Install and Enable Remote Desktop in Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Home Edition (HE) does not come with or support Remote Desktop, or Terminal Services feature. There is Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client which allows user to connect to remote host, but now accepting any remote desktop connection to the Windows XP Home PC. However, there is way to install and enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in Windows XP using the trick below.
Note that if you just want to be able to remote control the desktop of the computer running on Windows XP Home Edition, it may be easier and wiser to use the free VNC as alternative instead. One such VNC server and client is UltraVNC.
To run Remote Desktop Terminal Services (server component) in Windows XP Home Edition, the operating system must first made to recognize itself as Windows XP Professional Edition. To do so, follow the guide to convert Windows XP Home to Windows XP Professional.
Confirm that the OS is now Windows XP Professional Edition by going to System Properties, by right clicking on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. Then download and install DevCon (direct download link to devcon.exe), a command-line utility functions as an alternative to Device Manager.
devcon.exe is a self-extractor executable. Execute “devcon.exe” and choose a folder to unpack the content. devcon.exe will create two folders inside the selected path – i386 and ia64.
Open a command prompt window (Cmd), and the change directory into the i386 folder extracted by DevCon. Then run the following command to reinstall rdpdr driver:
devcon.exe -r install %windir%\inf\machine.inf root\rdpdr
Restart the computer after running the command.
At this stage, Windows XP ‘Professional’ which is converted still does not have the necessary Terminal Services related settings in the registry to run the Remote Desktop. To reinstall and enable Terminal Services in Windows XP Home turned Professional OS, download and run the enable_tsxp.bat batch script (also support enable TS in Windows 2000), which will create a .reg file to merge the required Terminal Services values to registry and bootlog. Reboot after patching the registry.
After reboot, the Terminal Services is running and ready to accept incoming Remote Desktop Connection session. To verify the Terminal Services is actually running, go to Control Panel -> Administrator Tools -> Services, and locate the “Terminal Services” entry. If the service is not started, start it manually. There won’t be a “Remote” tab in System Properties, and ensure that the port 3389 (the default port for Remote Desktop) is open in firewall.
Sometimes, it may be useful to patch termsrv.dll with a cracked version which allows multiple RDC sessions and users to fix some problems such as disconnection issue. It’s also good for testing by allowing connect remote desktop to localhost.
Note that the registry settings enable the automatic logon feature, where the system will auto login administrator on local console on every system startup without prompting for password, nor allowing user to select account to log on. To disable this feature, run Registry Editor (regedit), and navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Change the value data for “AutoAdminLogin” from “1″ to “0″.
Related Articles
- Turn On or Enable Remote Desktop on Windows Vista
- Enable Multiple Concurrent Remote Desktop Connections or Sessions in Windows XP
- Freeware to Turn On and Enable Remote Desktop on Another Computer Remotely
- How to Remotely Enable Remote Desktop (Terminal Services or RDP) via Registry in Windows 2000/XP/2000/Vista/2008
- Trick to Enable and Allow Windows XP and Vista Remote Desktop Login Without Password (or With Blank Null Password)
- Easily Maintain Multiple Remote Desktop Connections with visionapp Remote Desktop (vRD)
- Connect to Remote Computer using Specific Non Standard Port using Remote Desktop Connection Client
- Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) Client 6.0 for Windows XP and 2003
- Workaround for Remote Desktop Client to Connect to Localhost (Local Terminal Server Service)
- How to Remote Desktop to Connect And Access Console Mode Session
Entries (RSS)
October 29th, 2009 03:03
I had a similar problem where I don’t see the remote tab under MyComputer Properties to allow users to connect remotely to this computer. Any suggestions?
Also seeems like alot of issues with updates. I just completed the steps and hope I don’t have issues.
October 3rd, 2009 09:38
“Windows XP Home Edition (HE) does not come with or support Remote Desktop, or Terminal Services feature”
Why does everyone keep saying that? I have Windows XP home, which I just installed fresh from the OEM disk, and added all updates. I have Terminal Services running right now.
I’m thinking it got included in one of the Service Packs or updates, and nobody’s bothered to notice.
Now, you are right that Remote Desktop doesn’t exist, so you’re guide isn’t wrong. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t use a little update in that first sentence.
September 30th, 2009 06:22
I can connect to my computer within my home network however how can you connect to it outside your network without knowing the settings which are seen in the remote tab in system?
September 27th, 2009 23:23
CLR ram temp
dump kernel
Run shutdown /s
clr ram
Shutdown
Admin logoff
September 27th, 2009 19:24
[...] However searching for something totally un-related, I found a procedure that did exactly what I needed. This does not mean you instantly have things such as remote desktop etc, for that you need to do further hacking. For more information on that see this article. [...]
