why can't I RDP from outside my network?

[gib88]

Hello,

I have a router in my home network and it is setup to port forward RDP requests to my server. I'm able to remote desktop into my server from within my home network, but not outside. Whenever I tried to connect from outside, it tells me it cannot make the connection.

Internally, I connect using the name of my server. From outside, I have to use my WAN IP address, which I get from whatismyip.com.

Can anyone suggest what else besides the port forwarding (in the attached image) I can do to remote desktop from outside my home network?

 

[crazyman143]

Try forwarding both TCP and UDP on port 3389. Looks like right now you only have it setup to forward UDP.

 

[gib88]

Thanks crazyman,

Setting it to TCP worked.

 

[crazyman143]

Hmm. Have you tried temporarily disabling the firewall on the target machine to ensure that's not blocking it somehow?

 

[gib88]

Sorry crazyman, I just edited my post. Turns out I don't know how to click the "apply" button on my router's configuration page.

 

[crazyman143]

I'm glad you got it working!

Also, I feel obligated to add that it's been debated for ages whether RDP is a safe enough protocol to be directly exposed to the internet. I believe that nowadays it's pretty safe, though. Even still, you might consider using a VPN connection instead, or at least changing the port to something else. Bots scan for well-known ports like 3389 relentlessly.

Here's a tutorial on how to do that if you want to.

 

[gib88]

Thanks again Crazyman. I'll look into that tutorial.