How to: enable remote desktop on Windows Vista Home Premium (Part Two)
The original post about this is here, so I won't go into all the background.
Obviously — if you have not done so already — it is strongly recommended to install Windows Vista Service Pack 2. However I'm leaving the SP1 version up because some people have reported that a combination of the SP1 + the SP2 versions gets the hack working.
SP1 x64 & x86:
remotedesktop_vista_sp1.zip
SP2 x64 & x86:
Here is a complete package of SP2, both x86 and x64.
Attention users of non-American English or non-English versions
One of the services is named differently in these versions of Vista, so download the appropriate version below:
Non-American English / non-English SP2 x64 & x86
Non-American English / non-English SP1 x64 & x86
I'm not running Vista any more (moved up to Windows 7) so any feedback if this works or not is greatly appreciated.
Enjoy. Leave a comment below with questions/issues/suggestions.
Related posts:
June 13th, 2009 - 15:43
Andrew, i applied the the sp2 version, however i still not able to get connected from xp sp2 client to vista 64 spp2. Thanks for any pointers.
June 14th, 2009 - 16:20
Your SP2 zip file appears to contain the original termsrv.dll from Vista x64 SP2. Perhaps Vista swapped it back before you had a chance to zip it up?
The SP1 version seems to work for me, so I’m sticking with that one for now.
June 15th, 2009 - 13:15
I also could not get SP2 version to work when using a Vista SP2 client. I followed Noel’s suggestion and took the termserv.dll from the Vista 64bit SP1 package and copied it into the Vista SP2 package and installed then ran the appropriate BAT file on the hybrid SP2 package. I now have terminal services running under 64-bit Home Premium with Vista SP2.
June 15th, 2009 - 14:32
@Zack, Noel, Mike…and everyone else
Sooo…I am guessing that the SP2 package I made isn’t useful to anyone? Should I take it down?
The only thing I changed in that package is rdpclip.exe and termsrv.dll. I checked the version #s against the SP1 package and they were indeed different. Apparently though something is awry with the SP2 package I made.
So my question for you all is: should I take it down? Has anyone had any success with it that would warrant leaving it up?
June 16th, 2009 - 10:10
Andrew,
I tried Mike’s suggestion. It worked when i copied the termserv.dll from your 64 sp1 version into your 64 sp2 version. So you might want to repackage using the termsev.dll from your earlier version.
Thanks Mike for the tip.
June 16th, 2009 - 21:27
I agree with Zack. I think the package with that termserv.dll change is very useful and recommend that the package still be available. Again, I had the problem on Home Premium software and was able to solve it with that one change.
June 16th, 2009 - 22:27
So I think what I’m understanding here is that the rdpclip.exe from SP2 + the termsrv.dll from SP1 = Gravy?
Seems odd, but whatever works!
June 17th, 2009 - 21:57
Andrew, you’re the best. I recently bought a desktop to run a bunch of vmware images for work. But to conserve home office space upstairs, i moved the desktop to the basement. So this workaround will save me a lot of running up and down.
Thanks again!
June 18th, 2009 - 06:52
I did the same as Mike and Zack and it is working for me on Vista SP2 Home Premium 64-bit. Nice job guys!
June 19th, 2009 - 16:56
@Zack, no problem. Glad it worked for you. I can tell you from personal experience that running up and down stairs to mess with computers is hard work.
@Tom, so…to reiterate my above question, it sounds like the rdpclip.exe from SP2 combine with the DLL from SP1 is what makes this work. Am I correct in saying this?
June 22nd, 2009 - 07:48
Here’s termsrv.dll if anyone wants it:
http://rapidshare.com/files/247347791/termsrv.dll.html
June 22nd, 2009 - 07:49
I should mention that that’s the Vista x86 SP2 one.
June 22nd, 2009 - 09:03
James – awesome, and thank you! Do you mind if I host the download here as well?
