Q: How can I remotely enable Remote Desktop Services on a remote server?

Need to remotely enable RDS on a server? Just a couple commands are all it takes.

John Savill

March 10, 2012

1 Min Read
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A: I recently needed to enable Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on a remote server. I used the process below to perform this remotely.

  1. Download PsExec from the Windows Sysinternals page at Microsoft's website and install it.

  2. Run the command below, changing the machine name for your remote machine. This sets the registry value, which enables and disables RDS connections:

psexec \remotemachine reg add "hklmsystemcurrentcontrolsetcontrolterminal server" /f /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0 

Now enable the firewall exceptions:

psexec \ remotemachine netsh firewall set service remoteadmin enablepsexec \ remotemachine netsh firewall set service remotedesktop enable 


You should now be able to remotely connect to the remote machine.

 

Read FAQs about Windows, virtualization, systems management, and more at John Savill's FAQs for Windows. 

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