Inability to Connect to a Home PC Using Microsoft Remote Desktop App for iPhone

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Hello,

I have wanted to try out the Microsoft Remote Desktop App for iPhone to compare it to other such apps and see if it could be considered better, but I can’t even establish a connection to my home PC with it. Therefore, I have decided to write here about my issue with using Microsoft Remote Desktop App for iPhone hoping someone could help me out because despite precisely following the instructions on the matter found on the Internet and applying every solution I was able to find, I am unable to establish a connection to my PC from iPhone. The message I am returned by the Microsoft Remote Desktop App on the iPhone when trying to establish a connection to my PC reads: „Unable to connect to remote PC. Please verify demote desktop is enabled, the remote PC is turned on and available on the network, and then try again” (I can tell you straight away that both the PC and the iPhone are on the same LAN). First, I will give you the background specifications, so that you know what I am working on:

Computer Type: PC
Computer OS: Windows 10 Pro (all up-to-date, the latest April 2018 Update included)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K, 3.5GHz
CPU Architecture: x64
RAM: 32 GB
Network: LAN
Wireless Router: TP-Link Wireless Router, Standard N, 150mb/s, Model TL-WR740N/TL-WR740ND
Computer Network Adapter: Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connection
Active Computer Firewall: Kaspersky Total Security 18.0.0.405(f)
Type of the Computer IP on the Network: Static IP Assigned
Device I Am Trying to Connect from: iPhone 6S Plus running on iOS 11.3.0 (I do not want the iOS 11.3.1 just now yet, and I am quite sure that the minute changes found in the latest iOS version are irrelevant to the issue that I have) with a static IP assigned to it as well.

Now, I will enumerate the sittings I have set up on the PC:

I have checked Allow Remote Assistance connections on this computer under Allow Remote Access to This Computer dialog window, and as you can see in the screenshot, under the same dialog window I have also checked Allow remote connections to this computer (conversely, I have deliberately decided not to check Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended), as I want to be sure that if the iPhone app does not comply with the above-standard protective measures it can still be able to establish a connection with the PC).

View: https://i.imgur.com/TnwGweq.jpg


As far as the advanced settings for Allow Remote Assistance connections on this computer are concerned, on the screenshot below you can see that the checkbox Allow this computer to be controlled remotely is also checked.

View: https://i.imgur.com/InkiFQF.jpg


When it comes to the advanced settings concerning users allowed the remote access to the PC, I have added my user account which is the only user account on the PC and is granted the Administrator privileges because I have removed the Administrators and Remote Desktop Users Groups from the Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services Policy list for security purpose, leaving the privilege of such log on and remote control to my user account exclusively (the removal of those groups should not entail any negative consequences, since when trying to establish the connection back when both those groups were still on the list by default, I could not establish the connection either).

View: https://i.imgur.com/DFUcQgI.jpg


Also, my user account on the PC has a password set up, just as I have found out on the Internet that it has to have a password set up if you want to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop App for iPhone.
Speaking of the firewall, the Kaspersky Total Security Firewall is in charge the settings of the Windows 10 built-in firewall, rendering that firewall itself turned off, and the Remote Desktop application under the Kaspersky Total Security Firewall is allowed on the standard 3389 TCP port. Moreover, I have set the Network protection component of Kaspersky Total Security not to monitor the traffic going through the 3389 TCP port, so that it does not interfere with it in any way. Assuming I could have either missed something or done something wrong (which I believe I have not), I have also wanted to use the PC Remote Desktop Setup Assistant Tool that I have found out about while trying to solve my issue and then downloaded from one of the Microsoft’s websites (I mean here the tool that all over the Internet is said to be available under the link Microsoft - Official Home Page, which currently is not true, as that website in particular no longer exists). Nonetheless, when I want to run that tool that I have got from a different Microsoft’s website, a prompt windows pops up, saying: „Cannot download the application. The application is missing required files. Contact application vendor for assistance”. The prompt window provides an option to view the details of what was and what couldn’t be done, and when I click it, a Notepad file with all that information opens. In that Notepad file there is a section of text which refers to the error occurred. The entirety of that section reads as follows:

„ERROR SUMMARY
Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
* Activation of C:\Users\Hubert\Desktop\rdassistant.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
+ Downloading http://download.microsoft.com/downl...30-9EFC-70C1C2219048/rdassistant.exe.manifest did not succeed.
+ The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.“.

