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I have one user who needs remote access to her work PC from outside the network. I am unable to get it to work and am not sure what I am missing.

I have remote desktop enabled on her computer. Her port assignment is 4396 (unused on my network).

On the Sonicwall, I have the port forwarding set up identical to all our other remote desktop rules.

I can remote in on the LAN, but not from outside.

Not sure what I’m missing. It’s Monday, I’m tired, and this is really annoying me at the moment. Please help!!

@GoTo

6 Spice ups
2

firewall on external router/network? Your external firewall?

Check the network trust level on the machine for the external network ie: public/work/home (changes hosts firewall and security settings)

1 Spice up
3

From outside are you using the IP address? Are you VPNing in first?

1 Spice up
4

From the outside we are using our Primary WAN IP and her terminal port - xx.xx.xx.xx:4396. This port is set up to forward from the firewall to her PC inside the network. Her work PC is set up for a domain network.

5

What is the OS of the computer she is trying to remote, and what OS is she using to remote it. I’m asking because I’ve had some problems with folk trying to remote into Win7 boxes using older XP machines at home. The Remote Desktop Connection software on XP may need to be updated and NLA compliant. Even if you load RDP 6.1 on WinXP it still may not work until you patch it to enable CredSSP, here’s a link for that.

1 Spice up
6

Nevermind. My boss just told me to stop working on the issue.

7

Windows TCP:

Try to open TCP port 3389.

On router : ip nat inside source static tcp “IPRASserver” 3389 “IPvpnadress” 3389 extendable.

On AD server: VPN: enable DialIn for that user and

On local machine: RDP: Allow rdp for user on target machine …

Linux:

Enable VNC … port 5800 and 5900

1 Spice up
8

I would suggest not opening RDP to the outside world unless it’s a last resort. Use Logmein or setup a Remote Desktop Gateway. Heck just have the VPN in first then connect to there machine.

1 Spice up
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We assign port values to each individual machine, so the default RDP port is not forwarded through our setup. If I had my way, we would be making better use of VPNs, but it’s not my network. And, after this morning, I won’t be back on the firewall for a while, either.

Not my most favorite day.

Spicepoints to all.

10

For sonicwall port forwarding you need a couple things.

First is NAT Policy and second is a firewall rule allowing the connection

If you use the Wizard (at the top right) and choose the Public Server Wizard it will walk you through the steps and create a firewall rule automatically.

11

That’s one way to fix it…

For future reference, it would be good to know the model and version software of the SonicWall. Also the error message you are receiving helps a lot to identify the problem. Also the SonicWall log is quite helpful for issues like this. I’m guessing you will see your traffic on that port is being dropped due to the firewall/NAT policy not being configured or configured properly.

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Did you something else stop working? Is that why you can’t manage the firewall anymore?

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Use LogMeIn. It sits there and just runs. You don’t need to do something risky like opening up RDP to the Internet if you go with LogMeIn.

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If this is a gen5 SonicWall then you can use the Virtual Office feature. That’s all I use for outside access anymore

Unless it’s a computer outside of the network, then I use LogMeIn.