WScottCross

 Second the LogMeIn Free recommendation.  I use that for ALL my machines since I travel alot and still need access to keep the WAF up.

Put me down as number three. Been using LogMeIn for this for a couple years.

Sorry to hijack a bit. I'm new to this remote PC thing but want to do a similar thing to the OP.  I'm still using pre release versions on Win 7 but will need to upgrade soon obviously.  My main question is, to remote control the HTPC from the Laptop, which PC will need Win 7 Pro over Home Premium - the HTPC, the laptop or both? Presumably the same would apply using LogMeIn or is that different again?

 LogMeIn works regardless of the OS version.  It installs it's own services on the machines you add and associates those machines with your account (which is free) and then you can use virtually any machine with internet access to remotely access those machines.

Seeing as this is the Green Button, I'm AMAZED this hasn't been suggested yet: The Media Center Extender protocol is RDP!, at least for the interface (the video streams are sent separately in RTP). It just uses port 3390 instead of the normal 3389. The extender accounts are set to start up media center when they log in. But as long as you are an admin, you can log in with your account as well. type mstsc /v:your.address.here:3390 and it will give you a desktop session through the media center extender service.

Without killing the current session??

mmatheny

Without killing the current session??

It only allows 1 concurrent login per user. So if you RDP as the same user as the console session it will grab the session away, bring the console to the login screen. (or immediately disconnect the RDP if it figures out you are RDPing from the box to itself).

What about us folks using a WHS for the main storage?  I have six PC's around the house right now all running Vista Ultimate but I want to upgrade to 7.  The 3-1 Premium Pack is so much less expensive than Pro but then I lose remote desktop access through the WHS which is a really nice portal to keep things simple.  Ideas?

 I know this is an old topic but I figure why not answer it just in case someone else is contemplating the same question as the OP'er .

Now DavidinCT, the reason why I say it's a better route to not buy Windows 7 Pro is because it's a waste of money to buy Pro at $300 compared to Home Premium at $200. Would you pay $100 for RDP'ing into a machine? If so why?

RealVNC.com

uvnc.com

TightVNC.com

All free and all great VNC clients/servers that are perfect for what most people will need and won't lock your screen automatically when you disconnect from a RDP connection.

Again $100 for RDP is NOT worth it in my opinion but if there is something that I'm missing please inform me and the OP.

 -Chris

RDP can do one thing that no other solution can (that I'm aware of anyway). You can remote into the PC without affecting the currently running session on the local PC.

So my wife/kids can be watching TV and I can remote into the PC, do what I need to do, and not affect them at all.

The one downer is that you do need to use a hacked dll to enable this in desktop versions of Windows, but it's stable and not caused me any issues at all when I've done this hack on XP, Vista and Win7.

 

"The one downer is that you do need to use a hacked dll to enable this in desktop versions of Windows, but it's stable and not caused me any issues at all when I've done this hack on XP, Vista and Win7."

Could you perhaps elaborate on this?

+3 for LogMeIn Free.  Used to use VNC; but, that's only good on one side of a firewall unless you want to setup lots of port retirects...  and, the VNC protocal--even with the mirror driver, always have screenpaint/refresh issues (at least--for me on all my PCs).

LogMeIn free as others have said installs as a service that talks home to mamma (their website) and keeps a keepalive socket open from your PC to their service...  kinda like a reverse vnc or vnc-listener service.  Thus, negating firewall issues.

Their compression seems to me to be way better than VNC... but again, that's my opinion.

 

 

Sorry OP--missed the BIOS part...

http://cgi.ebay.com/232386-001-HP-Remote-Insight-Lights-Out-Edition-II_W0QQitemZ330385305025QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cec7fadc1

 Doesn't work on all "desktop" chipsets... and it's a long-a$$ card, so it may not fit either.  But it's the only thing besides an ip kvm that I can think of.

 

 That is a pretty cool feature, I completely forgot about that hack .dll thing and it does work very well.

If you have professional than you should really go the route that alsorrell wrote about and get the hacked .dll, but if concurrent seesions aren't that important to you than I would recomend saving $100.

 

Again thanks for the tip on the hacked .dll  alsorrell.

 

-Chris

 logmein is awesome, seamless, and most important it is free. :)

alsorrell

"The one downer is that you do need to use a hacked dll to enable this in desktop versions of Windows, but it's stable and not caused me any issues at all when I've done this hack on XP, Vista and Win7."

Could you perhaps elaborate on this?

There are many threads on TGB regarding concurrent sessions. The Win7 version I'm using came from here:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/79427/393664.aspx#393664

You don't need the Pro edition, the hack even enables remote desktop on Home Premium. Best of both worlds: save money and get the functionality!