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RDP remote desktop

Hello,

I have a window xp box at home that I remote into from my laptop. Got that going and everything works great using standard window's RDP tools (Remote Desktop Connection).

My question is, how do I configure the window xp box at home so that anyone remoting into it are allow View Only access? So my laptop from outside cannot do any changes to the box but view whatever it is on the screen of my xp box? Not even mouse access.

thanks!

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

boowhup

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SPERTW

ASKER

Ok, mouse movement can be allowed... but can I set it up in a way that my laptop will be able to execute anything?

boowhup

I think using a lot of local policy, you could create a specific user they could log in as, that has no options but log off on the start menu, and it auto runs a specific program on startup so they can view whatever it is you want them to. But this is a _lot_ of work, more than VNC would be.

Forgetting about RDP etc, what are you trying to show someone, a status page for an app or something like that perhaps?

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ai_ja_nai

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chuckyh

remote assistance is more than just view the pc, it let's you control it like RDP but allows the console session to stay open.
What is your goal for allowing only viewing? Are you trying to monitor the activity on the computer?

SPERTW

ASKER

Yes chuckyh.

The goal is to allow a user to login to the system to view status shown on the screen only! Nothing else!

SPERTW

ASKER

Remote Assistance doesn't sound right to me, it will have to be a user authentics type of access.

ai_ja_nai

Then, it's impossible. VNC doesn't offer any password protection, as far as I know, and nor RDP nor RA fulfill your requests

chuckyh

VNC offers passwords/authentication and encryption. You can set the VNC server to be view only also. That's probably your best bet for a view only status screen.
www.uvnc.com

boowhup

Yeah VNC does offer password authentication. VNC would definitely be the easiest option. But if you really want to do RDP, you will have to edit local policy for a specific user. I have done similar for a POS system where the "clerk" user could only start the sales software, he had no access to anything, couldn't right click ont the desktop, couldn't use any hotkeys etc etc. It's a lot of work, but doable.

It may be easier to find another way to do it, if it's a web based app open up port 80 and host it on your home PC etc

boowhup

Oh I think ai ja nai's answer could work , but you would have to the leave the home PC logged in at all times, and not "locked" , Remote Assistance does have the option to be view only. The only issue with this setup would be anyone could view it if they figured out it was available as there's no password protection. And it's still more work than VNC.

SPERTW

ASKER

Sorry, we are staying away from VNC or remote assistance...

How about Windows Desktop Sharing for Vista only?? Anyone familiar with it?

ai_ja_nai

It's not a program, but an API: a set of programming instructions you can use while building an app. I belive you are not a coder, right?

boowhup

If VNC and Remote Assistance are out, then I think you're out of luck. There are other 3rd party apps that can do similar, but they aren't as good as VNC.