Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client computer
on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.

As far as I know, all the following are true:

- The PC is in the SBS domain.
- You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer list.
- All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
site and remote locations.
- No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
- You can access the server via RWW.
- IE8 is the browser used for access.

However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
unavailable or offline.

Any ideas?

There's kind of a corner case that can cause this. There are two sets of
group policy settings for the Windows Firewall, domain and non-domain. This
is so that when your laptop is in the office it works as a local PC, while
when it's on the road its security is higher. The non-domain settings block
RDP.

To diagnose this, when the computer is blocking the connection, have someone
go to CP -> Windows Firewall and see if, at the bottom of the first tab, it
says it's using the non-domain settings. If it's using non-domain, that's
the cause of the rejected connections. The fix is to simply set the Network
Location Awareness service to automatic startup instead of manual - it runs
all the time anyway, but in Automatic it starts faster, preventing this
problem. Reboot or gpupdate /force, and you'll never have the problem with
that workstation again.

This isn't a common problem but I've seen it maybe 10 times. When I have
users who frequently log in remotely, I routinely just set NLA to automatic
(only on XP - auto start is the default setting in Vista).


"Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:A002DEC4-D9A7-4A8C-A76A-5356C10DB89A@newsgroup

> Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client computer
> on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.
>
> As far as I know, all the following are true:
>
> - The PC is in the SBS domain.
> - You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer
> list.
> - All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
> site and remote locations.
> - No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
> - You can access the server via RWW.
> - IE8 is the browser used for access.
>
> However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
> unavailable or offline.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>

Have not been able to try this yet, Dave, but will report back.

"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:uDmlU3VOKHA.3192@newsgroup

> There's kind of a corner case that can cause this. There are two sets of
> group policy settings for the Windows Firewall, domain and non-domain.
> This is so that when your laptop is in the office it works as a local PC,
> while when it's on the road its security is higher. The non-domain
> settings block RDP.
>
> To diagnose this, when the computer is blocking the connection, have
> someone go to CP -> Windows Firewall and see if, at the bottom of the
> first tab, it says it's using the non-domain settings. If it's using
> non-domain, that's the cause of the rejected connections. The fix is to
> simply set the Network Location Awareness service to automatic startup
> instead of manual - it runs all the time anyway, but in Automatic it
> starts faster, preventing this problem. Reboot or gpupdate /force, and
> you'll never have the problem with that workstation again.
>
> This isn't a common problem but I've seen it maybe 10 times. When I have
> users who frequently log in remotely, I routinely just set NLA to
> automatic (only on XP - auto start is the default setting in Vista).
>
>
> "Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:A002DEC4-D9A7-4A8C-A76A-5356C10DB89A@newsgroup

>> Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client
>> computer on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.
>>
>> As far as I know, all the following are true:
>>
>> - The PC is in the SBS domain.
>> - You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer
>> list.
>> - All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
>> site and remote locations.
>> - No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
>> - You can access the server via RWW.
>> - IE8 is the browser used for access.
>>
>> However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
>> unavailable or offline.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>>

>

I have tried the following. While connected remotely to the server via
Remote Desktop, I have run WireShark. With that running (on the server) in a
window on the remote PC, I have attempted to connect via RWW. The only
significant thing I can see going on in the WireShark report is this:

"ARP Who has 192.168.1.20? Tell 192.168.1.10"

This happens repeatedly, maybe 10 times. dot 20 is the client PC. dot 10 is
the SBS server.



"Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:A002DEC4-D9A7-4A8C-A76A-5356C10DB89A@newsgroup

> Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client computer
> on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.
>
> As far as I know, all the following are true:
>
> - The PC is in the SBS domain.
> - You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer
> list.
> - All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
> site and remote locations.
> - No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
> - You can access the server via RWW.
> - IE8 is the browser used for access.
>
> However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
> unavailable or offline.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>

I've now had time to try this, with someone on the other end at the PC.

The firewall was in domain mode. I still went ahead and did all the rest of
the NLA stuff ... but no joy, I'm afraid :-)


"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:uDmlU3VOKHA.3192@newsgroup

> There's kind of a corner case that can cause this. There are two sets of
> group policy settings for the Windows Firewall, domain and non-domain.
> This is so that when your laptop is in the office it works as a local PC,
> while when it's on the road its security is higher. The non-domain
> settings block RDP.
>
> To diagnose this, when the computer is blocking the connection, have
> someone go to CP -> Windows Firewall and see if, at the bottom of the
> first tab, it says it's using the non-domain settings. If it's using
> non-domain, that's the cause of the rejected connections. The fix is to
> simply set the Network Location Awareness service to automatic startup
> instead of manual - it runs all the time anyway, but in Automatic it
> starts faster, preventing this problem. Reboot or gpupdate /force, and
> you'll never have the problem with that workstation again.
>
> This isn't a common problem but I've seen it maybe 10 times. When I have
> users who frequently log in remotely, I routinely just set NLA to
> automatic (only on XP - auto start is the default setting in Vista).
>
>
> "Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:A002DEC4-D9A7-4A8C-A76A-5356C10DB89A@newsgroup

>> Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client
>> computer on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.
>>
>> As far as I know, all the following are true:
>>
>> - The PC is in the SBS domain.
>> - You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer
>> list.
>> - All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
>> site and remote locations.
>> - No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
>> - You can access the server via RWW.
>> - IE8 is the browser used for access.
>>
>> However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
>> unavailable or offline.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>>

>

Try connecting with the remote desktop client from another PC on the lan,
both by name and IP. If you open a cmd prompt and do ipconfig /flushdns on
both the client PC and the SBS, does that help any? (You need to run cmd as
admin on Vista).


"Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:C2A825DF-6EA1-4864-957A-9ACCF82A58DE@newsgroup

>I have tried the following. While connected remotely to the server via
>Remote Desktop, I have run WireShark. With that running (on the server) in
>a window on the remote PC, I have attempted to connect via RWW. The only
>significant thing I can see going on in the WireShark report is this:
>
> "ARP Who has 192.168.1.20? Tell 192.168.1.10"
>
> This happens repeatedly, maybe 10 times. dot 20 is the client PC. dot 10
> is the SBS server.
>
>
>
> "Charlie Lewis" <charlie_c_lewis@newsgroup> wrote in message
> news:A002DEC4-D9A7-4A8C-A76A-5356C10DB89A@newsgroup

>> Not for the first time, I'm having trouble connecting to a client
>> computer on the SBS network remotely via Remote Web Workplace.
>>
>> As far as I know, all the following are true:
>>
>> - The PC is in the SBS domain.
>> - You can access the RWW login screen, and see the PC in the computer
>> list.
>> - All relevant ports are open in the routers and firewalls at the company
>> site and remote locations.
>> - No power-saving is enabled on the PC.
>> - You can access the server via RWW.
>> - IE8 is the browser used for access.
>>
>> However, when you click on the required computer, it says that it is
>> unavailable or offline.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>>

>