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I have an Asus RT-AC5300 router. I have a Windows 10 PC, a Windows 2016 server machine, and an Android phone.

Using a remote desktop client on the phone, I can connect to both computers while on the same TCP subnet (i.e. via Wi-Fi). I can connect to the Windows 2016 Server machine from a remote location, by connecting to (e.g.) a.b.net:8389 because I have mapped virtual server TCP/UDP port 8389 in the router to port 3389 on the Windows 2016 machine's IP address.

However, I have also mapped the router's virtual server TCP/UDP port 8489 to port 3389 on the Windows 10 Pro machine's IP address - the same address I can use to connect while on Wi-Fi - and in the Advanced Firewall settings, I have enabled edge traversal for all RDP-related rules on all network types, but when I attempt to connect to a.b.net:8489, I get the same error as if I tried to connect to an invalid port on the router.

As far as I can tell, Port 8489 on the router is not used for any other service/mapping.

How can I connect my phone directly to the Windows 10 Pro machine's Remote Desktop service?

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Your question intrigued me, so I'm disappointed you didn't get a direct answer. I downloaded the manual for your router and read it. I have a number of thoughts to share with you and I'm hoping one of them hits the nail on the head.

I manage several routers for different companies so I tried your scenario on a commercial (Watchguard) router. I was able to make it work. But when I tried the same scenario on a personal home type router(a Netgear Nighthawk) i was not successful. I witnessed the same problem as you describe. My gut feeling here is that home routers wont allow the same service, in this case RDP, to be used twice for a given WAN IP Address. In other words, you can use the service and route it to one device only, regardless of incoming port number. After I removed the working port forwarding(in your case port 8389) the non-working forwarding(in your case port 8489) began working. Try that, if you haven't already. I think it will prove my point. If it does, then the answer to your question is your router doesn't support it.

Something else; your router logs port forwarding. You should be able to find some answers in the logs about what is going on. Go to Advanced settings/system logs/port forwarding.

Another suggestion; You have a server, you don't say what it's purpose is, but if it is not setup as a domain controller then you could set it up as a VPN server/gateway. VPN in, establish a connection, and then access either device with RDP. Make sure VPN Passthrough is enabled on the router.

I hope this answers your question, or at least sends you down the right road to success. Good luck.

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  • I have looked at my port forwarding table, and this router seems quite capable of routing to the same port on multiple PCs. For example, I have two different incoming ports mapped to port 80 on two different machines, as well as two different incoming ports mapped to Minecraft servers with the same port on different machines. Just to make sure, I changed the incoming RDP port and changed the routing to use the new port, but can still only connect via wifi and not through the internet.
    – Monty Wild
    Commented Jan 4, 2021 at 9:15

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