Arch Linux

kidsmoker

Member

Registered: 2015-07-12

Posts: 5

Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

Hi.

I have one Arch machine and two Windows 7 machines on my LAN, and I am trying to remotely connect to the Windows desktops using rdesktop on Arch with the following command:

rdesktop -g 1440x900 -P -z -x l -r sound:off 192.168.1.68:3389

I can connect to one of the Windows desktops with no problems, but the other one refuses to work. Rdesktop just comes back with "unable to connect" each time. As best as I can tell, I have configured the remote desktop settings identically on both of the Windows machines. I can even get remote desktop connections going from either of the Windows machines to the other one, so it is only the Arch machine that it is blocking. I'm a bit stumped as to what to try now, so was looking for some advice as to how to diagnose the problem.

Many thanks.

Last edited by kidsmoker (2015-07-12 12:56:21)

demaio

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2012-09-02

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

Is "unable to connect" the exact error message you are getting from your rdesktop command line?

If RDP from Windows is working, but not from rdesktop, I remember that I had to switch the RDP authentication level in Windows settings from "only allow connect from clients with network level authentication (more secure)" to "allow connect from any version of remote desktop client (less secure)". I don't remember the exact translation because I have a german Windows.

EDIT: if this does not work, you can also try freerdp instead of rdesktop but you have to use other command line arguments.

Last edited by demaio (2015-07-12 14:36:44)

kidsmoker

Member

Registered: 2015-07-12

Posts: 5

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

The exact error message is "ERROR: 192.168.1.68: unable to connect". I have tried both the "more secure" and "less secure" Windows settings but still no luck. I haven't tried freerdp but I have tried KRDC and that wouldn't work either.

I also have Samba installed on Arch in order to access shared folders from my Windows machines. This works fine for one of them (the one which also allows Arch's remote desktop connections), but I'm unable to connect to the other Windows machine from Arch (it works Windows-to-Windows though). This leads me to believe that there is some underlying problem perhaps?

Thanks.

Last edited by kidsmoker (2015-07-12 18:56:17)

demaio

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2012-09-02

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

This leads me to believe that there is some underlying problem perhaps?

Does the machine respond to ICMP pings (AFAIR this has to be allowed in windows firewall)? Just to be sure to exclude network connectivity problems...

kidsmoker

Member

Registered: 2015-07-12

Posts: 5

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

Trying ping -c4 192.168.1.68 yields 100% packet loss. However if I do the same thing from my other Windows machine I get 0% packet loss. So somehow it's blocking Arch but not Windows, but I have no idea how :-/

Thanks.

Last edited by kidsmoker (2015-07-12 19:28:42)

demaio

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2012-09-02

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

Well I don't think Windows is blocking Arch pings, as ICMP echo requests are quite standard. My guess is that there is a problem with your network setup. I would check the following:

• Is the network on Arch correctly configured? Especially check the netmask (e.g. 255.255.255.0) and default gateway.

• Does the Arch machine have firewall rules to block traffic from/to certain IP/ports?

• Is there a router/switch between Arch and Windows which could be blocking traffic from/to certain IP/ports?

• Is the Windows firewall blocking traffic from/to certain IP/ports?

Otherwise I am also running out of ideas...

kidsmoker

Member

Registered: 2015-07-12

Posts: 5

Re: Problems connecting to a Windows machine using rdesktop

You were right, it wasn't Windows blocking Arch. I have two different wireless adapters, one on each of the Windows machines, and one of them seems to dislike connections from Arch (it accepts from Windows though). When I switch them round, the problem machine now works fine. I don't recall installing any extra software with the misbehaving wireless adapter, only the driver, but I'll look more deeply into it when I have the time. Luckily I only really need to remote desktop into one of the Windows machines from Arch, so it's not a problem now they're swapped round.

Thanks for your help.

Last edited by kidsmoker (2015-07-14 20:03:38)