Skip to main content

Remote Desktop Preview for Windows 10 lets you control a PC remotely through your phone



An update to the Remote Desktop Preview app should theoretically allow you to run any Windows 10 app via the Continuum function built into Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft released version 844 of its Remote Desktop Preview app on Wednesday for Windows Phones. If you have a phone that supports Continuum—the Lumia 950 or Lumia 950XL, for example—you should be able to run a standard desktop app on a remote desktop, powered by your phone.
Let’s back up for a bit. Recall that Windows 10 Mobile includes a technology called Continuum, which is only found on Microsoft’s latest phones, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL. When the phone is connected to the Microsoft Display Dock, Universal apps—and only Universal apps, such as Mail, or Edge, or Calendar—can be run from the phone onto an external monitor, filling the screen and providing a desktop-like
experience.
Why this matters: With Remote Desktop, users can run apps that are stored on a remote PC on a local machine—in this case, a Windows phone. Normally, this would force you to navigate a Windows 10 desktop view via the relatively tiny confines of a phone, pawing at the interface with a finger. But because Remote Desktop Preview is itself a Universal app, with Continuum and a Display Dock you can project that interface onto a monitor. It essentially reproduces working on a remote, home desktop PC on a monitor in front of you—all via your phone. 

How it works

remote desktop Connecting via Remote Desktop can require a bit of fiddling. First off, the target PC you’re connecting to via your phone needs to run either Windows 10 Professional, Windows 10 Enterprise, or Windows 10 Business. You’ll also need to ensure your firewalls are configured appropriately, and that the target or remote PC is configured for remote access. (Microsoft has published a handy guide to walk you through the process.) 
Installing and configuring the RDP preview app on my phone took far longer than was probably necessary for experienced users, as I ran into issues where the phone app couldn’t find my remote PC. My firewall appeared to be the problem. Finally, though, it worked.
For fun, I tried loading a copy of Far Cry 3 I had installed on my remote PC. While I was able to navigate to the game itself and load it, it was unable to find a “suitable display resolution” and actually load—not the fault of the Microsoft app, but of the game itself. I then discovered I was missing that USB-C to USB-C cable that I needed to connect the Lumia 950 to the Display Dock. Doh!

 Otherwise, however, I was able to navigate across my remote desktop relatively smoothly, though I would have benefited greatly from an attached mouse.

Comments

Post a Comment

What do you Think about This Article? Share Your Comments Here

Popular posts from this blog

LG’s first flexible OLED phone due before the year is out

LG plans to launch a flexible OLED smartphone before the end of the year, the company’s VP of mobile has confirmed, though it’s unclear to what extent the work-in-progress handset will actually flex. The OLED panel in question is the handiwork of LG Display according to VP of LG mobile Yoon Bu-hyun, the WSJ  reports, with the proposed device set to launch sometime in Q4. LG Display’s work on flexible OLEDs has been underway for some time, though the company’s efforts have perhaps been overshadowed somewhat by rival Samsung’s YOUM development. Last year, according to a Korea Times report, LG Display was preparing for
Post a Comment
Full Story »

Bing Apps for Windows 8 get major updates

Late least year, Microsoft rolled out a half dozen Bing Apps for Windows 8 users, each one focused on a specific category, such as travel and sports. The apps were designed to offer “immersive vertical experiences,” and now, about six months later, a big line of updates for them is being pushed out. Users can grab the updates now by heading into the Windows Store and selecting the updates notification.
Post a Comment
Full Story »

Syrian Electronic Army claims credit for CBS Twitter accounts hack

Yesterday, several of CBS ’s Twitter accounts were hacked, including its main account, and its accounts for 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and CBS Denver. The hackers got into the account and tweeted a series of things relating to President Obama and the United States being in cahoots with Al-Qaeda . The tweets also had links that led users to malware-infested sites. While CBS was able to regain access to its accounts, it was unable to figure out who was behind the attacks, until now. The Syrian Electronic Army , the same group that hacked 3 of the BBC’s Twitter accounts, claimed
Post a Comment
Full Story »