Building a Remote Desktop Environment with NetMeeting on Windows 2000

There are probably not many reasons to use Windows 2000 anymore, but the other day I needed to build a remote desktop environment on Windows 2000 and found that the normal Remote Desktop feature could not be used. These are my notes from that setup.

After looking into it, I found that on Windows 2000 you need to use a program called NetMeeting in order to use remote desktop sharing.

If either the client or the host is running Windows 2000, you need to use this software to build the remote desktop environment.

1. How to start NetMeeting

Go to [Start] -> [Run], enter "conf", and click [OK]. Enter any name and email address you like (you can change them later), finish the wizard, and NetMeeting starts.

2. Configure remote desktop sharing

Go to [Tools] -> [Remote Desktop Sharing]. The first time you do this, the Remote Desktop Sharing wizard starts. Follow the wizard and enable a password-protected screen saver.

Once that is done, "NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing" appears in the icon bar. Exit NetMeeting, right-click that icon, and click the option to activate remote desktop sharing.

That completes the server-side setup.

3. Connect from the client

Start NetMeeting on the client side in the same way as step 1, then go to [Call] -> [Place a Call].

Call to: IP of the PC you want to connect to remotely Using: Network Check "Secure this call"

After entering those settings, click "Call" and the remote desktop session starts.