.

Can anyone recommend a software application that will allow windowed remote access from any other internet connected computer - both Mac and PC?

I need to be able to open, edit, delete, etc files on the T60p laptop but be able to print on the computer that is remotely accessing it - example, create an invoice in Quickbooks while at a meeting in DC on the T60p, which is located in Delaware, and print it locally in DC.

Basically, I'm just looking for some remote access advice - any and all would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Mike

[jopa489]

Good ol' Remote Desktop will get that job done for you with ease. Just enable it on the ThinkPad (Start Orb -> Right Click "Computer" -> Properties -> "Remote Settings" option on left -> choose the middle radio button option). If the ThinkPad is behind a firewall/router, you will need to forward port 3389 to it. PortForward can help you with this, as the process varies depending on your router.

On the Macbook, simply install the Microsoft RDP Client for Mac (download here) and connect to your ThinkPad's external IP address. You can find that by going here from the ThinkPad.

In addition to being free, RDP does printer sharing. It's slightly more complicated to setup initially (with the port forwarding, etc) compared to something like GoToMyPC but should work nicely for you in the long run. I don't think other services allow you to share printers. RDP is also immensely faster than any other solution because you are connecting to a virtual session of Windows, as opposed to moving the mouse/keyboard via software.

[Rex32]

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'll give setting all of that up tonight a shot.

As for the port forwarding, I'll probably just have the ThinkPad's MAC address set to DMZ.


-Mike

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by Rex32

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'll give setting all of that up tonight a shot.

As for the port forwarding, I'll probably just have the ThinkPad's MAC address set to DMZ.


-Mike

That works, but I wouldn't recommend doing so if the ThinkPad has important data like Quickbooks. Placing a machine in a DMZ opens it up to the world - if it is ever compromised, you don't want sensitive data on it.

[Rex32]

Very good point, I'll just forward that one port.

I just setup the Quickbooks Server stuff, don't know how to access it though, also need to test the remote access somehow.

Can I add a list of users/pw's for a few different users to access the Thinkpad?


Thanks Again,

Mike

[jopa489]

For the username/password list, you'll have to add each user as a new account on the machine. Make sure they have administrative privileges (or manually add them to the Remote Desktop Users group if they don't). Non-server versions of Windows only allow one person to use the machine at at time. To get concurrent users logged in, you would need Windows Server with extra RDP licenses.

[Rex32]

Gotcha, I'm just using Windows 7 Ultimate x64... I'm going to see how the Quickbooks RA is first and if that isn't good enough I'll use the full windows RA.

Thanks again for your help!

[brocken]

You can set up a free DNS if you want. Search for dyndns (I think it's .org).
You can set it up on most newer routers.
But yeah, RDP is on 7 already and we used it all day at work. They haven't updated the Mac version but the older one works for most stuff.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by brocken

You can set up a free DNS if you want. Search for dyndns (I think it's .org).
You can set it up on most newer routers.
But yeah, RDP is on 7 already and we used it all day at work. They haven't updated the Mac version but the older one works for most stuff.

They dropped an RDP for Mac update last week. Run system update and it should come up.