WinAdmin: Remote Desktop on the iPhone

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Mobile

WinAdmin: Remote Desktop on the iPhone

by Todd Ritter Oct 17th 2008

As an iPhone user who works on Windows servers daily, I decided to purchase the WinAdmin application ($11.99) which promised to provide remote desktop connectivity from my iPhone to supported Windows operating systems (XP, Vista, 2003, 2008). So far the app has worked as advertised. I have a list of servers with all the necessary login information saved (name, IP address, username, password, screen resolution) so that I simply have to launch WinAdmin and touch a server name to be connected to a remote desktop session on the server.

Navigating the remote desktop screen simply requires a finger drag. To click, tap your finger once or twice (for single or double of course). To right-click, tap your finger, then tap again and hold. WinAdmin supports connecting to the console session, and it supports sending Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

I have tested all of the connection methods: internal WiFi, external WiFi with VPN, 3G with VPN, and Edge with VPN. All of the connections worked fine, but as expected connecting to our Cisco VPN over Edge caused a bit of latency in the RDP session in WinAdmin. However, the latency was not enough to make the program unusable by any means. Now I'm able to sit in traffic and reset Active Directory passwords, or drink coffee at Panera Bread while I add a printer to our print server.

Tags: iPhone, RDC, RDP, remote access, remote desktop, RemoteAccess, RemoteDesktop

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Josh Anderson said 2:59PM on 10-17-2008

Annoyingly, this isn't available in the UK app store.

And it's one of the very few that I'd be willing to pay for.

I hope it will be added soon.

DS said 6:00PM on 10-17-2008

Can you not circumvent this stupid nationalistic app store and download the app from somewhere like rapidshare and install it properly like any other software?

maybe you should have bought a nice Windows Mobile phone such as from HTC where you can run any app all by yourself. there are millions of WinMo apps out there.

Apple Appstore - like iTunes - is for ignorant people who prefer to spend their whole mediocre income on overpriced songs/apps they could download for free from rapidshare or for a 95% lower price from Alltunes.com. and without the DRM crap.

think before you buy.

Dectus said 4:01PM on 10-18-2008

Nothing easyer than that, I use "mocha vnc lite" to connect to my server and personal pc at home.
Free app, worldwide in the apple store, and no problems at all!

aristarkhos said 2:39AM on 10-20-2008

You have the time to sit at a coffee shop now, while you continue administering the network? My...the life of an netwk admin is getting better. ;)
Mocha VNC seems to be worth a try to see how it matches up.

Todd Ritter said 10:47AM on 10-20-2008

Ha, I wish. More like when I need to restart a service or move files after hours (so that I don't have to hear complaining), I can do it at my leisure at the coffee shop!

MochaVNC Lite does not support Ctrl+Alt+Del so it's basically worthless for a server environment (plus I'd have to install VNC on all of my servers).

aristarkhos said 3:54AM on 10-21-2008

Haha. you still have it better than the admins in india. :)
The complaining/whining/nagging remains the same.
Yes, VNC requires it to be installed on servers as well.
But it is freeeee. :)
Wonder why this VNC variant didnt come with ctrl alt del support...

chach said 7:10AM on 11-18-2008

Looks like WinAdmin is now available in the UK and Canadian App Stores!

Chach said 7:12AM on 11-18-2008

Looks like WinAdmin is now available in the UK and Canadian App Stores!

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