Question

'Offer Remote Assistance' not working

Asked by: grblades

We have SBS 2003 R2 domain controller and also a 2003 R3 as a backup and this is the box which runs additional tasks such as the antivirus console etc...

I have followed a couple of guides on how to setup a group policy and change settings on the server so that I can offer remote assistance. The idea being that I can VPN into the network and then connect to the server using terminal services and then use remote assistance to fix any problems with the machines remotely.
However when I enter the machine name to connect to and try and connect I get an error "Automation server can't create object".
I can connect directly to the admin share on the client and I am logged into the server as a domain admin.

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Asked On
2009-06-18 at 03:48:43ID24501969
Tags

remote assistance

Topic

Windows 2003 Server

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Answers

 

by: WimDLPosted on 2009-06-18 at 04:44:13ID: 24656426

is port 3389 opened in your VPN environment and on the SBS server? If this port is blocked anywhere between your remote pc (included) and the sbs server (included), then RDP won't work.

 

by: grbladesPosted on 2009-06-18 at 05:38:30ID: 24656764

The firewall on the server is not running.
Firewall exclusion are set on the clients as part of a group policy and defined in this article - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301527
I did try opening tcp port 3389 but it made no difference.

 

by: WimDLPosted on 2009-06-18 at 05:43:04ID: 24656802

If you are using a VPN, there should be an itermediate device (router, firewall) bewteen your pc and the server that can block the necessary ports.

 

by: grbladesPosted on 2009-06-18 at 05:55:23ID: 24656888

I am just trying it from a terminal server connection to the domain controller (from an internal machine on the same lan for the moment) and then running the remote assistance offer from there.

 

by: Stoner79Posted on 2009-06-18 at 06:22:04ID: 24657113

Telnet to the IP's specified in the MS KB document to confirm all ports are open.

Also confirm the GPO has been applied with RSOP.msc against the client PC.

 

by: grbladesPosted on 2009-06-18 at 06:59:35ID: 24657421

I found this :-
http://www.ditii.com/2007/06/01/windows-vista-remote-assistance/

It appears to be the problem I am experiencing as its the same error I get in the event log.
Do you know of a way to get it working from a server 2003 machine?

 

by: Stoner79Posted on 2009-06-18 at 13:54:46ID: 24661633

Can you set a password when offering remote assistance?

I know with XP & Vista you need a password otherwise it won't connect, maybe it's similar for 2003.

Were you able to telnet over the ports for RDP?

 

by: grbladesPosted on 2009-06-19 at 03:03:13ID: 24665013

Telneting to that port didnt work straight away but I dont think anything is listening on that port until the initial DCOM connection is established.

I opened up remote desktop on my client and then could telnet to the port but still got the same error on the server.
I have applied group policy settings to enable remote desktop on the clients and if I can get that working and connect to the users console that may be an alternative but I dont know if that is possible unless I log in as them.

I will need to setup another machine as a test client to progress furthur. Using terminal services to connect to the server and then connect back to my machine made my machine very unhappy and I had to press the power button to get it to shut down LOL.

 

by: Stoner79Posted on 2009-06-19 at 06:42:05ID: 24666241

Running netstat -an will list the ports.
TCP    0.0.0.0:3389           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING
This will appear on the client machine.

Remember that other ports are used in the outbound connection (example of two I have connected at present)
TCP    10.x.x.18:2214       10.x.x.30:3389       ESTABLISHED
TCP    10.x.x.18:2307       10.x.x.163:3389      ESTABLISHED

When I tried the telnet it connects first time.
Re-running the netstat command shows the new entry along with my others above.
TCP    10.x.x.18:3389       10.x.x.30:3235       ESTABLISHED

 

by: grbladesPosted on 2009-07-17 at 02:47:00ID: 24877112

I couldnt get this working so in the end I used GSVNCJ (http://vncj.com/default.aspx) so users can go to a page on our intranet and start a vnc server on their computer which I can connect to.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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