CoRD: Remote connection to Windows

Nice article! I am suddenly interested in using a remote desktop client to control my PC from my Mac. There are so many times where I’m constantly jumping back and forth from one to the other. It is possible for you to talk a little more about setting up the PC box to accept connections from Cord? I’m new to this and don’t know where to begin. Also, is it true that you need XP Professional to gain this functionality?

Thanks for bringing to attention the interesting app! Keep up the great work!

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Quote - “Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps that work well”

Have to say I’ve been using Microsoft’s own remote control desktop client for the Mac and it works surprisingly well, even on Intel machine.. (It’s been a round for years BTW and it’s free)

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient

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@Zack, thanks for your suggestion! i should have definitely put in a little tutorial on how to setup a windows machine to accept a remote desktop connection. Yes, you do need a professional edition for RDC to work. The steps are pretty straight forward.

1) Click on the “Start Button”
2) Right-click on “My Computer” and click on properties
* or you could accomplish step 1 & 2 simply by clicking “Windows” button + “Pause/Break” on your keyboard
3) “System Properties” window will pop up. Select the “Remote” tab (top right)
4) Put a check mark under the section “Remote Desktop” next to “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer”
5) you’re done.

The default RDC port has always been 3389 and due to many security flaws(i suspect they have been fixed now), i change the port to something else, like 4001. Chaging the port requires going to the registry and make a change. You don’t need to do this.

Also, important to note, if you want to establish a connection outside your LAN (from the internet), then you need to ensure your router “exposes” your windows’ local ip address & port number. i usually just designate my windows machine in DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). Your router should have a documentation on how to do this.

@Phil, Microsoft’s own RDC client has indeed been around for a long time. It’s has also been discontinued.

@readers: The first image of this article is inaccurate. It was supposed to be the application logo. Another image must have overwritten it for some reasons. My apology.

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I’m no fan of Microsoft - quite the contrary - but I’ve used Windows Desktop Client for more than three years, and it’s great. I use it to connect to any server that can accept remote connections and the thing screams. It would really piss off my Windows buddies, because they were stuck using their local machine to access server data, and I’d be done faster than (I did show a few close friends how they could do it on a Windows machine, too).

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is my imagination or has the author re-edited the original post from

Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps

to

Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps that “work well.” ???

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