TLDR: Remote Desktop (RDP) provides a thin client protocol for file redirection between client and server - providing a low CPU and bandwidth method of file transfer between networks -
MSTSC, Android, iOS, macOS and Web clients are supported. Tailscale provides additional multifactor authentication and Wireguard end to end encryption.
Most Home users heard some guy say RDP is not safe, but by default, RDP is set up with user level authentication for one user and limited to the local subnet - in fact it doesn’t open any ports to the internet unlike My Cloud Home for example which required UpNP and various ports to be opened. Tailscale also doesn’t require any ports to be opened in the router.
Network technology has advanced far beyond anything WDT had in the last few years and at a certain point it may seem like there is no point in buying a dedicated NAS type device for the home user.
Here is a method of using Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDP) Service and Tailscale to copy files with folders across different subnets (or Tailnets if you will), without ever using a server from a NAS provider such as Western Digital. Any network storage available to either the RDP client or server would be available for file processing between the two.
Requirements:
- Microsoft Windows Pro and up in the same subnet as the network storage device.
- Tailscale and its subnet router (if needed by the NAS).
Cost:
Free, you may already have an old Windows Pro OS. Many low power energy efficient business class laptops from the last 6 or more years from Dell or HP all have upgradeable Windows Pro and sometimes cost as little as $50 shipped. Even if only Windows Home is available, there are ways to run RDP server on the ‘Home’ version. Tailscale is a mesh VPN based on Wireguard, available for free when used as a personal service.
Availablility:
MSTSC, Android, iOS, macOS, Web client. Notice the Windows Store app does not provide drive storage redirection for security reasons.
There is nothing complicated about this, once connected from a recent version RDP client to a recent version of RDP server on the Win Pro, Ctrl-C copy from the originator and Ctrl-V in the destination any file or folder you wish.
The gif animation file in this link showed how the main desktop from subnet one has a folder with many subfolders and files is copied to a remote location on a second subnet on a different ISP. This is made securely with Wireguard end to end encryption with multi-factor authentication done prior to the copy. The two PCs are linked securely only after they have been credentialed by Tailscale multifactor authentication. This only has to be done once, although RDP required another administrator Windows local credential each time to log in.
Any NAS on the first subnet can be accessed by the RDP client on the second subnet and vice versa if the SMB Windows credential has allowed.
As you see, with a Windows desktop GUI like this to provision the share network storage, why would you need another NAS GUI to duplicate these file operations? Any automation that could be done on the Windows Desktop can be applied to the network storage available to Windows without complicated programming on the NAS itself.
RDP copy of folders with Tailscale magic DNS
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