This company has a limited number of VPN connections, so IT sets up a terminal server gateway to let some users remotely access their office PCs from home, reports a pilot fish there.

“This allows these users to securely remote into their local machines in the office and keeps the VPN open for other users,” fish says.

“The rollout is smooth. Users request remote access to their machines, and IT enables it. There is also a link on the IT website so users don’t need to know how to create a remote desktop connection.”

There are the usual complaints, but one staffer calls the help desk to say he gets an access-denied error when he tries to use the new connection.

Help desk tech checks the user’s permissions, settings, computer name, IP address, everything he can think of. Nothing appears amiss.

Finally, the tech asks what kind of PC the user is working on at home.

User responds, “I’m not at home, I’m in the office. I just wanted to test this before I get home.”

Sighs fish, “He was seeing the error because he was trying to remote to the machine he was currently using!”