September 1st, 2009 21:32
I maked all of steps besides this.
Sometimes, it may be useful to patch termsrv.dll with a cracked version which allows multiple RDC sessions and users to fix some problems such as disconnection issue. It’s also good for testing by allowing connect remote desktop to localhost.
But in Properties ii haven’t got tab Remote desktop…How i can connect my Pda to PC?
September 1st, 2009 03:22
If you want to go back to xp home from xp pro you can try System restore…it worked for me..and then the WGA software update was not installed.
Also, instead of doing this you can use windows live mesh ….its free and it has remote desktop facility (though not exactly same as regular remote desktop – for example sound does not work).
http://www.mesh.com
August 21st, 2009 07:03
How do I restrict user who login using rdp? No RDP policies.
August 14th, 2009 23:01
thanks. this works really well along with the hack for xp Pro saved a lot of bother reinstalling Windows.
August 11th, 2009 10:02
hi my pals,
I don’t know how to change into the i386 folder extracted by Devcon. Could you, pals, show me how to do it.
best regards
August 10th, 2009 04:36
Hello,
I just don’t understand this part of the tut:
Open a command prompt window (Cmd), and the change directory into the i386 folder extracted by DevCon. Then run the following command to reinstall rdpdr driver:
devcon.exe -r install %windir%\inf\machine.inf root\rdpdr
Can somebody explain this to me step by step?
Thank you,
Omni
July 23rd, 2009 03:07
Thanks for posting this, saved me a lot of work with installing XP Pro
July 22nd, 2009 10:18
Wow, it worked. Thank you sooo very much.
DWORD Blank and all that, it wasn’t hard to figure it out. If in doubt right click.
Thanks again.
July 2nd, 2009 08:00
if the devcon.exe link not working for you use this http://web.archive.org/web/20070403210840/http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/1/f/11f7dd10-272d-4cd2-896f-9ce67f3e0240/devcon.exe
June 17th, 2009 12:42
[...] that old installation of XP home that wish to connect to it via RDP, never fear. You can actually tweak your Home install into something that will solve this issue [...]
May 28th, 2009 04:43
I followed the steps but can’t bring my local printer to the computer i am accessing remotly…
The conversion of Home to Pro worked, the installation of devcon.exe worked, and the terminal services is set to “started” (even tho when i clicked on enable_tsxp.bat the cmd window popped up, was blank, than disappeared about 10 seconds later without any text appearing on it). I restarted my computer after every step…
So i can go on remote desktop and but I can’t print on my local printer… help anyone ?
Thanks,
Gabriel
May 15th, 2009 16:32
[...] http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/14/install-and-enable-remote-desktop-in-windows-xp-home-editio... [...]
May 14th, 2009 08:29
I suggest that this entire posting be deleted.
Changing XP Home to Professional will make the Windows Genuine Advantage tool detect a change in the OS and lock the user out of Windows,
PLEASE AT LEAST ADD A BIG WARNING.
April 22nd, 2009 13:23
what a great post
April 11th, 2009 10:46
Go download UltraVNC and leave this alone, it will work just as good as Remote Desktop and won’t hose your SP3 genuine advantage either.
April 7th, 2009 15:20
when i try stat the terminal services after completing everything it throws an error saying
“Could not start terminal services on local computer. Error 126: the specified module could not be found” can someone please help me
April 4th, 2009 01:42
[...] Re: How do I access a PC on a network from another ? Instructions for Windows Vista (it’s built in): Turn on Remote Desktop in Windows Vista :: the How-To Geek For XP Pro: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d…dclientdl.mspx XP Home (a little trickier): Install and Enable Remote Desktop in Windows XP Home Edition My Digital Life [...]
March 25th, 2009 19:44
I tried this on XP Home (SP3) with no luck. Went through the whole thing and still cannot remote in to the PC.
I’m hoping the Home>Pro conversion won’t screw with getting updates.
I’m also hoping that, at least, the Home>Pro conv will let me do a couple of other things that I have not been able to, up to now. Will let you know.
March 21st, 2009 22:06
“Sometimes, it may be useful to patch termsrv.dll with a cracked version which allows multiple RDC sessions and users to fix some problems such as disconnection issue. It’s also good for testing by allowing connect remote desktop to localhost.”
