I am using the Microsoft RDC client to communicate with a PC on my network. A problem I've noticed is that if I run Parallels (XP SP2) it kills my RDC connection. I have confirmed there are no IP or MAC address conflicts. I want desperately to dump this PC (and RDC) entirely, but until Parallels works 100%, I can't. And right now the networking is too flaky to use; I can't copy large files over the network, do large downloads, etc.
Have you tried using VNC to the remote Windows box? It does the same thing as MS Remote Desktop. Mac VNC Client Windows VNC Server It is not a real fix but it might help.
I use RDC on WinXP as well and it has always worked ok. I can't say that I've done anything special for it... have you tried running it on the Mac side? http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15544
Sorry guys, I should have given more detail... I am running RDC on the Mac, and a Parallels session of XP SP2. The RDC on the Mac is what loses connection.
Another update...looks like it kills more than just RDC, it kills (or at least temporarily interrupts) networking on the Mac in general. I lose my IRC and MSN Messenger connections when I try to do a large download on the VM...and the download chokes as well. Am I really the only one getting this? I get it consistently.
Can you run RDC under Parallels instead? This is what I do, and it works a treat (and as a bonus the Windows RDC client is way superior to the Mac client - it supports multiple running clients and large resolutions). Cheers Rod
Derek -- are you initiatng a VPN connection on either the Mac or Parallels side when you experience this problem?
If you want multple RDC sessions on the Mac side try RDC Menu: http://www.xutils.com/rdcmenu/ I haven't seen any limitations on the resolutions supported by RDC but I only have 1600x1200 monitors. Full screen works happily.
I figured out the problem. I am using a wireless ethernet bridge plugged into the ethernet port. Once I read up about how bridged ethernet works (by spoofing packets) I switched to host-only with internet sharing enabled on the Mac and now it works! I can't browse to other machines on my network, but that's probably not a bad thing, all told, for security reasons.
I wanted to second this recommendation. I do a lot of Windows administration from my Mac, and this utility is indispensable.
Do you know if RDC Menu supports mapping of local disk drive resources when connecting to the remote computer? It is does, I'll be very tempted to give it a try... Cheers Rod
No magic like that, RDCmenu merely launches multiple copies of the RDC client. It doesn't go do any special magic to fix the client. If you want more, check out rdesktop. Its an open RDP client (RDP is the protocol under RDC). It is in darwin ports and requires X11 to run. You can map all sorts of stuff, though I've never tried the mapping, just seen the options. Bonus is you can configure all theoptions from the command line when launching so you can make script to open a group of connections that you commonly use.