Windows Home Server 2011 : Connecting via Windows Home Server Remote Web Access

2/5/2013 3:44:14 PM

You can use the Remote Desktop Connection program to connect to any Remote Desktop host, even hosts that don’t have the Windows Home Server Connector software installed. A second method you can use to connect to Remote Desktop hosts is to go through the Windows Home Server network. With this method, which is a bit easier than running Remote Desktop Connection directly, you can only connect to hosts that have Windows Home Server Connector installed.

This method runs Remote Desktop Connection behind the scenes via Windows Home Server. That is, instead of connecting directly to the remote host, Remote Desktop Connection takes you to the Windows Home Server, which then shows you the remote computer’s desktop. Up front, Windows Home Server gives you a simple interface that lists the available computers to which you can connect. This interface is part of Windows Home Server Remote Web Access. This is the same interface that you use to connect to your network via the Internet, as described a bit later . However, you also use it to connect to a Remote Desktop host over your LAN, which is what I discuss in this section.

For this to work, you must enable the Remote Desktop service on the host, as described earlier , and then be sure to reboot the host PC.

Caution

Windows Home Server’s Remote Web Access feature is not compatible with Network Level Authentication. Therefore, when you’re setting up a Windows 7 or Windows Vista host, don’t select the Allow Connections Only from Computers Running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication option. Instead, select the Allow Connections from Computers Running Any Version of Remote Desktop option.

Note

It’s crucial that you reboot the host PC after you enable Remote Desktop; otherwise, Windows Home Server won’t recognize the PC as being configured for Remote Desktop duties.

Configuring Users for Remote Access

You need to configure Windows Home Server to allow remote access for the user account that you’ll be using to log on to the Remote Desktop host. Here are the steps to follow:

1.	Log in to the Windows Home Server Dashboard.
2.	Select the Users tab.
3.	Double-click the user you want to configure. The user’s property sheet appears.
4.	In the Remote Web Access tab, click to activate the Allow Remote Web Access check box.
5.	Click to activate the check box beside each item you want the user to see as a link on the Remote Web Access page. In particular, activate the Computers check box to give the user remote access to the network computers.
6.	Click OK.

Activating Remote Web Access on the Server

Your final bit of prep involves turning on the Remote Access service in Windows Home Server. Here’s how it’s done:

1.	Log in to the Windows Home Server Dashboard.
2.	Click Server Settings.
3.	Click the Remote Web Access tab.
4.	Click Turn On. Windows Home Server runs the Turn on Remote Web Access Wizard.
5.	You don’t need your router configured at this point , so click to activate the Skip Router Setup check box, and then click Next. Windows Home Server configures Remote Web Access on your network and then prompts you to set up a domain name.
6.	Click Close.
7.	Click OK.

Displaying the Remote Web Access Page

Before you can connect to a remote computer, you need to log on to Windows Home Server’s Remote Web Access page. This is a page on the Windows Home Server website that gives you access to the Remote Desktop hosts on your network, as well as to the Windows Home Server shared folders. Here are the steps to follow to display the Remote Web Access page:

1.	On the client, launch the Internet Explorer web browser. Tip You can use most modern web browsers—including Firefox, Safari, and Chrome—to display the Remote Web Access pages, but you can only remotely access computers using Internet Explorer. To fix this in Firefox, install the IE Tab add-on (available from ietab.mozdev.org). When you get to the Remote Web Access logon page, right-click the page and then click View Page in IE Tab.
2.	Type the following address into the address bar (where server is the name of your Windows Home Server): http://server
3.	Press Enter. Windows Home Server redirects you to the Remote Web Access logon page (see Figure 1) at the following address: https://server/Remote/logon Figure 1. The logon page for Remote Web Access.
4.	Type the username and password of your Windows Home Server account, and then press Enter or click the Go arrow. Windows Home Server displays the Remote Web Access Home page (see Figure 2) at the following address: https://server/remote/ Figure 2. Windows Home Server’s Remote Web Access Home page.

Making the Connection

With that done, you can connect to a host computer on your network by following these steps:

1.	Display the Remote Web Access Home page.
2.	The Computers section shows three machines on your network: the server and two clients. If you want to connect to one of these machines, click its Connect button; if you don’t see the client you want to connect to, click the Computers link at the bottom of the list to display the Computers page, which displays a list of the computers on your Windows Home Server network, as shown in Figure 3. Note that the Status column shows one of the following four values: Available—The computer is capable of acting as a Remote Desktop host, and it has the Remote Desktop service enabled. Connection Is Disabled—The computer is capable of acting as a Remote Desktop host, but it doesn’t have the Remote Desktop service enabled. Offline / Sleeping—The computer either is not connected to the network or is in sleep mode. Not Supported on This Operating System—The computer is not capable of acting as a Remote Desktop host. That is, the computer is running Windows7 Starter, Windows7 Home Premium, Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, or XP Home. Figure 3. In the Remote Web Access Home page, click the Computers link to display a list of the Windows Home Server clients.
3.	If the computer you want to connect to shows Available in the Status column, click the computer. (If Internet Explorer prompts you to install an ActiveX control, be sure to install it.) The Remote Desktop Connection dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. Use the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box to initiate the connection to the remote host.
4.	Click Connect. Windows Home Server prompts you to log on to the client.
5.	Log on to the remote computer. Note If you connect to the Windows Home Server machine, you end up at the Dashboard, not the Windows Home Server desktop.