I am trying to get my Linux UBUNTU workstation connected via rdesktop ( USING RDP version 5 ) to a RDC connection ( with lowered ENCRYPTION to allow for version 5 ) on a Virtual Vista OS which is idling on a system running VirtualPC 2007 to run Vista on its native XP Pro Sp2 OS.

Here is the problem, other than the fact that I am still forced to use Windows...ha ha

Other windows boxes can connect fine to the vitual vista system by system name and they are all on different domains, but same hard wired network. So this tells me that its not a firewall ISSUE etc.

From Linux when trying to connect to the Vista system by system name I get an error message of " ERROR - Unable to resolve host ". I then ran IPconfig from the cmd prompt from within the Virtual Vista environment and got an IP of 192.168.5.139, so I thought maybe I could connect to the Virtual Vista by IP.

But that wouldnt work, because the local RDP service of the XP Pro system says a-ha you want to connect to me at 192.168.5.139 and it never gets tot he Virtual Vista RDC. If I shut off the RDP service on the XP Pro box, I can get to the Virtual Vista via IP, but I need both the XP and Vista environments available to me through Linux remote desktop service.

SO...what I am trying to figure out is how to gain access to the Windows XP Pro and Vista systems that are sharing a single NIC with IP of 192.168.5.139 without having to disable the XP Pro native OS RDP service for the Virtual Vista OS RDC service to connect via rdesktop from Linux.

It seems as though if I could get the Linux system to resolve by name to the Virtual Vista I would be all set. But I am not sure how to resove this. In total desperation I could change the local domain of the Linux system to match the Vista. Havent tried that yet and can give it a try... Maybe if they are matched local domains of workgroup for example Linux will be able to resolve the Windows Vista system by name.

Any suggestions???