June 23rd, 2009 - 16:15
OK got this working on Vista Home Premium 64bit SP2, but there was an extra step that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere. Basically I could see 3389 listening but I got a network error message from teh other end (running XP) when trying to connect. I used telnet to determien that connection was indeed being made, then I noticed that there is a ‘security’ tab in RemoteDesktop client – I clicked on it and there are options for ‘No authentication’, ‘Attempt authentication’ and ‘Require authentication’. Mine was set to ‘No Authentication’ I switched it to ‘Attempt..’ and it’s just connecte, awesome! Thanks all.
June 23rd, 2009 - 17:08
@Locster, can you re-iterate where exactly the “Security” tab is found? Thanks!
June 23rd, 2009 - 23:30
Am glad to see that, in fact, the problem I am having all the sudden connecting to Vista after installing SP2 is probably related to the SP. Now my only problem is that I run 32 bit instead of 64 bit. Don’t suppose anyone knows where I can find the 32 bit version of this hack for SP2?
Thanks,
Nate
June 24th, 2009 - 07:15
@Nate, see comment #11 by James above.
June 28th, 2009 - 20:03
The x86 version of termserve referenced by Jamess in #11 is not available for download. (The limit of 10 downloads has been reached.) Is it mirrored anywhere else?
Thanks,
-Greg
July 3rd, 2009 - 01:52
Greg…I have not come across it yet. Hopefully James will see this and re-port.
@James–I’m happy to host if you can send me the file somehow.
July 5th, 2009 - 08:49
Doesn’t work for Vista Home Premium 32bit SP3.
July 6th, 2009 - 14:03
@Geoff,
I am assuming you mean SP2? If you follow the comment thread, it seems most folks are getting it to work fine using the SP1 package. Let me know if that’s not the case for you.
July 6th, 2009 - 20:11
Ok I’m thoroughly frustrated after wasting many hours trying to get this to work to no avail.. Andrew I hope you can help.
I’ve tried the SP1 hack, the SP2 hack, the hybrid w/ the termsrv.dll from the sp1 and the other files from sp2. I’ve tried forwarding ports on my router, I’ve tried turning off windows firewall entirely.. Nothing has worked since I went to SP2 on Vista Home Premium (this worked perfectly on SP1). Any time I try to connect I get the msg: “The connection was ended because of a network error. Please try connecting to the remote computer again.”
Any helpful suggestions for a lost soul here?
July 8th, 2009 - 12:41
I’m in the same boat as Chuck; x86 and sp2 and nothing will work. It says port 3389 is not listening. Have also spent many hours trying to fix it.
July 8th, 2009 - 13:30
Well I figured out my problem. The batch file was trying to copy over termsrv.dll and it wasn’t working because it was in use. I ran the batch file in safe mode and once again in normal mode and it’s FINALLY listening on 3389.
July 8th, 2009 - 23:25
Funny but mine does say it’s listening, everything is working fine but I still can’t get in
July 8th, 2009 - 23:26
sorry I meant mine says it is listening.
July 9th, 2009 - 14:51
Hi everyone, I finally found something that works for my Vista Premium 64bit/sp2 system. I tried many patches and registry hacks, but this was the only one that actually worked for my sp2 system:
http://digiex.net/guides-tutorials/799-enable-concurrent-sessions-windows-vista-business-ultimate-sp1-32-64bit.html
Download ‘Vista SP1 Concurrent Sessions.zip’ and make the following changes to install.cmd to allow SP2:
Original:
ECHO %SP% | FINDSTR /I “SERVICE^ PACK^ 1″ >nul
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO START
ECHO %SP% | FINDSTR /I “SERVICE^ PACK^ 2″ >nul
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO UNSUPPORTED
Change first test to the following and delete the second test:
ECHO %SP% | FINDSTR /I “SERVICE^ PACK^ 2″ >nul
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO START
Hope this helps those with Vista Premium, 64bit & SP2 (I have not verified with any other OS combos).
