Cannot connect two PCs on LAN

I have two laptops (one Dell and one HP) and one desktop in my home. Let's call the laptops D1 and H1 and the desktop we'll call DT1.

What works via Remote Desktop Connection:

Scendario #1 HP Desktop <-----> Dell Laptop (both ways)

Scendario #2 HP Desktop XXXXXX HP Laptop (does not work either direction)

Scendario #3 Dell Laptop XXXXXX HP Laptop (does not work either direction)

I know the problem is not with my Verizon FiOS Router because of Scenario #1. I've checked McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention and the traffic is being received and sent succcessfully from what I can tell. I've attached two screen shots that shows the logs.

If you need more info, please let me know.

 

what O/S you running on these Computers. and which flavour of each? basic, home, pro......

just found out today that win7 home premium does not have RDP in only out

 

The two laptops are Windows 7 Enterprise and the desktop is Windows 7 Home Premium. I can remote from the desktop to the Dell laptop, but not to the HP laptop. See the screen shots. I think that's where the key is.

 

I was working on a windows 7 home premium laptop yesterday.
Goto the system properties tab and look for RDP its just not there.
You can find RDP in your programmes list, you can open up the ports in firewall
Im not saying this is your problem but I think maybe you should look into it as im not sure how it is affecting your set up

 

It is there. Look here on your PC:

%windir%\system32\mstsc.exe

 

I can connect to a Dell laptop from my Win7 Home Premium Desktop, so the issue is not on the desktop side. It's on the HP laptop side.

 

ok im not sure if we are at cross purposes im gonna go back to the drawing board and build some VM's and see if i can reproduce your problem

 

Are you only within your own network? I've had alot of issues with McAfee blocking things even though it may say it isn't. I would try killing McAfee completely (so it isn't even running in the background) and try your tests again. At the very least that will eliminate McAfee.

The other thing I would check is to make sure the HP Laptop is set to receive RDP connections. From my knowledge, with home premium you can't RDP out, and you have to enable RDP in. Just check the simple stuff again.

Can you ping the Laptop from the other PC's? You will likely have to turn Windows Firewall off temporarily to test it.

 

the home versions of windows generally dont allow rdp into them, as thats a feature listed for there more pricey /business versions. However a home version can rdp to a machine running pro/business/ultimate versions with no issues.

 

Q: Are you only within your own network? I've had alot of issues with McAfee blocking things even though it may say it isn't. I would try killing McAfee completely (so it isn't even running in the background) and try your tests again. At the very least that will eliminate McAfee.
A: I am running within my own LAN. Unfortunately, I can't kill McAfee because it's my corporate laptop. Policy won't allow it.

Q: The other thing I would check is to make sure the HP Laptop is set to receive RDP connections. From my knowledge, with home premium you can't RDP out, and you have to enable RDP in. Just check the simple stuff again.
A: I've enabled that through Windows Firewall and Windows Defender and even McAfee but I'll check it again.

Q: Can you ping the Laptop from the other PC's? You will likely have to turn Windows Firewall off temporarily to test it.
A: I cannot ping the HP laptop from other PCs, no. It is blocked by McAfee.

 

Just to clarify, your running a corporate version of McAfee on a Windows 7 Home Premium Laptop?

Make sure RDP is enabled in System properties. Right Click on Computer-> Properties. On the Left Pane click "Remote Settings"

If that is enabled, I would really like to try and find a way to eliminate McAfee. If you start the computer up in Safe Mode with Networking, does that prevent McAfee from starting up? That will at least allow us to ensure there is connection between the 2 machines via ping.