Has anybody tried this? Does it work? I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, but I couldn’t manage to make it work. First thing I had to do was “install” gpedit.msc – I took the necessary files directly from XP Pro installation CD, so I can run gpedit.msc and set “Limit Number of Connections” required in step 9. Nevertheless, I cannot simultaneously work on that computer and access it through RDC – disconection issue remains. I don’t know if it makes any difference, but I use Czech version of XP HE (so I possibly need to manually patch czech termsrv.dll). Can anybody help me please, or at least let me know if it works on english/non-english XP HE?
March 13th, 2009 05:54
Nice tutorial, appreciated.
February 26th, 2009 04:47
How do you disable the feature disabling logon with no password??
February 11th, 2009 07:25
hoping my experiment will have a good result:)
January 30th, 2009 08:51
Does this work with XP SP3?
January 6th, 2009 01:54
Hello,
I manage to go to microsoft update site, but I don’t see where it tells me if I have a home or pro xp version.
WGA notification is installed, and I have any problem.
January 5th, 2009 16:02
Thierry, what happens when you run Microsoft update? Does it recognize your machine as XP Pro or Home? http://update.microsoft.com
January 3rd, 2009 13:06
Hello,
I tried that and it works perfectly.
It’s easy to undo the part “Convert and Upgrade Windows XP Home to Professional Without Reinstalling”, I made a backup of that branch of registry.
But do you know how to desinstall this part in case of possible problems ?
Specially for devcon.exe line and sysocmgr of the bat script.
I forgot to make a save of this part of registry but I think it’s easy to compare with another Windows XP home unpatch.
Thanks a lot
December 30th, 2008 21:02
Here is a batch contents in case somebody has similar problems I had while trying download the file (hope blog engine will not spoil it):
@echo off
echo Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00> C:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermService]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “Start”=dword:00000002>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “AllowTSConnections”=dword:00000001>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “fDenyTSConnections”=dword:00000000>> c:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “fAllowToGetHelp”=dword:00000001>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “AllowMultipleTSSessions”=dword:00000001>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]>> C:\TSXP.reg
echo “AutoAdminLogon”=”1″>> C:\TSXP.reg
%windir%\regedit.exe /S C:\TSXP.reg
echo [Components] > c:\bootlog~.txt
echo TSEnabled = on >> c:\bootlog~.txt
sysocmgr /i:%windir%\inf\sysoc.inf /u:c:\bootlog~.txt /q
DEL /Q C:\TSXP.reg
DEL /Q C:\bootlog~.txt
exit
December 28th, 2008 16:33
“Jaadu RDP currently does not support Microsoft’s Terminal Services Gateway.”
???
December 28th, 2008 16:31
http://www.jaadurdp.com/xp
Any way to emulate the settings they want here? I followed the directions written above and when I try to launch the RDP connect program I get a “No RDP server found on port 5900″.
Thanks.
December 28th, 2008 16:00
The remote desktop feature worked great in XP Home but unfortunately I was also bitten by the licensing issue and now Windows will not load. It keeps saying there is a licensing issue. I tried to back my way out by undoing all of the registry keys, but to no avail.
The hard drive in question has a configuration that takes days to replicate so I’ve just set it aside for now in hopes that someone will be able to list a clear way to back out of the procedure.
I’m not blaming any one by myself because the remote desktop feature did work well for a while, but something happened and now my windows configuration is locked. Any ideas anyone?
Thanks, Chuck
December 27th, 2008 21:14
[...] instructions for retrofitting Terminal server to Windows XP Home are here. This enables Remote Desktop to that [...]
December 22nd, 2008 18:52
This was the most absurd thing I’d ever done to my computer. I owned a genuine windows XP Home ed. for two years. After I changed it to Professional using your code, windows updated itself and Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage software poped up. Now it says that my windows is NOT genuine. I can’t get rid of this junk. Windows Restore does not work. I have to reinstall my windows. I’m so frutrated. and your enable_tsxp.bat file is broken. THIS IS RETARDED.
November 26th, 2008 04:40
If you make your XP Home think that it is XP Pro, what happens when it tries to download the updates and such? Won’t this cause conflicts in XP’s already crash-prone software?
November 25th, 2008 22:45
how do i merge the i386 into the cmd (command prompt)?
November 23rd, 2008 02:30
when i open i386 the command prompt opens then quickly goes away please help!!!!!!
November 20th, 2008 11:23
Hey Thanks This Helped Me ALOT.
i now use it all the time. (RDC.)
Ur Really Helpful!
November 14th, 2008 21:17
[...] folks over at My Digital Life have a blog post that explains how to install the necessary files for Terminal Services and trick the OS so Windows [...]