Sonya
July 16th, 2009 - 14:57
Hi Gurus,
I am, a newbie, struggling to enable a remote desktop connection on my x86 (32 bits) Vista Home Premium SP2 samsung Q310 laptop. I am wondering that, once installed your patches (I used remotedesktop_vista_sp1.zip) and right-clicking on a Computer>Properties>System>Remote settings it still does “NOT” contain Remote desktop options under “Remote ” tab, that is, it still contains only “Remote management” as before ?!?!
Please anyone confirm this to me would be very much appreciated. I thought it would be changed and RD would be also enabled after completion. But it seems that RD would be only enabled without that interface added. Sorry for a dump question
Apart from that, I’ll report back asap once I go to University to connect to my laptop from my desktop. I followed like ADAM did. I applied your batch (remotedesktop_vista_sp1.zip) in safe mode once (to avoid failure to replace termsrv.dll) and full-mode once. At the end, it says it is listening at port 3389 as described.
Thank you very much everyone in advance, especially Andrew, for a lively and friendly discussion forum on RD. Your kind help will be very much appreciated ^.^
Cheers,
July 17th, 2009 - 10:00
Hi all,
I have tried to connect to my laptop several times but all failed. This was after a number of trials on genuine batch pack sp1, sp2 and mix-and-match pack as sugessted.
Please could anyone kidnly help me out on this. Thank you very much in advance ^.^
Cheers,
Milky
July 18th, 2009 - 09:16
Sonya,
Great find…thanks for posting the script.
July 18th, 2009 - 09:20
@milky,
This hack does not enable the “Remote” tab in my computer. I believe you can access all settings that would be available in that tab through the registry.
Are you familiar with how to use the registry editor? If so, you can go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\ … there are several remote settings located there.
Also, you mentioned being on a University network….I wonder if perhaps your University’s IT department blocks the remote desktop ports? Just a thought.
July 18th, 2009 - 12:55
@Andrew Block
Thank you so much for your reply and clarification on the “Remote” tab things through registry settings. I could figure out on this according to your guidance.
Regarding a ports block policy, our university has a VPN service so that I can connect through a secure tunnel. I create a VPN connection before I try to use RDP. Therefore, I think this should not cause a problem.
Thank you again for your kind help on this. Still trying to sort this out but could not ;(
Enjoy your weekend mate. Your help is very much appreciated.
Cheers,
Milky
July 20th, 2009 - 16:11
Thank for all the good input.
I to am running Vista home Premium 64-bit and having trouble. I ran the Sp2 patch and changed the registry key. My Vista machine which is my home computer desktop can RD into my xp laptop without any problems.. however I need to have the XP laptop RD into the Vista machine. Won’t work!
When I rub RD on the xp machine, press the connect button, nothing happens…
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
July 20th, 2009 - 21:35
When I run RD on the XP machine too
August 2nd, 2009 - 10:57
Hi folks!
Thanks for many useful tips!
I posted a message on the “SP1 forum”. Here is what i basically did to get it to work:
The server is running Home Premium SP2, and the client I tested with runs Business SP2.
1. install the SP1 hack -> Works, but I had to deactivate firewall on the client…(Yes, I could have created a rule).
2. Install the SP2 hack -> I can’t get past entering the password.
3. install the SP1 hack again -> Bingo!
– I’m not getting any sound from the server machine, but that doesn’t matter.
now I’m not touching anything of this, as long as it works!:)
August 2nd, 2009 - 17:15
Sorry I’m so sloiw in looking up my messages:( I’ll repost that termserv somewhere again, and resend it to Andrew. But please note that this is the UNMODIFIED Termserv.dll from SP2
August 2nd, 2009 - 17:25
Here it is again:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LZ18ZLYQ
August 4th, 2009 - 08:58
Thanks a lot, James. I downloaded the file and added it to the post.
