If you want to use your Mac as your primary computer, but still need Windows to do random tasks, it can be helpful to set up Remote Desktop so you can connect from your Mac to your computer remotely.
Fortunately, Microsoft provides all the Remote Desktop components to work properly between Mac and PC. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to set up Remote Desktop on Mac and PC.
Set up Remote Desktop Assistant on your computer
The first thing you need to do is install Remote Desktop Assistant on your computer. This program basically includes Remote Desktop, opens ports in the firewall, and configures everything else that Remote Desktop requires.
When you download a file and run it, it asks for your internet connection permission to download all installation files. Once you confirm this and the program is installed, run it.
It is a very simple and straightforward program. All you have to do is click “Get Started” and this will change some of the settings on your computer so that the computer can accept incoming Remote Desktop connections. Once completed, it will show you a summary and give you the option to scan a QR code (when using a mobile device like iPad), copy the information to the clipboard, or save the connection as a file that you can open on another. computer.
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When you get the information you need, close the window. It’s worth noting that if you want to connect to your computer from outside your local network, you will have to manually open the ports on your router and forward those ports to your computer. You also need to set up dynamic DNS so that you can use the DNS name rather than your public IP address, which changes frequently, to connect. This is definitely more difficult, but quite doable.
Set up Remote Desktop on Mac
Now that you’ve set up on the PC side, it’s time to install Remote Desktop on your Mac. You need to go to the App Store and find Remote Desktop. The first application must be Microsoft Remote Desktop.
Click the Get button, and after downloading click the Open button. The main screen is just a couple of buttons at the top: New, Start, Change, Settings, and Remote Resources.
Click the New button to start a new remote desktop connection. This is where you enter all the information that was entered on the PC when setting up the Remote Desktop Assistant.
Give your connection a name, enter an IP address in the PC Name field, configure a gateway if necessary, and then enter the credentials for the remote PC. Note that the computer must have an account with a password for this to work. If there is no password for the account, you will not be able to connect.
Also, to keep the connection, you just need to press the red X button in the upper left corner of the screen. For some strange reason, the dialog box does not have an Add and Save button. However, as soon as you press X, you will see the new connection listed.
Click on it and then click “Start” to connect to the remote computer. You will likely see a warning that the certificate is not being verified, which is normal. Just click “Continue” to establish a connection.
That’s all! After a few seconds, your PC desktop should boot into full screen mode on your Mac. If you need to make any changes to the connection, just select it and click “Edit”. Alternatively, you can click Settings to add a gateway or manually specify a screen resolution. If you have any problems, let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
Bonus: If you use Google Chrome a lot, you might be interested to know that you can remotely access any PC (Linux, Mac, Windows) using only Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop extension
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