MS wants to charge me $499 to get RDC to work in my home workgroup

TerryCox · 18 Apr 2017

I recently upgraded a Windows 10 Home system to Windows 10 Pro so I could connect to it from another Windows 10 Pro system. Both systems are in my workgroup, not on a domain, hardwired. I can RDC to a different computer in my home network with no problem. I get the standard 'Remote Desktop can't connect to the remote computer for one of these reasons' modal display. None of those reasons are true. Port 3389 is available. I can ping the computer both by name and IP address; I see it in File Explorer under Network and in the workgroup.

Starting in virtual chat, I got taken to a phone call in MS Support, from which I got escalated. Finally the lady I'm talking to tells me I'll need an engineer to call me back, but that it will cost me a minimum of $499.

Really?

Mystere · 18 Apr 2017

They're trying to discourage you from taking up an engineers time for a simple issue.

How do you know that port 3389 is available? This port is blocked by the firewall by default. Did you try turning off the firewall temporarily to see if you could connect?

yuljk · 18 Apr 2017

Do a netstat -an on the machine you intend to RDP to - do you see TCP 3389 listening?

bro67 · 18 Apr 2017

TerryCox said:

Starting in virtual chat, I got taken to a phone call in MS Support, from which I got escalated. Finally the lady I'm talking to tells me I'll need an engineer to call me back, but that it will cost me a minimum of $499.
Really?

First off you need to know is that you just got scammed. Second is shut off that Credit Card or Debit Card and report the fraud to your bank to stop any monies that that group from India is trying to steal from you.

No one is going to do a virtual chat or call you about issues with Windows. As for RDC, Windows Pro has not had RDC secured on it for a long time, since it is one of those projects that Microsoft no longer worries about since companies like Teamviewer have created a better product.

bro67 · 18 Apr 2017

yuljk said:

Do a netstat -an on the machine you intend to RDP to - do you see TCP 3389 listening?

That is not going to help since they just got scammed.

yuljk · 18 Apr 2017

He didn't mention anywhere in the post that he actually paid the scammer...

Ouch

indianacarnie · 18 Apr 2017

Welcome to the forums TerryCox!

Yeah.... looks like a scam to me. If you paid anything , cancel it if you can. If not...... then DON'T. If you receive another call, either hang up or...lol, have some fun with them and tie up their line as long as you feel like. But under NO circumstances send them money! Since you provided no details I'm assuming your browser got hijacked. I get them all the time, just right click on the taskbar and in Task Manager just close the browser you're using. Yes, you'll have to start it back up (clean your cookies first!), but its nothing to really worry about. No matter how ominous it sounds.

bro67 · 18 Apr 2017

yuljk said:

He didn't mention anywhere in the post that he actually paid the scammer...
Ouch

They asked the OP to pay $499. They got taken by the fake Microsoft help number that is out there with different pages on Facebook and online. This is why this forum is here to save people from getting scammed if they come here first or one of the other help forums.

Mystere · 18 Apr 2017

bro67 said:

First off you need to know is that you just got scammed. Second is shut off that Credit Card or Debit Card and report the fraud to your bank to stop any monies that that group from India is trying to steal from you.

No one is going to do a virtual chat or call you about issues with Windows. As for RDC, Windows Pro has not had RDC secured on it for a long time, since it is one of those projects that Microsoft no longer worries about since companies like Teamviewer have created a better product.

Nothing you just said here is true.

1) MS does have an official tech support chat, you can find it in the Start Menu under "Get Help".

2) If the problem is deemed to be on your end, as in you don't know how to configure it, they WILL charge you for the support ticket. And a single support incident is in fact $499. See Professional Support Options

3) MS has not given up on RDP, and have made many many improvements to it in Windows 10, and in fact there hasn't been a security flaw in RDP in many years.

4) TeamViewer and other technologies are not better in most ways. The only nice feature is the ability to work around firewalls because it uses a man-in-the-middle server, which is also what makes TeamViewer a security nightmare, and why virtually every scam artist uses it. In fact, RDP is more efficient, supports UAC and Remote DirectX (called RemoteFX) and is used as the primary tool for Hyper-V enhanced sessions.

IsaacFL · 19 Apr 2017

TerryCox said:

I recently upgraded a Windows 10 Home system to Windows 10 Pro so I could connect to it from another Windows 10 Pro system. Both systems are in my workgroup, not on a domain, hardwired. I can RDC to a different computer in my home network with no problem. I get the standard 'Remote Desktop can't connect to the remote computer for one of these reasons' modal display. None of those reasons are true. Port 3389 is available. I can ping the computer both by name and IP address; I see it in File Explorer under Network and in the workgroup.

Starting in virtual chat, I got taken to a phone call in MS Support, from which I got escalated. Finally the lady I'm talking to tells me I'll need an engineer to call me back, but that it will cost me a minimum of $499.

Really?

Try using an Administrator Account first to login. They are given permission to remotely login. If that works then go to Control Panel\System and Security\System\Remote Settings\ and add user accounts. Which version of Windows 10 Pro are you trying to log in to?