Obviously, that means that the repository webpage that the tool tried to connect to no longer exists. I tried to confirm that by trying to visit the webpage indicated manually, and when doing so in the Edge Browser, visiting either http://download.microsoft.com/downl...30-9EFC-70C1C2219048/rdassistant.exe.manifest or http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/3/2/1322897E-11C1-4E30-9EFC-70C1C2219048/, results in nothing, meaning that virtually nothing happens, except for the address bar going blank, as if no address were typed in. Trying to do the same in the Mozilla Firefox browser, I am returned the same error page for either of those two addresses, saying: „File not found. Firefox can’t find the file at [the webpage address]”. Although it may be of lesser relevance as the repository webpage doesn’t work at all, the Notepad file also mentions more detailed error information regarding the error that I will mention here anyway:

„ ERROR DETAILS
Following errors were detected during this operation.
* [5/2/2018 7:01:08 PM] System.Deployment.Application.DeploymentDownloadException (Unknown subtype)
- Downloading http://download.microsoft.com/downl...30-9EFC-70C1C2219048/rdassistant.exe.manifest did not succeed.
- Source: System.Deployment
- Stack trace:
at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)
at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadAllFiles()
at System.Deployment.Application.FileDownloader.Download(SubscriptionState subState, X509Certificate2 clientCertificate)
at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadManifestAsRawFile(Uri& sourceUri, String targetPath, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, Uri& appSourceUri, String& appManifestPath)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.DownloadApplication(SubscriptionState subState, ActivationDescription actDesc, Int64 transactionId, TempDirectory& downloadTemp)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.InstallApplication(SubscriptionState& subState, ActivationDescription actDesc)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl, Uri& deploymentUri)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivationWithRetry(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivationWithRetry(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
--- Inner Exception ---
System.Net.WebException
- The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
- Source: System
- Stack trace:
at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)“.

As far as the router is concerned, the version of its manufacturer’s firmware it is running on is 3.16.4 Build 130513 Rel.63875n, the router’s built-in firewall is entirely disabled, and although it may be unnecessary, I have also forwarded the 3389 TCP port on the router to the static IP of my PC which in the LAN network is 192.168.1.200.

Having the settings set up on the PC and router covered, I will now pass on to the settings set up in the Microsoft Remote Desktop App installed on the iPhone:
The first page with the settings looks as follows:

View: https://i.imgur.com/ERD59KD.png


The destination device set is its LAN IP address, which (as I had mentioned earlier) is 192.168.1.200. Regardless of whether I use the LAN IP address alone, append :3389 to the end of it, use the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) of the PC alone or with the port number appended, and choose for the app to remember my user login credentials or to ask for them at each connection, none of this helps, as the Microsoft Remote Desktop is still unable to establish the connection to the PC. I assume that the Gateway that can be set up at the Additional Options page of the app is not necessary, but even if I set it up, as the gateway itself typing my router’s default homepage address and the username and password for logging onto the router as the username and password, it still does not help. When I do that, then the error message I am returned reads: „Can’t connect to the Remote Desktop Gateway. Contact your network administrator for assistance. (Error code: 0x03000008)”.

View: https://i.imgur.com/rbnZn8J.png


Besides trying to use the PC Remote Desktop Setup Assistant Tool mentioned earlier, I have even tried adding a registry key called Terminal Server Client under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft and a DWORD type value with a data setting „1” under it using Regedit, as suggested by user Dzcharles (I do not know if Karel Dehertogh under his post marked as the answer is his name or not) at Remote Desktop from Windows 10 Client to Remote Desktop Farm (I know that forum topic refers to Windows Server, while I have Windows 10 Pro, but I gave it a shot anyway, trying out every solution I could find). As adding that key and its respective value did not help at all, I later removed both of them from the registry.

It is annoying not to be able to get the Microsoft’s own application to connect, while applications such as Teamviewer and CrazyRemote, which both are for iPhones too, work for me like a charm.

At this point I am completely puzzled, and do not know what else I could do to get this to work,

Best Regards

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