November 11th, 2008 23:07
Thanks a loot
i just needed this
after hours i got it
thanks once more
November 3rd, 2008 07:53
Works great(just working remotely at this time).The only problem was that i had to create myself a password for my account(i had it blank), didn’t work without it.
November 2nd, 2008 20:39
A mirror for enable_tsxp.bat is here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/159921999/enable_tsxp.zip
November 2nd, 2008 18:51
I can’t reach the websites for enable_tsxp.bat, for an example. Does anyone else have a mirrored site or any information regarding it?
November 2nd, 2008 12:36
Good tips, liked it.
SpikeX is dead wrong, shared folders and printers are unaffected. I wish people would research what they’re talking about before spouting off at the mouth.
November 2nd, 2008 04:38
I used the above process and it worked great… cool stuff. Thanks!
I also validated my Windows and it checked out just fine.
I don’t know what the person above means by breaking shared folders though, that’s not true. I’m looking at files in, viewing pictures from, and listening to music in a shared folder right now. My shared printer is also unaffected.
November 2nd, 2008 02:39
vorrei sapere come fare per inserire nella barra degli strumenti l’icona del desktop al fine di richiamarlo anche quando sono sono su internet ovvero sto lavorando su file.
grazie.
October 30th, 2008 22:05
Has anyone else experienced this issue that SpikeX is experiencing? I haven’t tried this myself yet, but breaking Windows SMB is a big deal, probably a deal killer on many computers.
October 21st, 2008 17:55
This will BREAK any Windows SMB you might want (Microsoft File and Printer Sharing).
Basically, with this hack, forget about ever sharing a folder or a printer. It breaks it.
October 14th, 2008 00:32
Thanks for the guide. I completed it but i can’t find my username and password. Where can i fing them? Also how can i change them? Thanks!
October 9th, 2008 11:10
worked perfectly.
Dont have to hookup the monitor and keyboard for my Asus Eee notebook anymore
Cheers
October 7th, 2008 12:32
For some reson my MS Acces web applications stopped working. I am not able to link the webpage to the database. How can I get it work again. I re-installed Office XP, but it didn´t fix it.
By the way, the RDC works fine. Thanks
How do I get MS Access to work again?
Regards,
October 5th, 2008 18:49
Wow….works great..well done you big brained person.
September 29th, 2008 03:54
pow OLHA sÓ eu QUERIA saber o numero da chave de ativação do windows
pq eu naum to consegindoooo ativar
me respondeeeee
VLW
aew GALERA da VJ
amoo VCS
September 7th, 2008 07:15
Thanks for that.
Question: Does anyone know how this affects the Windows Authentication tool? Considering that the system thinks it is Windows XP Professional with a XP Home license key. Does it invalidate (e.g. the next time you try a Windows update, it will say you are running an illegal copy?
August 20th, 2008 10:28
Doesn’t work for me. Is there a way to undo all the steps above? Is it a good idea?
July 23rd, 2008 06:55
succhia succhia …
July 16th, 2008 23:23
[...] Windows XP Professional that Windows XP Home lacks of, such as Remote Desktop Server (see guide to install Remote Desktop on XP Home) and Group Policy Editor (GPedit) utility tools, which has been removed on Windows XP Home edition. [...]
July 16th, 2008 21:57
Well, that tweak works great but how to turn back to home edition. Is there any chance ?
July 6th, 2008 18:32
@DJML
You have to give it a lot of time. It took me about 15 minutes before I got an acknowledgement that it was ready to download.
Also, I followed your steps and while running enable_tsxp.bat, the bat file couldn’t find zclientm.exe on the xp home cd. This is a problem on my end, I think. This has happened before where the bat file was unable to find a file on the xp home cd. Any suggestions?
June 29th, 2008 00:21
The link to enable_tsxp.bat takes me to a download site, but the download isn’t working. Any help?
June 18th, 2008 17:28
[...] Via | Tip and Trick [...]
June 16th, 2008 16:00
[...] Via | Tip and Trick [...]
June 15th, 2008 15:17
[...] Windows XP Professional that Windows XP Home lacks of, such as Remote Desktop Server (see guide to install Remote Desktop on XP Home) and Group Policy Editor (GPedit) utility tools, which has been removed on Windows XP Home edition. [...]
June 14th, 2008 00:19
[...] Windows XP Professional that Windows XP Home lacks of, such as Remote Desktop Server (see guide to install Remote Desktop on XP Home) and Group Policy Editor (GPedit) utility tools, which has been removed on Windows XP Home edition. [...]