Remote Access error: not all services are available

I have a friend that I would like to ask for assistance and I was told that Windows XP has the remote access capability. We both have Windows XP which I think was the only requirement.

I have been trying to get it to work and not sure why it's not but I do have a message in my Windows Messenger that says that not all services are available and when I click on that there is a message that says Communication Services are temporary not available and to try later. I've had this message for a while.

Is there something wrong or do I need to do something else?

Thanks.

 

Using Remote Assistance to Get Help When You Need It shows several ways of starting an RA session. You might want to try the email one.

And some detail here on how to deal with routers/firewalls and other such items are Here.

If the above doesn't get you fixed up, we can deal with specific issues but I think there should be enough info there to allow you to get your RA sessions going.

 

Yes and no. The computer that is asking for assistance can be either XP Home or Pro version. The computer that is assisting has to be the Pro version.

 

It seems that I'm doing everything as outlined in your instructions and it's still not working.

I do have an blue exclamation mark in my Windows Messenger that says " You are not signed in to all services ". When I click on that I get a message saying " Signing into Communication Service failed because this service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

This message has been there for 2 days but I suspect that could be causing my problem with connecting with remote assistance. Any ideas or suggestions??

Thanks.

 

Do you have a .net passport? If so, try changing the login type to .net passport. In messenger, click tools>options>accounts and where it says sign in first with this account, tick .net passport. Then, at the bottom of the window you might want to also uncheck the line that says "my contacts include users of a communications service ". You can go here to find out what a communications service is. I don't know if this will help or not but I know that if I try to sign on using the communication service I get the exact same error. Makes sense as I'm not part of a communications service.

 

Zander,

Thank you. The blue exclamation mark is gone and I don't get that communication service error any more.

From what I read in the article you suggested I don't need this for my Remote Access connect so I'm back to square one in that respect.

I will have to try it later with my friend when he signs in to see if it works now with this change. I'm not sure if that was the cause or if it's something else but will keep you posted as it may help someone else.

Many thanks!!

 

You're welcome. If you have troubles after this be sure to post back. Don't know if I can help anymore or not but I suspect Newt or somebody else will have some things for you to try.

 

Remote Assistance...

Anne...

My brother and I bought my mother WinXP home mainly just for this reason...There were a few more but this was the main one. She lives almost 3 hours away and when she needs help we use the Remote assistance via e-mail method. It has helped out on a few occasions.

Couple more links for RA...
- http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q306757 - MS Page
- http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/winxp_remote_assistance.htm - Good page...has step by step with pics (got my mother to use this instruction)

 

Dobhar,

Thank you for the links. I have read them and am waiting to contact my friend to re-try the Remote Access to see if it works now. I will keep you posted on my progress but I need to wait for my friend to become available again.

Many thanks.

 

Software firewalls like Norton Internet Security will wreak havoc on this process.

 

If you use messenger to invite the person it should work fine. My daughter uses Zone Alarm (she's also behind a router) and I just connected to hers on Sunday night. She used messenger to invite me to help. The firewall will accept (did accept) my attempt to connect to her because it was requested by her originally. I suspect it would probably be a different story using an email to invite somebody.

 

RA works fine with NIS 2003. Check in Admin Tools> Services to make sure all the necessary permissions are enabled.

Johanna