Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop

This blog explains how to use Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop. The Remote Desktop technology allows a user to connect remotely to a Windows server using a thin client to display the Windows graphical user interface (GUI). In Windows 2008 Server, Terninal Services runs on the remote system and the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client (formerly called Terminal Services Client) runs on the local system. Terminal Services can be run in two different modes – “Administration” or “Virtual Session”. “Administration mode” enables full administration functionality and is equivalent to working locally on the system’s console. “Virtual session mode” has more limitations such as the restriction of not being able to install applications and not seeing console notification messages. Some applications are not Terminal Services aware and display warnings/errors only in the console session.

Additionally, when Terminal Services is installed, all client connections need a Terminal Services Client Access License (CAL). Remote Desktop used for Administration gives you 2 free sessions (no need for licenses). Unfortunately, you cannot use the normal console for an extra free session; there are some restrictions put in place and only a maximimum of two administrators can be logged on simultaneously. So, one can log on remotely and one locally or both can log on remotely.

The first stepp is to navigate to “All Programs” -> “Administrative Tools” -> “Server Manager” on the Windows Server 2008 machine.

You should now see the below dialog window.
Next click on the “Configure Remote Desktop” link on the right of the dialog window. Select the “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)” radio button and click “OK”.
If you like you can connect with the more secure option or even select specific users who can connect. I am not going to step through these different options. We do not need to add users to make this work because the “Administrator” user already has access. That’s it! You’re all setup on the server.

On the client machine (I’m using Windows XP), just navigate to “Start” -> “Run” and type in the following before hitting “Enter”: “mstsc /admin”.
This starts the Remote Desktop Client in “administrator mode”.
If you would have just entered “mstsc”, you would have initiated the session in “virtual session mode”.

In either case, a “Remote Desktop Connection” dialog box will be displayed in which you can enter either the IP address or the computer name of the server. Enter your password and your done! You now have a Remote Desktop connection to the server.

A good sidenote to mention is that if the Windows Firewall is active, a firewall exception allowing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) traffic to pass through on TCP port 3389 will automatically be created. This default port can be changed by changing the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-tcp\PortNumber” registry key. Simply navigate to “Start” -> “Run” and type “regedit” before hitting “Enter”; navigate to the respective field and change the setting. Be careful when editing the registry; an accidental change or typo in the registry could prevent Windows from starting correctly. Always make a bakup of the registry before editing it. Also, realize if you change the default port value or have any additional friewalls, you will have to adjust the firewall to make an exception for Remote Desktop.