Port Forwarding

With port forwarding, you can make ports on a cloud desktop accessible from your local network or the wider internet. It's frequently employed alongside the Remote Desktop Protocol.

This option is available across DaDesktop Course machines (which need a private server), DaDesktop For Work setups, and Standalone units. Be aware that the interface might look a bit different depending on the machine type.

Select Port Forwarding

Choose 'Advanced' and then 'Port Forwarding',

You can set up port forwarding with either automatic or manual allocation. Automatic allocation grabs the next free port on the server. For simplicity, auto allocation is usually the best way to go, but manual allocation lets you pick each external port yourself from the range 10000-65500 if needed. Any manual port forwards already in place are preserved and can be edited as you like.

Auto Allocation

In this screenshot, you see auto allocation, alongside a manual port forward that was already set up, using host port 11122 and VM port 22.

Port Forwarding Auto-Allocation

Manual Allocation

Here, port 11122 is forwarded for both TCP and UDP traffic to port 22 on the cloud desktop VM, for SSH access. If you need, you can select different UDP and TCP ports.

Manual Port forwarding

Example for Windows RDP

Below is an example using manual allocation, but of course you can also go with auto allocation.

1. Locate your DaDesktop machine, then click "Port forwarding". Define the TCP ports for your remote connection: specify your external port number and 3389 (e.g., 66666:3389). Make a note of the port number; if you forget it, just go back to Port forwarding and check it again.

RDP Port Forward Windows Example

2. Submit the configuration, then inside your Windows DaDesktop machine, set a password and press "Enable Remote Desktop".

Submit and set up a password inside your Windows DD machine

3. On your local Windows device, open Remote Desktop and enter the server name plus the TCP port. (In this case, with zh4cn, the address is zh4cn.npg.io:xxxxx). Under 'Show options' you can also adjust the remote desktop window resolution.

remote desktop window

3.1 When logging into your DaDesktop remote desktop, by default

"You should reset your username and password in the machine first."

Then proceed to connect to the remote desktop.

4. Now you'll have a remote desktop that leverages the DD template and your own device's sound card. You can also copy, paste, and output documents effortlessly. (The small window on the left shows the DD remote desktop with audio.)

window DD remote desktop with audio