rdesktop stopped working - ERROR: connect: Connection refused
 

Hi,
I have rdesktop v5 installed on my Fedora Core 4 box and I've used it to connect to 2 different Windows XP Professional machines (one at home and one at work). I've used rdesktop to successfully connect to these 2 machines in the past.

I'm not sure whether an automatic windows update occurred on my home machine, or whether it crashed while I was away, but I found that my home machine had restarted.... so annoying !

Anyways, from that point onwards, I cannot seem to connect to my Windows XP Professional box at home. I getthe following error:
ERROR: connect: Connection refused

I verified that the checkbox for "Allow this computer to be controlled remotely." is checked, and that the terminal server is up and running. I also checked that my Windows firewall has "Remote Desktop" in the allowed list of applications and even turned off my windows firewall.... but I still cannot connect to that machine using rdesktop.

I made sure that my rdesktop is working fine by connecting to my Windows box at work. It works like a charm.

Any reason you think I am now having trouble connecting to my home computer ? Any help, ideas, etc would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Have you made sure that your home computer's IP address didn't changed during the restart? You can go to http://www.whatismyipaddress.com/ if you're behind a router.

I am assuming you are connecting with a vpn to your router. 1st can you ping your workstation. Also have you changed anything like say you password on the workstation.

Thanks for your suggestion. Yes I made sure that my IP address hasn't changed. I even brought my laptop home (running Fedora Core 4), connected wirelessly to the home network and tried to "rdesktop" to my home WinXP Prof workstation... with no such luck. This used to work just a few days back and so I'm very puzzled. I'm wondering if it has something to do with a Windows Update or something, because ever since it rebooted, I cannot connect with rdesktop... any other ideas ?

Thanks for your suggestion. Yes I am connecting with a VPN to my router. I made sure that I am able to ping my home workstation. I also didn't change my workstation password... it's still the same. I even brought my laptop home (running Fedora Core 4), connected wirelessly to the home network and tried to "rdesktop" to my home WinXP Prof workstation... with no such luck. This used to work just a few days back and so I'm very puzzled. I'm wondering if it has something to do with a Windows Update or something, because ever since it rebooted, I cannot connect with rdesktop... any other ideas ?

I figured out what my problem was. Your hunch was right... my IP address had changed, however my /etc/hosts file had the IP address of the target host hard-coded.... not good!

I apologize for not doing a more thorough check of my IP address before responding to your posting. I thank you both for your helpful suggestions. Your help was appreciated.

hello... I have the same problem.
 

I am new to linux and having the "connection refused error", but I do not how to correct it. Where should I correct my ip address, if that is the case...?