August 6th, 2009 - 19:02
So, Ive read through all the comments on this tread and the last one and am still not certain what to do here. I have vista home premium 64 Bit, and basically, I want to enable remote desktop so that I can remote into this computer from other computers – namely a winXP laptop and a Mac Laptop that has windows remote desktop client on it. When I had vista ultimate 32, none of this was a problem. So, here is my question, because I think that this thread is getting confusing…
Can anyone post step by step intstructions as to how to apply this so that I dont totally screw up my new Vista 64 home premium machine, which is my primary computer? I would soo soo much appreciate it. IE. 1) Download this file 2) open it and add it to XXX 3) Do XXX, etc….
Sorry Im so lame here but getting real confused and just dont want to screw things up.
August 8th, 2009 - 13:55
I still have the same question has Mark and have the exact issue.
Thanks
August 8th, 2009 - 15:48
Yeah, I even tried doing it just about an hour ago and nothing seemed to work. Had to restore the computer and thankfully I made a backup first… Any help would be greatly appreciated.
August 12th, 2009 - 07:19
I’m with Mark and Richard. Can someone condense what worked for them into a step by step tutorial?
August 12th, 2009 - 14:22
Thank you sooooo much Håvard, you process worked perfectly for me!
I have Vista Home Premium and the SP2 killed the hack. So I applied the SP2 hack provided at the top of the page but it didn’t work. Then I reinstalled the SP1 hack and it works again!
August 13th, 2009 - 22:46
I am running Vista 64 Home Premium on both my laptop and desktop. I am trying to mstsc /admin into my desktop from the laptop. I installed the hack and I can get into my desktop but it is creating a new session. I want my laptop to connect to the main console (i.e. share the desktop with my laptop). Thanks in advance for your help.
August 13th, 2009 - 23:27
Got it fixed. What I did was on my desktop I used the instructions on http://andrewblock.net/?tag=windows-vista-remote-desktop
which were:
Update added 2.09.08
John Wolf left a comment addressing something a lot of people have been asking about—the issue of taking over an existing session vs. creating a new session each time. He said:
“I’ve been fishing to solve the issue of it creating a new session when you RDP to a Vista box. After digging through the thread on the green button, I found a registry setting that remedies this issue. There’s a key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\fSingleSessionPerUser, that defaults to 0 which means create multiple sessions per user. Simply setting this to 1 will give you what you want. I just verified this and it works like a charm!”
Thanks for all your help.
August 14th, 2009 - 18:19
Vista Home Premium 64bit
Is there a SP2 for this? I’m running SP1 and can’t find an option to upgrade.
August 14th, 2009 - 18:54
@ Richard R:
Here’s the link to Vista x64 Service Pack 2:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=656c9d4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7&displaylang=en
I am surprised Windows Update didn’t force you to get it?
August 14th, 2009 - 19:08
@Mark, Richard, Aaron:
Guys I wrote this post so long ago…people are asking for a step-by-step guide on how to do this. If you’re using SP1, it’s easy: download the SP1 ZIP and run the right batch file.
If you’ve got SP2, things get weird. I have put together a complete package for SP2 (x86 & x64) but I can’t test since I don’t have Vista anymore.
If you’re a brave soul and would like to give it a shot, you can try it here.
I make no promises. It’s always a good idea to back up your PC (set a System Restore point or something) before attempting this process.
August 15th, 2009 - 14:16
Thanks Andrew. I tried it and read these posts multiple times for SP2 and just couldnt get anything to work. Thank you anyway…….. You on windows 7 now?
August 15th, 2009 - 23:34
@Mark,
Yeah I got Windows 7 on MSDN. It’s very nice so far. I never hated Vista, but 7 is a great improvement.
August 16th, 2009 - 07:44
Hi Andrew,
Just letting you know that the link for the mixed x86/x64 files is broken – it contains a ‘ character at the end (link works once it is removed).
