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)
December 15th, 2009 15:42
So, I went through all the steps here, and had no success. As of right now, however, I have full remote access to my XP Professional (formerly Home) Edition from my iPhone.
Following a tip from another site, I made my way to Control Panel>Security Center>Manage security settings for: Windows Firewall>Exceptions. The little box next to “Remote Desktop” was unchecked. I clicked the box, clicked “Ok”, and it was all gravy…
Hope this helps someone out there.
n.
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... [...]