RDCP over internet Tutorial

[Synthesis]

Ok, so think of this sort of as a 2-in-1 Tutorial. Enabling Multiple Remote Desktop Connections to a PC using multiple user accounts and RDC over internet. I needed to do this for work so ofcourse I'll share it with the fellow PCF browsers and hope I may someones life easier. It would be appreciated to see if anyone else manages to follow the turorial and get it right or comment on where you get lost.

Remote Desktop Connection Sharing over the internet with multiple concurrent connections on XP

1. Let’s first enable concurrent connection on Windows XP as it requires a few restarts so we can get that over with. Basically this is a nice step to do on any network so that multiple users can RDC onto the same machine simultaneously without kicking any other users off.

a. Restart in Safe-Mode.
Right Click My computer and go to properties.
On the Remote tab, Uncheck “allow users to connect remotely to this computer” (If its already unchecked leave it)
Click Ok

b. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
Double click Terminal services and choose disabled for “Startup Type”
Click OK

c. Go to c:\windows\system32\dllcache
Rename termsrv.dll to termsrv.old or anything you like
Repeat to the same termsrv.dll file in c:\windows\system32
Download and copy this file http://www.jarnot.com/twiki/pub/Public/ ... ermsrv.dll into c:\windows\system32\dllcache and c:\windows\system32

d. Click Start -> run and type in, regedit , and press enter
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core
Right-click in a blank space on the right, choose NEW -> DWORD
Name the new key, EnableConcurrentSessions , then edit it and set it’s new value to 1
Close the registry editor

e. Click Start -> Run and type in, gpedit.msc , and press Enter
Open Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services
Double click Limit number of connections, choose Enabled and set maximum number of concurrent connections you would like to have (2 or more)
Then Close and restart PC into normal mode

f. Go back to step (a) and and now activate , Allow users to connect remotely to this computer
Go back to step (b) and set , Terminal Services , in “Services” Startup Type to Manual

g. Restart the PC and create necessary user accounts with passwords for each connection that will be accepted. This you will do under Control Panel -> User Accounts so that each person remotely connecting can use their own account.

2. Getting your Host Computer Ready to accept remote connections over the Internet

a. Open Control Panel click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Add/Remove Windows Components.
Click Internet Information Services, and then click Details.
In the Subcomponents of Internet Information Services list, click World Wide Web Service, and then click Details.
In the Subcomponents of World Wide Web Service list, select the Remote Desktop Web Connection check box, and then click OK.
In the Windows Components Wizard, click Next. Click Finish when the wizard has completed.
• If you receive the following error or similar "Copy error Setup cannot copy the file staxmem.dl_"
Here is how to fix it:
Open a command prompt by clicking Start, Run, and then typing "cmd" and pressing Enter.
Type or copy and paste the following command:
esentutl /p %windir%\security\database\secedit.sdb
and press Enter. Click "OK" when presented with "Repair" warning. Wait for repair to finish.

b. Open Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Administrative Tools. Double-click Internet Information Services.
In the ISS snap-in, expand your computer name, expand Web Sites, right-click Default Web Site, and then click Properties.
On the Web Site tab, change the value for TCP Port. Enter a number between 1000 and 65535 that you can remember easily, such as the month and day of a birthday or anniversary. You'll need to know the TCP Port when you connect to the computer in the future.
Click OK, and close the Internet Information Services snap-in.

3. Configuring your Router (Tutorial done using a netgear 4 port ADSL wireless router)
Keep in mind that every router differs but you can use this as a general guide

a. Log into the router Through Internet Explorer by typing in it’s IP (mine was 192.168.0.2)
Click “Services” on the left hand side navigation menu.
Click “Add Custom Service”
Type in any service name you like, I used “RDC”
Make the “Start” and “End” port the same as the port you used in (2b) above ex. 3369
Click Apply

b. Click “Firewall Rules” on the left hand side navigation menu.
Under “Inbound Services” Click “Add”
On the “Service” dropdown List select the service you created above with the port. Ex. (RDC.TCP.3369)
Next to “Send to LAN Server” Type in the Local IP address of your host PC who’s desktop sharing you are setting up. Ex. 192.168.0.16
Click Apply

c. Reboot your router
• Basically all you have done is opened a port on your router and created a firewall rule to allow connections to your PC through that port. Without setting up your router, your router will automatically block any incoming connections.

