Using Remote Desktop On Windows Home Editions

Using Remote Desktop On Windows Home Editions

By   21:27   No comments:

Earlier, I was trying to make my Vista Home Premium wireless laptop to be accessed from a remote Windows 7 Home Premium desktop PC.  I have them networked and just need the laptop to be remote. I've been doing some research and found that it may not be possible with the premium home edition.

Windows 7 Home Premium makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. And you can watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV on Windows Media Center. Get the best entertainment experience with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Home Premium can remote-connect to another computer, but it cannot be connected from another computer by default.  However, there are ways to do so without upgrading to a higher version of Windows.

The easiest may be to use Windows Live Mesh, which lets you sync files or remote-desktop to any computer where you've installed the tool.  The tool only has to be installed on the computer you want to connect to.  For example, if you go to a friends' house, you could connect to your computer computer without installing this program on her computer.

Once it's on a computer, you can connect to that computer from anywhere in the world on any other computer.  In other words, it only needs to be installed on the computer that you want to connect to from somewhere else. For example, to get to your desktop from your laptop, it needs to only be on the desktop.

Here are some of the features of Windows Live Mesh:

Access the stuff on your computers from almost anywhere

With Windows Live Mesh and the Devices website, you can finally stop emailing files to yourself, carrying them around on a USB drive, or worrying whether the version you have with you is the latest.

Sync between computers

Keep up-to-date copies of documents, photos, and other files on all of your computers, whether PC or Mac. Even if your computer is offline, you can still view and work on the files you need.

Get Windows Live Mesh for Mac (available in English only).

Sync on SkyDrive

By syncing folders on the 5 GB of free synced storage space you get with SkyDrive, you can work with up-to-date copies of files on the web from any computer.

Go to SkyDrive synced storage

Sync program settings

Keep your favorites in Internet Explorer and your Microsoft Office settings up to date on all of your PCs.

Connect remotely

Work on your PC from another location, similar to using Remote Desktop Connection in Windows. Run programs and browse all the files on your PC from anywhere.

Go to the Devices website to see the PCs you can connect to

Labels: Remote, Desktop, Home, Vista, Premium, laptop, music, Internet, entertainment, computer, Live, Mesh, world, features, Devices, Sync, documents, English, SkyDrive, storage, Explorer, Microsoft, Office, Connect, Work, Connection, Editions, photos, computers, website,

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Adding And Indexing Network Folders As Libraries In Windows 7

Adding And Indexing Network Folders As Libraries In Windows 7

By   19:22   No comments:

Most of you might have tried adding network folders as libraries and then having them fail to index, and that raises a question among most of us, if it is possible to do this within Windows 7. 

I managed to fix mine. Obviously this works best if you are trying to include a folder containing Music, Pictures, Videos or Movies etc. although you can also do this for your Documents folder if you like. To include a network folder in a library and have it indexed by Windows 7, follows these instructions:

• Open Windows Explorer and click Map Network Drive. Set the Drive letter and Folder then click Finish. I mapped M: to \\10.1.1.2\Music for example.
• In Windows Explorer navigate to C:\Users\Username, right-click My Music folder and select Properties from the popup-menu.
• Click the Location tab then click the Move... button.
• In the Select a Destination dialog click Computer, select the new M: drive, then click the Select Folder button, or just type M: in the textbox.
• Click OK. When asked if you want to move all of the files from the old location to the new location click No.
• Open Windows Media Centre and navigate to Tasks | Settings. Click Media Libraries.
• Select the Music radio button then click Next.
• Select the Add folders to the library radio button then click Next.
• Select the On this computer (includes mapped network drives) radio button then click Next.
• Tick the checkbox next to the M: network folder containing your Music, e.g. mine was \\10.1.1.2\Music (M:), then click Next.
• Select the Yes, use these locations radio button then click the Finish button.
• Wait for Windows Media Centre to finish indexing your folder.
• Close and re-open Windows Explorer and navigate to your Music library. You should see that it is now pointing to your network folder. If you try the search in the top-right you'll find that it is also indexed.

Note: 'Do not index the same folder twice' while doing this so make sure you don't do the same thing! If you do you'll need to go back into Windows Media Centre and select the Remove folders from library radio button.

