Remote Desktop Will Not Connect – 10 Troubleshooting Tips

I hate it when remote desktop will not connect to another computer in my house. After all, the remote desktop feature is something I really rely on in my business. I often have bulky programs on a main server in my office, along with stored files, which saves my laptop from being the only workhorse in the house.

Over the years I have used remote desktop between all types of devices and operating systems. Even from Windows XP to Windows Seven. I always find a way.

When remote desktop will not connect to the other computer, the solution is usually so simple that it can be easily missed. Here are a few of my remote desktop troubleshooting tips below.

#1. Basic Settings Enabled On Both Computers

1. Go to the start menu and choose control panel from the menu.

2. Look for the System icon and double click to open. You can also open system properties with a shortcut. Also see how to open system properties in Windows 8.

change remote settings

3. System properties will appear. Click on the remote settings link on the top left. See the screenshot above.

In Windows XP you can hit the Windows key and the Pause Break button at the same time to open system properties, (or go to the control panel, click on system) then go to the remote tab. See the screenshot below.

#2. Confirm Network Setup

In the old days it was not that easy to setup a home network. Well it was easy but you just couldn’t forget any important steps. Now days computers seem to find their own

To confirm that your computers are on the same network you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the start menu and click on the control panel link.

2. Double click on the network and sharing icon. You will see the network and sharing center open.

3. You should see something similar to the screenshot below. Your computer, connected to a network, that is connected to the internet.

4. Click on the See full map to see if the other computers are also on this same network.

5. The network map will appear. See the two computers are both connecting to a router and then to the internet. Cool they are on the same network.

#3. Join The Same Workgroup

Most versions of Windows come with a default Workgroup name. For example a Windows XP computer might have MSHOME and a Windows Vista computer might have WORKGROUP as the Workgroup name. You need to be on the same network and in the same workgroup to successfully share files and connect through remote desktop.

To change one computer’s workgroup name you can simply press on change.

#4. Never Have The Same Computer Name

When I set up computers I just enter my name in, unless setting it up for someone else, however this is not good for using remote desktop. Trying to connect via a remote desktop connection to another computer on your network called the same name just confuses things. Make sure you give each computer in your home network a unique name. Don’t even use Mitz1, Mitz2, Mitz3, as this will surely confuse event he humans.

#5. Never Have The Same Windows Password But Set A Password

Just as you need to have a unique name for each computer on your network, you also need a unique password. You can’t be signing into another computer using the same password you have already used to login into the original computer. Remote desktop just doesn’t like it. Even if the computers have different names and are clearly different computers, the passwords need to be different also.

The other thing you MUST do is always set a windows login password for each computer that you want to use remote desktop for. I used to like not having a login password but remote desktop will not allow this.

#6. Check For IP Address Clashes

1. Go to your router home page in your web browser address bar. Find your client list to see all the devices connected to your router. Here you can see if there are any IP address clashes.

#7. Check Remote Desktop connection Options

There are many ways to start remote desktop, so once you have done this, you will see a Remote desktop connection dialogue box like the one shown below. You can click on the show option button to see more details.

After pressing to show options for the remote desktop connection you will see another dialogue box.

You should check:

• The computer name. Is it correct? If not change it.
• The username. These details might have changed so check them carefully.
• Leaving all other settings as default is usually a good thing.

#8. Try connecting Using IP Addresses

Sometimes connecting using a computer name doesn’t work consistently. Therefore it is sometimes better to connect using the IP address of the computer you want to connect to.

To find the exact IP address of a computer on your network simply open up the network map as shown above or follow these instructions:

1. Go to the start menu and click on the control panel link.

2. Double click on the network and sharing icon. You will see the network and sharing center open.

3. You should see something similar to the screenshot below. Your computer, connected to a network, that is connected to the internet.

4. Click on the See full map to see if the other computers are also on this same network.

5. When the network map opens you can hover your mouse over the right computer to see the IP address come up.

See the screenshot below.

6. Now go to the start menu, accessories, remote desktop to connect again.

7. Press on show options to expand the window.

8. Type in the IP address you just copied down. Add in the user name too.

9. Then press connect.

10. Now when you see the Windows login for the remote computer it will state that the credentials used to connect is the IP address you entered and not the name of the computer.

#9. Try Setting up Static IP’s On Both PC

This is a huge article so I will use this video to show you how to setup the static IP. What this does is give each pc it’s very own IP address so they don’t have to find one when connecting.

#10. Last But Not Least – Reset Router

When all else fails it is time to start again from a clean slate and create a new network from scratch. You can do this by going to the router hompage and clicking on restore factory defaults. This will take your router settings back to the default settings which would be an IP of 192.168.0.1 for my particular router.

So all settings will be lost, including your WAP passwords, custom IP addresses and any other settings you may have changed. You will need to create a homegroup on your main computer, join the homegroup on all other computers, add your printers in and more.