Port forwarding for Windows Remote Desktop on Netgear DG834G/GT/N Router

Using a router is a common way to connect to the internet. It is favoured by most ISP’s who supply a free router with most broadband internet packages. Most routers have built-in hardware firewall which operates separately from Windows firewall.

The most common way to acces your PC remotely is using Windows Remote Desktop that is included with Windows XP professional, Vista, Windows 7 Ultimate. However most people find it difficult to setup correctly and are unable to connect to their PC. This article will show you exactly what to do. The router i am using is Netgear DG834G however most Netgear router’s have similar control panel so the steps below should be similar on Netgear DG834GT, DG834N and other Netgear models. If you are using a different brand router then the port forwarding steps will be different, but the port setting 3389 will be the same.

Step 1. Enable Remote Desktop from Windows Control Panel.

• If you have Windows XP then Click on Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System -> Click on Remote Tab -> Under Remote Desktop, Tick Allow users to connect remotely to this computer. Then click OK.

• If you have Windows 7 then Click on Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Remote Settings -> Under Remote Desktop, select Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop. Then Click OK.

Step 2. Logon to your Netgear Router control panel. The defult control panel ip address for Netgear router is 192.168.0.1. So type this ip address on your browser’s address bar as shown:

http://192.168.0.1

The router will request the user id and password.

The default user id is: admin

The default password is: password

Now you will have access to the control panel. On the left side of the control panel you will have all the options listed.

Step 3. Click on Services and choose Add custom services. Fill in the box exactly as shown below.

Step 4: Click Apply. This will create a service called RemoteDesk with the port 3389 as shown:

Step 5: Click on Firewall Rules and click Add under the Inbound Services. Choose all the options shown on the image below. Please note that the Send to Lan Server ip address will be different on your computer. You need to choose a fixed ip address for your computer as its most likely set to dynamic ip address which changes all the time. If you don’t know how to do this on your operating system then read the following articles:

How to install and configure a network card in Windows 7 and Windows Vista

How to install and configure a network card inWindows XP

Once you fixed your ip address please type it in the box and click Apply.

Step 6: Your firewall rules will now be applied and you will get a page similar to below:

Finally click on Apply at the bottom of the page and the firewall rules will take effect.

You should now be able to connect to your PC using Windows Remote Desktop.