4. Remote Connecting to your PC which you have just setup.

a. Open up internet Explorer on your host PC and go to http://www.whatismyip.com
Make a note of your IP address usually something like: 41.246.236.287 (this is the IP address provided to you by your ISP) it may change if your ISP provides dynamic IP provision so if at anytime your RDC stops working, double check on this site what your IP may have changed to.

b. Then the final fun part:
On any computer in the world that obviously has an internet connection, open up Internet Explorer (I have found that Firefox may not work so be safe and use IE)
In the address bar type in the following:
http://Your IP address that you received on whatismyip.com (41.246.236.287) : port number opened on router and created on host PC as above (3369) / tsweb
EXAMPLE: http://41.246.236.287:3369/tsweb/

c. If everything has worked out correctly you will now be presented with a Windows Remote Desktop Web Connection page.

d. In the “Server” field either type in the name of the PC you are connecting to or the Local IP address of the PC you are connecting to. Ex. 192.168.0.16

e. Select the Size for the RDC t display (I find 800x600 work nice ‘cos scrolling is not necessary) or you may use full screen.

f. Click “Connect”

g. Again, if all is correct you will receive the usual remote desktop Login Screen where you may now put in a username and password of an user account earlier created on the host PC under User Accounts.


Ok, so I can't take all the credit for this tutorial so if you have any issues here are my sources but a lot is also my own initiative after setting up a few of these and then giving you guys less grief by learning from my mistakes.

Sources used for this Tutorial:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin ... may16.mspx
http://riccardo.raneri.it/blog/eng/inde ... e-desktop/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555268

Regards...

[hamin_aus]

Nice one!

[WAJeff]

Shots dude!!!
Will find this useful

[Synthesis]

when I do it again soon I'll make some screenies to accompany the tutorial. didn't have time now 'cos it was for an urgent matter at another branch.

[ADV4NCED]

vote for Sticky?

Nice guide

One question, the file that you downloaded above, is it compatible with XP (x32 & x64) and Vista (x32 & x64) ?

[Synthesis]

+1 to sticky

I don't think this would work for vista. haven't needed to configure vista this way yet but file should work on both XP x32 and x64. Would be nice for someone to try Vista though on this tutorial.

[RobThePyro]

Does the first step by any chance increase the number of network users alowed to connect to a mapped network drive to more than 10 on a windows XP computer?

If it doesnt, is there a way to do this at all!?

[Synthesis]

No it doesn't and yes there is. If you want to have more than 10 users RDC'ing to that PC you'll have to patch the TCPIP to unrestricted version with this file: http://www.lvllord.de/download.php?url= ... 23d-en.zip
It's pretty straight forward. just run it. This is for XP SP2 btw. SP1 doesnt restrict the number of connections. that was a new feature of SP2.
Sorry, may have been abrupt there. Run the file and Press (C) to change connections and make it like 100 or whatever you want. then a windows will pop up, Click "Cancel" and accept that unrecognized files will be kept.

[hamin_aus]

Does the first step by any chance increase the number of network users alowed to connect to a mapped network drive to more than 10 on a windows XP computer?

Allowed connections to shared resources like folders and printers are limited in XP for a reason.
If you want a file or print server, spend the money and buy Server 2K3

[RobThePyro]

Ok cool, iv tried that patch before but it didnt work unfortunatly... the problem is we have 12 workstations with mapped drives to the main XP Pro "server" and the stock program we use connects to that drive and gets any info it needs, the problem is we cant get more than 10 workstations connected, once you connect the 11th, one of the stations comes up with an error "cannot connect to share, bla bla bla"

For some reason the lvllord patch doesnt increase the limit. (there is a reason for it i cant remember why thou) and i know that we could put windows server on and solve the problem but A) its expensive B) i know NOTHING about it. and C) doesnt that make it quite difficult to use the pc as a workstation then?

On of our other ideas was to get a NAS drive or maybe a PC running a modifyed version of linux to basically be a NAS drive, but they are expensive... AND it needs to run RAID1 ...

So ah, yea. any ideas? the best solution for us would be to remove the limit on XP but im not sure that can be done...

[douglash]

Ok, as i stated in the other thread about this issue...

1. can you set this up in a way that you can still work on the local machine (on the physical pc you are RDP'ing into) while you connect via RDP from another machine (e.g.over the internet)??

i have followed all the steps and it doesn't work...

any ideas?

[Ryan_Cooper]

can this setup be done without booting into safemode .
Coz I got to do this at work as well but to machines that arre setup on the other side of the country and world so we can stop using VNC

[douglash]

no - you need to disable the file system protection and the only sure-fire way is to go safe-mode.

you can however, or at least should, be able to go into Safe-mode with Networking and it should work if your VNC is running as a service...

[Ryan_Cooper]

its cool i found this link http://sala.pri.ee/terminal-server-patch/
which is a patch that does all these steps for you all you have to do is setup the user accounts and enable fast user switching