Gone are those days when you had to stick on to your desk and armchair in order to use your computer. These are days of flexible options like cloud computing that allows you to carry your digital assets anywhere and use them anytime. The laptops, tablets, smartphones, external hard disks, pen drives and all other devices have helped develop mobile computing.
One other option that allows users to operate their desktops from faraway places is the remote desktop feature. While this is not a new technology, it certainly gives a new experience when it is used with Windows 8 operating system.
Enable Remote Desktop
Before using the Remote Desktop feature on Windows 8, you need to enable it.
In the start screen (better known as the metro start screen in Windows 8), the keyboard shortcut Windows Button + R can be used to bring the Run Window on the home screen. Simply type the word ‘control panel’ and press enter.
The Setup process
Get to the control panel in the OS. In the search box enter the word ‘remote’ and choose the option that reads "Select users who can use remote desktop".
Open the System Properties option and locate the Remote desktop section, under which there are three options:
- Option 1 – does not allow other connections to the computer you are using.
- Option 2- Allows other connections from PCs that run on any version of the remote desktop applications. This option is less secure.
- Option 3 – Allows connections only from PCs running on the Remote Desktop application with Network Level Authentication. This option is more secure than the previous one.
Select one of the above three options and then click on ‘Select Users’ tab. In the Remote Desktop Users window, tap Add. After that, in the Select Users and Groups window, follow the steps given below.
- To specify the to-be-searched location, click locations and then choose the destination you would like to search.
- Enter the user name that you wish to add and then click OK. This entry will be added to the list of remote users who can share your desktop.
More on the Remote Desktop with Windows 8
There are two other options here. The Remote Desktop on Windows 8 allows you to work with desktops and apps that have the RDP function enabled. You can also connect to computers on corporate networks through VPN.
On the connection page, enter the username and password. Don’t forget to select the ‘Remember My Credentials’ box and then click Ok. When you connect the machine to local network for the very first time, you will get a warning message that verifies the identity of a remote computer. Tick the ‘Don’t ask me again for connection to this PC" option and then click the ‘Connect Anyway’ tab.
Now you are ready and connected to the remote PC you wanted.
Each PC you have connected to, will be displayed as a tile. You can pull up one of them and work with any machine whenever you want. The Windows 8 multiple tasking magic is brought into good effect here. Tap the Add button to go to different connections on the same network.
Note 1: In case your computer is in power saver, hibernate or sleep mode, Windows might request you to change configuration when in Windows Power Option. This will ensure that you get seamless connectivity while you are in the middle of a remote connection activity.
Note 2: When a computer is being accessed through Remote Desktop application, you can right click on any empty space in the Start screen. This will enable you to add more remote connections with the add button appearing in front of the thumb nail. You can also perform other functions like zooming, connecting, home, snap, switch apps – all given in the options in the bottom.
The Remote Desktop on Windows 8 is a full screen metro-based application. The application works efficiently for developers working in a distributed team. It’s worth is more experienced when people in different work platforms collaborate to perform system checks and system tasks, manage permissions, uninstall or install new applications and offer other kinds of solutions to people in other locations. The application comes readily available in the Windows 8 operating system.
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