Bob,

With XP SP2 you need to apply this patch to fix this loopback issue...

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;884020

Good luck...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
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http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

<bob.smithson@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:a566eca1-4ff0-4343-a515-b09d490293de@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>I have a problem which has been driving me insane.
>
> For a long time with no problems, I have been using Remote Desktop to
> connect to my machine at work (Windows Server 2003) from my old
> Windows 2000 box at home. I have been using SSH to tunnel the
> connection.
>
> Recently I built myself a new machine and installed XP Pro SP2 on it.
> Using exactly the same method as on the W2K machine, and some
> variations that have been suggested by articles I have found on the
> web, I have had absolutely no success in connecting.
>
> Here is an outline of what works on W2K:
>
> o Use Putty to connect to gateway Unix machine:
> SSH to machine with tunnel with source port 3389 and destination
> 127.0.01:77777
> where 77777 is an essentially arbitrary port in some range.
> o In the terminal I then ssh to another Unix machine, let's call it
> fred, on the internal work network:
>
> > ssh -l bob fred -L 77777:myserver:3389
>
> Here bob is my Unix login name, and myserver is my Server 2003
> machine that I want to remote into.
> This command logs me into fred setting up the tunnel from my W2K
> machine to the Server 2003 host.
> o I then run the Remote Desktop client on my W2K box, specifying
> 127.0.0.1 in the "Computer" setting on the initial dialog.
> o This connects fine and I can login to the remote desktop.
>
> With Windows XP, if I do exactly the same thing, I get the error:
>
> "The client could not connect. You are already connected to the
> console of the computer. A new console session cannot be established."
>
> A bit of research revealed that this is a common problem, and the
> solution is to use 127.0.0.2 instead of 127.0.0.1.
>
> This initially appears to work but it is actually connects to Remote
> Desktop on my XP client box!
>
> So I disable RD on my client, try again and I get:
>
> "The client could not connect to the remote computer.
>
> Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too
> busy..."
>
> Now I don't know whether this is referring to a connection on my work
> host or my XP client.
>
> I have also tried different source ports 3390, 3391, and have tried
> suffixing the 127.0.0.2 with the port in the initial remote desktop
> client login dialog (i.e. 127.0.0.2:3389 etc, or whatever source port
> I am trying).
>
> I have also tried disabling my firewall to no avail.
>
> I would really like to solve this as I would like to decomission my
> old W2K machine. At the moment, as I only have one keyboard, monitor
> etc and no KVM switch, and the XP box is now my principal machine at
> home, I am going through the ridiculous process of VNCing into the old
> machine in order to remote desktop from there to work!
>
> Any suggestions gratefully received, including any ideas for how I
> might investigate what could be going wrong.
>
> Thanks
> ~~
> Bob
>