Do you know of a way to enable this in Windows 7 Home Premium?
August 16th, 2009 - 12:09
@Carlito,
Oops, my bad. I fixed the link. Should be all good now…thanks for letting me know.
As for Windows 7 Home Premium, I am running Ultimate right now so I haven’t had the chance to look into it. Since Vista and 7 are closely related, I am assuming the process will be very similar (or identical), with the updated Windows 7 files and registry entries, of course.
Remember the good ol’ days when there were two versions to choose from: Windows XP Home or Professional? I think the myriad of different versions available is ridiculous, and out of control. I wish Microsoft would have done away with that in 7, but oh well….
August 18th, 2009 - 10:22
Got all kinds of excited when I saw you added a new patch for SP2, but I guess it didn’t work for Mark
I will give it a try ASAP (hopefully tonight) just in case. I had just discovered this Remote Desktop hack with SP1 about a week before I got hit with SP2 which broke it. I didn’t realize how cool logging on to home from work was until is was taken away…
August 19th, 2009 - 14:25
Weird but true. For x86 SP2 Premium, install the SP2 fix (which will enable the client to logon but instantly get logged off for some reason) then install the SP1 fix. I did notice as the SP2 fix was completing it “listened” on a port and reported it working with a single line of information but after the SP1 fix it gave two lines of information starting with TCP. Hope this helps someone. Thanks Andrew, you’re a gent.
August 19th, 2009 - 21:04
Tried both patches, the SP1 X64 did the trick. I can now remote from my WIN7 laptop to my Vista X64 Home Premium desktop. Thanks everyone!
August 20th, 2009 - 07:56
No go on the new patch for me. It seems like it’s close to working, but I still can’t connect my Ubuntu 9.04 laptop to my Vista x64 Home Premium desktop. I get the following error running Terminal Server Client from Ubuntu:
ERROR: send: connection reset by peer
Which totally sounds like a firewall or some such error, but it isn’t. Everything is like it was back before SP2 when it worked just fine. Googling turned up some random info about a possible encryption incompatibility, which I think could have some credibility. Solutions were to check something like “Allow older less secure connections”, but the only box I have is along the lines of “Only allow Windows Vista and later machines to connect”, which of course I do not have checked.
Stumped
August 20th, 2009 - 12:27
I am very keen on this idea to be able to connect to my windows vista home premium sp2 x64 with another computer. I ran the program above, and it appeared as if everything had succeeded. Unfortunately due to inexperience or to program failure I receive the following error when i attempt to connect to the previously mentioned laptop: The connection was ended because of a network error. Please try connecting to the remote computer again. I have been reading the posts for the last few days and a user named “chuck” has had the same problem. It is possible that there is simply something else I need to do to connect, however I am stuck. I would much appreciate someone shedding light on the situation
August 20th, 2009 - 23:26
@Happy – that’s weird. I wonder what is causing the SP2 files to need the SP1 files re-applied. I wonder if this is universally true, or just applied in your case? If it it true for everyone, we could easily modify the batch file to perform both steps.
August 20th, 2009 - 23:27
Hey Aaron, out of curiosity, have you tried connecting from another Windows box, or is it just Linux that’s not working right?
Also — (completely off topic but oh well) what do you think of Ubuntu 9.04? I am dual-booting Ubuntu 9.04 and Windows 7 right now.
August 20th, 2009 - 23:30
@Matthew,
Have you tried…
-Restarting Terminal Services with services.msc?
-Rebooting the computer? (sounds dumb but fixes 97% of all problems)
-Checking port forwarding on your hardware firewall?
-Checking the Windows firewall or other software firewalls?
-Does it work with a different computer?
-Did you try applying the SP2 version, and then applying the SP1 version? (has worked for some people)
I dunno…try those suggestions and see if anything helps.
