Vista - remote assistance to local network computer

My computer is in a Windows workgroup with another computer on a wireless
network. My computer is connected to the Linksys 802.11g router by CAT5; the
other is wireless. The other computer has both remote desktop and remote
assistance enabled. Remote desktop is limited to administrators and I can
connect from the local computer to the remote computer

If I attempt to offer help with remote assistance, the local computer cannot
discover the remote computer by name or by ip address. If I initiate the
assistance session by creating an invitation on the remote computer, RA
works fine when I open it.

BTW, I have OneCare as a firewall on both, but Remote Assistance is
configured as an exception at both ends. The fact I can connect and control
the other computer by invitation suggests to me that the firewall is not the
issue.

What's not configured correctly?

TIA
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

"Chris Cowles" <spam_magnet@remove-me-bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:uRVGwHNdHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> My computer is in a Windows workgroup with another computer on a wireless
> network. My computer is connected to the Linksys 802.11g router by CAT5;
> the other is wireless. The other computer has both remote desktop and
> remote assistance enabled. Remote desktop is limited to administrators and
> I can connect from the local computer to the remote computer
>
> If I attempt to offer help with remote assistance, the local computer
> cannot discover the remote computer by name or by ip address. If I
> initiate the assistance session by creating an invitation on the remote
> computer, RA works fine when I open it.
>
> BTW, I have OneCare as a firewall on both, but Remote Assistance is
> configured as an exception at both ends. The fact I can connect and
> control the other computer by invitation suggests to me that the firewall
> is not the issue.
>
> What's not configured correctly?
>
> TIA
> --
> Chris Cowles
> Gainesville, FL

Chris,

With Windows XP you could only use the Remote Assistance "offer"
functionality in a domain or trusted domain environment. FWIW I am seeing
the same thing here in my small work group test environment when I tried to
offer RA support to another Vista test machine, ie. a Vista Home Basic PC,
from my Vista Ultimate desktop PC. So with that said it appears that Vista
is the same as XP was, ie. offer only works in a domain environment.

Here is a work around that may work for you in the interim...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...ssistance.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

"Sooner Al [MVP]" <SoonerAl@somewhere.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:40B29BAE-1326-4AA8-8EF4-25DB4B089D1A@microsoft.com...
> "Chris Cowles" <spam_magnet@remove-me-bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:uRVGwHNdHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> My computer is in a Windows workgroup with another computer on a wireless
>> network. My computer is connected to the Linksys 802.11g router by CAT5;
>> the other is wireless. The other computer has both remote desktop and
>> remote assistance enabled. Remote desktop is limited to administrators
>> and I can connect from the local computer to the remote computer
>>
>> If I attempt to offer help with remote assistance, the local computer
>> cannot discover the remote computer by name or by ip address. If I
>> initiate the assistance session by creating an invitation on the remote
>> computer, RA works fine when I open it.
>>
>> BTW, I have OneCare as a firewall on both, but Remote Assistance is
>> configured as an exception at both ends. The fact I can connect and
>> control the other computer by invitation suggests to me that the firewall
>> is not the issue.
>>
>> What's not configured correctly?
>>
>> TIA
>> --
>> Chris Cowles
>> Gainesville, FL
>
> Chris,
>
> With Windows XP you could only use the Remote Assistance "offer"
> functionality in a domain or trusted domain environment. FWIW I am seeing
> the same thing here in my small work group test environment when I tried
> to offer RA support to another Vista test machine, ie. a Vista Home Basic
> PC, from my Vista Ultimate desktop PC. So with that said it appears that
> Vista is the same as XP was, ie. offer only works in a domain environment.
>
> Here is a work around that may work for you in the interim...
>
> http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...ssistance.html
>
> --
>
> Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)
>
> Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
> mutual benefit of all of us...
> The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights...
>

Have you seen this?

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...e154c1033.mspx

Click on "Show All" and see the "Using a Computer Name or IP Address"
section for a procedure to set this up in a work group environment. Note
that I have not tried this yet...

Please post back with your results, good or bad...:-)

Good luck...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

"Sooner Al [MVP]" <SoonerAl@somewhere.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:32ED9953-8862-407D-A0D9-C34BD5EB52AE@microsoft.com...
>>
>> With Windows XP you could only use the Remote Assistance "offer"
>> functionality in a domain or trusted domain environment. FWIW I am seeing
>> the same thing here in my small work group test environment when I tried
>> to offer RA support to another Vista test machine, ie. a Vista Home Basic
>> PC, from my Vista Ultimate desktop PC. So with that said it appears that
>> Vista is the same as XP was, ie. offer only works in a domain
>> environment.
>>
>> Here is a work around that may work for you in the interim...
>>
>> http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...ssistance.html
>>
>
> Have you seen this?
>
> http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...e154c1033.mspx
>
> Click on "Show All" and see the "Using a Computer Name or IP Address"
> section for a procedure to set this up in a work group environment. Note
> that I have not tried this yet...

Offering help doesn't seem to work in home network environment, but I was
not able to follow all the instructions. There is no "Offer Remote
Assistance Helpers group" as described in the latter URL, in Computer
>Manage> Local Groups. On my main workstation from which I want to offer
help, there is a "HelpServicesGroup" group. That doesn't exist on the
machine I want to help. I created it as a new group on the target machine,
and created ""Offer Remote Assistance Helpers" on both. I added my account
to both groups on both computers. (Both machines have the same user
credentials on them.)

I had already excepted msra in the firewall, and added raserver to both
machines. I also created an exception for TCP 135, in and out, for local
subnet only, on both.

I still cannot find the target machine by either IP or name, when attempting
to offer help. Because the user groups were not there, and I don't know how
to grant rights (or what rights to grant) to newly created groups, I can't
say I've got it set up completely.

I'm already using the invitation file method, by saving it in
Public\Documents on the target machine. I can browse to the directory on the
network, so it's not a problem. I was just hoping to do it a more elegant
manner. I'll tweak the registry to allow a 99 day duration, rather than the
current 30 day limit.

Thanks for the help.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL