Windows Vista Remote Desktop (RDP/RDC) - Enabling with Hack

So, as you probably know, Windows Vista HAS REMOTE DESKTOP, it's just hidden away and disabled to make you need to buy an upgraded version like Business or Ultimate.  Isn't that just dandy?  Well screw that!

To enable Remote Desktop in Windows Vista there are only really 3 things you need to do on the Vista computer(s).

1) Run a batch (right click and run as administrator) program that will hack your windows registry and terminal services (termsrv) to enable Windows Remote Desktop... Get one and run the one that matches the name of your OS (ie: premium.bat):

http://fransmayra.fi/2007/08/30/enable-remote-desktop-connection-on-vista-home-premium/ <-- This one worked for me for Vista SP1 and SP2!

http://andrewblock.net/?p=411  <-- This one did not work for me for SP2, using the 1st batch again did (same author, older version... see explanation below).

2) Open Remote Settings from your Right Click on Computer > Properties  window and enable remote access checkbox(es) on the Remote tab

3) Open Windows Firewall advanced settings and add port 3389 (name it "opens remote desktop" or something so you can remember which setting blocks this port if you want to turn it off in the future)

Wa-la!

Connect to your computer now from any other computer on the network by computer name and use it as if you were sitting in front of it.

 WARNING:  Opening ports on your computer all willy-nilly is a security risk.  If you do this, make sure you're using an updated virus scanner!  And, if you're not going to be using Remote Desktop at all, close it / remove the port just to be safe :)

COMMON ISSUE TO LOOK OUT FOR:

If yours does not work, it may be related to Windows Updates in Service Pack 2 (SP2) undoing / overwriting the hacked Terminal Services DLL (termsrv).  After updating windows my RDP would seemingly connect to my other PC, but once I entered the correct user name and password the buttons would go disabled and then just fade back in a couple seconds later - no error message, no warning, no nothing!  I have not found the reason for this but I can say that when I upgraded Windows to SP2 with Windows Update, this is when RDP started doing this and not working.  So, after a MILLION settings changes and troubleshootings, and re-installing Andrew Block's SP2 RDP Hack for Windows Vista, the one thing that finally got it to work was to run this original SP1 terminal services hack (linked above).  So, either running the original terminal services hack works for both SP1 and SP2, or running Andrews SP2 hack followed by the original gets it to work... I'm not 100% sure why or how, but it's definitely working for me now!

PS: If you download the ZIP from Andrew Block's site, it may come with x86 and x64 folders... x86 is 32-bit Windowsm and x64 is 64-bit Windows (if you don't know and you don't have a real beefy power PC, you probably have 32 bit)

Update:  After upgrading my MacBook Pro running Windows Vista Home Premium to SP2, the RDP service stopped working.  I re-ran the original termsrv_sp1.zip premium.bat hack and it's working again just fine.  :)   Thanks to Andrew Block for this god-send of a fix-it file.

Posted on Wed, August 18, 2010 by OGM filed under

13 comments (Add your own)

1. Sian davis wrote:
After hours of searching to find this solution I finally got it sorted.
Thanks,

Thu, December 16, 2010 @ 10:58 PM

2. L. Lau wrote:
thanks for the steps. now I can remote desktop into my PC running Vista Home Premium.

Mon, February 21, 2011 @ 2:42 PM

3. Sean wrote:
Awesome, glad to hear it. I just did it on another macbook pro running windows and it worked again.

Fri, March 4, 2011 @ 5:15 AM

4. Gene S wrote:
Tried the above suggestion of running patch for SP2 and no luck followed by patch for SP1. Still no luck.

Terminal service is always running so termsrv.dll cannot be copied over.
Also port 3389 never listening!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sat, April 16, 2011 @ 5:39 PM

5. Ed wrote:
I too am having the same problem - followed everything to the letter but port 3389 never listens!

Thanks in advance for any help - and thank you for all the info.

--

Here's the log:

Source Folder is C:\Users\ed\Downloads\termsrv\
Taking ownership of C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll

SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll" now owned by th
e administrators group.
Granting Administrators rights
processed file: C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll
Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files
Stopping Terminal Services
The Terminal Services service is stopping.
The Terminal Services service was stopped successfully.

1 file(s) copied.
Copying C:\Users\ed\Downloads\termsrv\termsrv.dll to C:\Windows\System32\
1 file(s) copied.
Importing Registry Keys
Enabling RDP
The operation completed successfully.
Setting fSingleSessionPerUser to 1
The operation completed successfully.
Setting LimitBlankPasswordUser to 1
The operation completed successfully.
Configuring Remote Desktop in Windows Firewall

Starting Terminal Services
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

Pausing 5 seconds to give service time to start listening
Checking if Service is listening on port 3389
Service is not listening
Done
Press any key to continue . . .

Wed, April 27, 2011 @ 2:00 PM

6. SeanP wrote:
Looks like it installed correctly - what version of Windows are you on? Maybe try right clicking the installer and "Run as Administrator" if it's not able to stop terminal services? Also, if it does seem to install correctly but the port does not listen, it might be your settings in Windows firewall - you need to go into your Windows settings and allow that port to be opened, and name it as I mentioned in the article, steps 2 and 3. If you're still stumped, try Andrew Block's site for help... Good luck!

Wed, April 27, 2011 @ 3:38 PM

7. Ed wrote:
Hi Sean, thanks for the response. Have done all of that and still no luck. Very weird. I am on Vista Home Premium.

Thu, April 28, 2011 @ 2:19 AM

8. Sharky wrote:
Thank you so much for this arictle, it saved me time!

Wed, December 7, 2011 @ 2:23 AM

9. Edna wrote:
please someone help me.. I am running windows vista home premium and i have followed all of the procedure on this link.. but still having problem..

Pls see error

Wed, December 21, 2011 @ 7:07 PM

10. Edna wrote:
Source Folder is C:\Users\Cargullo\Downloads\remotedesktop_vista_sp1\rdp_vista_s
p1\RDP Vista x64 SP1\
Taking ownership of C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll

SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll" now owned by th
e administrators group.
Granting Administrators rights
processed file: C:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll
Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files
Stopping Terminal Services
System error 1060 has occurred.

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.

1 file(s) copied.
Copying C:\Users\Cargullo\Downloads\remotedesktop_vista_sp1\rdp_vista_sp1\RDP Vi
sta x64 SP1\termsrv.dll to C:\Windows\System32\
1 file(s) copied.
Copying C:\Users\Cargullo\Downloads\remotedesktop_vista_sp1\rdp_vista_sp1\RDP Vi
sta x64 SP1\rdpclip.exe to C:\Windows\System32\
1 file(s) copied.
Importing Registry Keys
Enabling RDP
The operation completed successfully.
Setting fSingleSessionPerUser to 0
The operation completed successfully.
Setting LimitBlankPasswordUser to 0
The operation completed successfully.
Configuring Remote Desktop in Windows Firewall
Ok.


Starting Terminal Services
The service name is invalid.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2185.

Pausing 5 seconds to give service time to start listening
Checking if Service is listening on port 3389
Service is not listening
Done
Press any key to continue . . .

Wed, December 21, 2011 @ 7:07 PM

11. Sean P wrote:
Looks like the install worked, have you tried restarting your computer and connecting via RDP now?

If you can't get it to work, I highly recommend this RDP service:

http://www.logmein.com

I have been using it myself for a year now, and is worth every penny. You can access your computer remotely from anywhere via web browser, and you can even copy and paste files from the remote computer to your desktop with very fast transfer speeds. It's really been a life saver for me more than once when RDP would not work.

Wed, December 28, 2011 @ 2:54 PM

12. nelson wrote:
Here's a noob question. Does it work on Home Basic?

Thu, January 12, 2012 @ 8:07 PM

13. Sean P wrote:
Should work for Vista Home Basic, yeah, not sure about Windows 7+.

Fri, January 13, 2012 @ 6:33 PM

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