Pentankh Eternal’s Blog

I finally decided to set up my PocketPC to remotely control my Windows XP box. I figure if Sienna wants me to sit and watch TV with her I can still do what I want on the PC but keep her company all the same. Mostly I try not to use the PC when she’s around, but when she’s really tired she might want to drift off while watching “Little Einsteins”.

A couple of good articles to start with:

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=400033&rl=1

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bridgman_02june10.mspx

The best place to start is: http://www.filesaveas.com/wifi.html. This will get you set up with WiFi and set your IP Address. Make sure your Windows XP WiFi network card has it’s IP in the same range (eg. set the PPC to 192.168.0.3 and the Windows XP box to 192.168.0.2 both with subnet mask 255.255.255.0).

Run the Terminal Services application on your Pocket PC (I have an HP 4150 PocketPC). Type in the IP Address of the Windows XP box ( 192.168.0.2 ) and hit CONNECT. Now your XP box locks the screen with a login window. Don’t log in again as it will log the PPC out again.

Type in your username and password. You may get this:

You cannot initiate a Remote Desktop Connection because the Windows logon software on the remote computer has been replaced by incompatible software. To correct this problem, please have the administrator of the remote computer contact the program vendor for a version that is compatible with Windows.

Referencing MRVGINA.DLL. There is an article on the Microsoft Support site. You will find suggestions on the web to delete a registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/Current Version/WINLOGON/GinaDLL

Deleting registry entries like this is not really a good idea. Better to put it back where it was. Edit this registry entry and change “MRVGINA.DLL” to “MSGINA.DLL”. This is the original Microsoft GINA DLL. The other is a “Marvell” DLL from NetGear. Microsoft Remote Desktop doesn’t like this Gina file.

The next possible issue (which I came across):

Unable to log you on because of an account restriction

If you see this, make sure your login has remote access. Usually your login will be an Administrator so this isn’t an issue. You may just need to set a password. For security reasons, you require a password to log on via Terminal Services. Log back into your XP box and hit CTRL+ALT+DEL (Bill Gates’ favourite combination. He’s famous for it!). Change your password and try again with Terminal Services on your PocketPC.

I was very surprised to discover that although my Linux server had slow limited connection to my XP box in the next room, I could take my PocketPC to the other end of the house (in the loo!) and still navigate my way around.

Enjoy surfing from the comfort of your lounge! The colour resolution seems to be 16 colours or something so it’s not great and zooming around a huge desktop with 240×320 ain’t great, but it’s still something

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Pocket PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.