Introduction
Secure and anonymous access to the Internet is of concern for almost every user of mobile devices. And if for Android devices there are software solutions to organize such access via mobile operator’s network (3G), for iOS devices this option is not provided. In particular, setting up a proxy server on iPhone and iPad is available only for Wi-Fi connections, i.e. it is not possible to access the proxy server via 3G network if a Wi-Fi access point is unavailable. You can solve this problem by setting up RDP + socks proxy, i.e. by organizing access channel to the remote desktop on the remote server from your mobile device with iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Android. Any user with necessary skills in working with Windows operating system can organize such a connection.
What is RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) ?
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a remote desktop protocol invented by Microsoft to remote servers and computers from a desktop or mobile computer. From the practical point of view, this feature can be very useful for mobile device users who want to ensure a high level of security and anonymity or to bypass operators’ regional blocking of access to certain web resources. RDP allows you to completely hide the fact of using tunneling, that is, the ISP can not determine that you are using blocked web resources, and can not track your activity on the network.
Getting free RDP | How to get free RDP
To use RDP+socks-proxy tandem you need to rent a remote server with Windows operating system to which you will be connected from your mobile device and from which you will be remotely surfing the web. Below is an introductory list of providers where you can rent a server running on Windows:
- VPS.ua.
- Rusonyx
- Inferno Solutions
- 1Gb.ru
- Siteko.net.
If any of these resources do not work, or you want a more powerful server for high-performance tasks, you can find budget services, which for a small fee will give you permanent access to the server with the capacity you are interested.
After registering and paying for a package of services (for paid services), the provider gives the user remote access to the server. It is necessary to rent a server with Windows operating system, because the server version of Windows does not differ much from the usual version and does not require special knowledge for setting up RDP.
Setting up and connecting to RDP (Remote Desktop) on iPhone/iPad or Android
After registration and payment for package of services (for paid services), service provider gives user access to personal cabinet for managing specific settings of server, in which, among other information, specifies IP address of server. This IP address must be entered into the address bar of the RDP-client installed on the mobile device to connect to the remote server.
To do this:
- Install the RDP-client on your mobile device. The most convenient and stable RDP client is Microsoft Remote Desktop. This application is released by Microsoft and is available for download on App Store (for iOS) and GooglePlay (for Android). The app uses RemoteFX technology with gesture support for Windows on mobile devices, which makes it much easier to control your remote desktop from your mobile device screen. The app has the following features:
- Remote resource access via Remote Desktop Gateway
- Gesture-based multitouch control with RemoteFx technology
- secure connection to data and applications
- Easily manage all remote connections through Connection Center
- High-quality image and sound quality playback from a remote server on your mobile device
- Easily connect to external monitors and projectors for presentations.
- support for Azure RemoteApp.
2.Launch the application on your mobile device. To create a new connection, press the + button and select Add PC or Server.
- In the PC Name field, enter the previously obtained IP address of the remote server, and in the User Name field, select Add user account. In the window that appears, enter the user name and password to access the remote server. You can also configure additional settings in the Settings menu, such as screen resolution and zoom (available beginning with Windows 8), as well as the use of local storage. It is not necessary to configure additional settings.
4.Tap the Save button, then the icon of the newly created connection will appear in the main window of the program. Tap on it and the desktop of the remote server will appear on the screen of your mobile device.
- There are 2 types of cursor control in Microsoft Remote Desktop: virtual cursor, similar to Windows cursor, and usual screen touch like on smartphone. In the first case you control the mouse cursor by moving it to icons and launch the application with a double click, i.e. control the desktop in the same way as you would control it with the touchpad on a notebook. In the second case, the same taps are used as in iOS or Android, that is, double-clicking on the icon launches the application, and a long press brings up the context menu. Switching between modes is done by pressing the left menu button at the top of the screen, followed by pressing the bottom right button in the settings menu that opens.
6.To call the virtual keyboard press the appropriate icon at the top of the screen.
Configuring socks 5 proxy on remote desktop (RDP) in FireFox browser
- Connect to the remote server desktop according to the instructions in this manual.
Open a browser on the remote server, and download and install Firefox. 3.
- Once the installation is complete, launch Firefox on the remote desktop, open the Options panel, and go to the Options menu.
- Click on the “Advanced” tab, the “Network” tab, and click the “Settings” button.
- In the window that appears select the following settings:
- Manual proxy configuration.
- SOCKS v5. Enter the IP-address of proxy SOCKS, which we got at https://5socks.net (in our example 83.85.214.142)
- Enter the port number of the received proxy (in our example 58933)
- Enable SOCKS5, as well as “Remote DNS” (all DNS queries will be performed on the side of the socket server)
- Press “Ok”.
- The Firefox configuration is complete.
- Make sure that the proxy server is used. To do this, open Firefox on the remote server. go to http://www.ipleak.com/ and check your current IP address.
You can see in the screenshot that your computer’s network address matches the Dutch ip-address 83.85.214.142. Setting up a proxy for RDP in Firefox has been successfully completed !
Setting up socks 5 proxy on remote desktop (RDP) in the browser Internet Explorer
- Launch Internet Explorer on your remote desktop, go to the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”.
- Open the “Connections” tab and click on “LAN Settings…”. In the window that appears, click on “Use a proxy server for your LAN” and then click on “Advanced”.
- In the window that will open in the “Socks” field enter the IP-address of proxy SOCKS you got at https://5socks.net (in our case 83.85.214.142), and in the “Port” field enter the port number of proxy received (in our case 58933).
ATTENTION: specify IP-address and port only in line SOCKS. The other fields must be left empty.
Press OK in all open windows.
- The Internet Explorer setup is complete.
- Make sure that you are using a proxy server. To do this, open Internet Explorer on the remote desktop, click on the link http://www.ipleak.com/ and check your current IP address.
From the screenshot we can see that the visible network address of your computer corresponds to the Dutch ip-address 83.85.214.142. The RDP proxy setup in Internet Explorer is successfully completed