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Fix Problem On Mapping A Network Drive In Windows 7

Fix Problem On Mapping A Network Drive In Windows 7

By   15:07   3 comments:

For Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium Users mapping a network drive wont be possible untill you know what is missing. When you try connect (map) to a network, You may be getting an error message that "network location can't be found" or "The specified network password is not correct".

The problem is, you wont be able to edit the local security settings (apparently you can do this in Ultimate and Professional versions).

One possible solution is to run Windows XP In Windows 7 as a Virtual PC. But i am sure this is not the right solution for the problem.

Second possible solution is.. Upgrade to Professional to get the Security Policy editor:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprosecurity/thread/14fc5037-3386-4973-b5d8-2167272ff5ad

Do this magic: Under local security policies, make sure under Local Policies à Security Options à Network Security: LAN Manager Authentication level , that “Send LM & NTLM, use NTLMv2 session security is negotiated” is chosen

Again, this is not the right solution... It's really lame of Microsoft to force an upgrade to Professional for cross domain drive mounts.

Well, the possible solution is edit your windows registry to do what you want it to do. if you are windows 7 Home Users, and if you wish to map to a network drive, Follow this step,

Edit the registry yourself by creating this registry patch:

1) open Notepad:

2) copy this text and past in notepad:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"lmcompatibilitylevel"=dword:00000002

3) save the file on your desktop (or anywhere else) as name.reg - ".reg" is important.

4) run the file and press yes on the 2 poppups.

If you cant succeed in making that file yourself. You can download the registry patch from this location.  http://hotfile.com/dl/27670201/3d1d10b/name.reg.html

Now your problem should be fixed.

If it work, come back and say "it works!", and if it doesn't, come back and say "not for me".

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Mapping FTP Location As A Network Drive In Windows

Mapping FTP Location As A Network Drive In Windows

By   12:10   No comments:

I periodically receive inquiries from friends asking for the easiest way to access files and folders on a FTP server. They normally have their own FTP server setup at home, and they want to ensure fast access to their files without having to mess with third-party applications. Is it possible to quickly map a FTP to a drive? You bet!

The solution I’m about to show you doesn’t exactly assign a drive letter to the FTP server, but it will essentially serve the same purpose as a drive. Through Windows Explorer you’ll have one-click access to your files, and they will even be accessible through the standard Open/Save dialog boxes in apps such as Microsoft Word.

Here’s how you can set it up:

Open Windows Explorer and choose the “Map Network Drive” option.

Vista location: Along the top toolbar

XP location: Tools Menu

Choose the option at the bottom that reads:

Vista: “Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures”

XP: “Sign up for online storage or connect to a network server”

Click “Choose a custom network location”:

Enter in the FTP address for the site:

Enter the username for the FTP server (you will be prompted for the password when you connect):

Enter a name:

Finish up the wizard, and then you’ll be ready to connect! You’ll be prompted for the password the first time that you try and connect, but you can have the password saved after that if you wish.

That process will take less than 30-seconds to complete after you become familiar with doing it. There is a way to assign a drive letter to a FTP server, but it does take some addition work. I’ve found three sources that try to make it a little easier:

1. Tutorial – This is a relatively quick process and would be my first choice out of the three mentioned here. It requires no third-party apps to make it work, and it truly lets you map a FTP server to a drive. It does require using the command line.
2. NetDrive - This is a free program offered by Novell that has a GUI interface for setting up FTP servers as drives on your computer.
3. FTP Drive – This is a small free program that also brings a GUI interface to the configuration, but the program always has to be running if you want the mapped drive to work.

Download NetDrive For Free: (Used to map FTP location as a network drive In windows)

Filename:    netdrive.zip
Filesize:    5467219 bytes [5 MB]
Download Link

While those solutions make it possible to assign a drive letter to the FTP, I don’t see an added advantage by doing so. The steps that I walked you through in this article will give nearly every program access to your FTP, and it is super easy to setup. I’m sure there is some reason that you would want a drive letter.

Note: Emulating a FTP server as a mapped network drive is not trivial, as the FTP server doesn't supply all the file system operations required by a network drive. Forexample to open a file placed on a FTP server, then the entire file has to be downloaded completely first, as FTP doesn't provide read and write locking capability. This can lead to funny behavior if background services (Anti-Virus, Movie-Preview) wants to scan the files on the network drive.

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