I have several Windows 10 computers at home, and there are times when I would like to quickly connect to one of my Windows 10 machines so that I can change some settings or install something, etc. In Windows 10, you can enable Remote Desktop and connect to your computer from Windows 10, 7, Vista or XP.
In this post, I’ll walk you through how to enable Remote Desktop in Windows 10, and then I’ll show you how to connect to a Windows 10 PC from a Windows 10 PC. Fortunately, the procedure is almost the same as for older versions of Windows, but there is a new option that you have to take into account, which I will discuss later.
First, we need to make sure some things are set up correctly, otherwise you’re pulling hair out trying to figure out why Remote Desktop isn’t working.
1. On the Windows 10 computer on which you want to connect to Remote Desktop, you need to make sure the user account has a password. You will also need to make sure that your account is an administrator account on the system.
2. You need to make sure the firewall in Windows 10 allows remote desktop on the machine.
3. You must enable remote desktop in system settings.
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I’ll walk through each of these steps so you can see exactly what needs to be done to make Remote Desktop work properly. First, make sure you set a password for your administrator account. Once you’ve done that, go to Control Panel and click on Windows Defender Firewall.
Click Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall and then scroll down until you see Remote Desktop. Make sure the box is checked. If you cannot verify this, you may have to first click the Change Settings button at the top.
Make sure it is only enabled for the private network; you don’t want anyone on the public network to be able to remotely connect to your computer! Once you’ve done that, we can go to Control Panel and click System. Then click on “Remote Settings” at the top left.
Now check the Allow remote connections to this computer box.
Note that there is one more option – Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with network level authentication (recommended). If you enable this, you will need to make sure that you are using the Remote Desktop client version 6 or higher. You can check if your version of Remote Desktop supports network-level authentication by opening Remote Desktop on the client computer (the computer you will be using to connect to Window 10) by clicking the icon in the upper left corner and clicking About.
If your version of Remote Desktop Connection supports this, it will indicate that network-level authentication is supported.
Now open a Remote Desktop Connection, enter the name or IP address of your computer and click Connect. You can read my previous post on how to use the ipconfig command to find your IP address.
If all goes well, you should receive a message stating that the identity of the remote computer could not be verified. This is not a security issue, you just need to click Yes and check the box at the bottom so it doesn’t ask you every time you connect.
Finally, if you want to connect to your computer from outside your local network, there are a couple more things you need to do. Read my post on how to set up your remote desktop router. This is a little more work, so take your time and be patient.
That’s all! If you’re having a problem, try disabling network-level authentication and see if you can connect. Remember, as long as you have the password for the administrator account, you allow remote desktop through the firewall, and allow remote desktop in system settings, you will be able to connect remote desktop to Windows 10 on your local network without any problem. If you have any problems, leave a comment here with your characteristics and problems, and we will try to help. Enjoy!
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