At our IT office, we have mostly Windows administrators, but we also have some people who love their Macs. They use their Macs for everything, including trying to manage a Windows network with them!
Though they can’t do much, one thing that is pretty useful for them is remotely connecting to Windows PCs using Apple Remote Desktop. Apple Remote Dekstop is a great program for remotely managing Mac computers on a network, but it’s also possible to connect to Windows computers.
Note that it’s also possible to connect to a Windows computer from a Mac using Microsoft’s own program, Remote Desktop for Mac 2.0.
Using this program, all you have to do is make sure that the computer is running Terminal Services and that Remote Desktop is enabled. You will also need the Windows username and password to gain access, but otherwise, it works just like the remote desktop client on Windows.
You can use RDC for Mac to connect to Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate) and Windows Server 2003.
The only issue with connecting to a Windows machine using Remote Desktop for Mac is that it only connects to Windows machines. If you want to be able to use one program that can connect to both Macs and PCs, you need to use Apple Remote Desktop.
In order to use ARD (Apple Remote Desktop), you have to install VNC software on your Windows PC. You can use any of these three:
Once you have it installed, you should see an icon in the system tray. Double-click on that and setup a password.
Also, note down the IP address of your computer by going to the command prompt and typing IPCONFIG.
Also note that you may have to open certain ports in your Windows firewall in order to allow the connection to pass through, namely the Remote Desktop and VNC ports. If you are connecting from outside your local network, you will have to open the ports on your router.
You can also read my previous post on how to setup remote desktop in Windows XP so that it is working properly.
At this point, if remote desktop is enabled and the VNC server is running on Windows, you should be able to connect using the IP address from Apple Remote Desktop! If you have any problems or issues, post a comment! Enjoy!
This is really a nice trick, thanks!