August 25th, 2009 - 11:44
Hi Andrew, trying to get this running on win7 home premium with no luck. I copied the dll from a win7 ultimate machine and overwrote the one in your patch. The “terminal services” service never shows in services and obviously fails to start. Yes, I have tried rebooting and yes I ran it as administrator.
August 25th, 2009 - 12:04
Update, I copied rdpclip.exe from ultimate to home premium as well since it did not have it and it’s referenced in one of the registry entries. In 7 the display name is no longer terminal services but remote desktop services now. After the patch the service does show up but fails to start.
August 25th, 2009 - 12:30
gah, with all my screwing around I somehow was using the wrong version of termsrv.dll. With that and rdpclip copied over and the patch file edited to reflect the new name of the service everything starts properly and it’s listening. However I still cannot log in. I’m guessing that somewhere I have to give users permission to log in because unlike in other versions, admins don’t have permission by default.
August 25th, 2009 - 13:33
I think I’ve taken this about as far I can on my own. If via command line I create a group called “Remote Desktop Users” and through “control passwords2″ add a user to said group I get one step further. Instead of instantly closing the connection I at least get an error message. “The connection was was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote login”. I’d image this is because in order to place the user in the Remote Desktop Users group I have to take the user out of Administrators. I haven’t found a way in home premium to add a user to multiple groups.
August 26th, 2009 - 08:21
Hey Andrew, I have not tried from a Windows machine, but I should. It could at least validate the patch I guess, but not sure it will really help me since I don’t have a Windows machine at work to use, which is the only real reason I want to do this.
And I like 9.04. I can do anything I need for work with it, and since we do a lot of Linux development, I don’t have to use a VM like most of the others here
August 26th, 2009 - 16:48
I hope someone can help me. I am working on a Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 desktop computer. I have downloaded every patch I can find and I have run the “premium” batch file in all of them. Everything seems to work fine in the command prompt until it checks if the port is listening. It always ends with, “The port is not listening”. Can someone tell me whats wrong or what I need to change. Thanks!
August 27th, 2009 - 21:05
@Jack, try adding an exception to port 3389 in the Windows Firewall, and any other software firewalls you may be running.
August 28th, 2009 - 10:36
@James
You need RDP Client 6.0 and set the Advanced/Authentication options to ‘always connect, even if authentication fails’
August 30th, 2009 - 23:57
Jack,
I had that same problem with the “port not listening” and it turned out to be 2 things: First, I had to make sure my Mcafee firewall had an exception for Remote Desktop in it, and Second, there is a trick that many people mentioned, to get RDP enabled on SP2.
I have Home Premium SP2 and this is how I got it to work.
First, disable the Terminal Services service in the services control panel.
Reboot your computer.
Why do i do this? i found that the termsrv.dll was in use even though the service was stopped.
After reboot, set the Terminal Services to Automatic again, but dont start it.
Run the batch file for SP2.
After this, again, disable the TS service again, and reboot.
After the reboot, again, set the TS service to automatic, but dont start it.
Run the SP1 batch file.
It should say its listening if everything was done correctly.
This worked for me… Hope it helps..
August 31st, 2009 - 21:38
@Chris, Jack, rsp: You guys rock. Thanks for providing answers and helping each other out. I think it’s clear you guys are the real experts, as you’ve already provided more help than I could provide.
We all appreciate it!
September 2nd, 2009 - 22:24
@Chris,
Thanks so much!! It worked for me, but now, I still can’t connect to my computer from any other one. Is there something else I still have to do to connect remotely. Thanks again for your help!
September 2nd, 2009 - 22:41
@Chris,
Sorry for the trouble but I am up and running!!!!! Everything works flawlessly!! Thanks again for all your help!!
September 8th, 2009 - 15:57
Did anyone check th registry after running the batch thu an admin cmd? I dont see the registry changes applied.
September 17th, 2009 - 17:48
Chris’s solution worked for me!
September 18th, 2009 - 10:48
alright ive tried everything that i have found and i finally got mine listening, but when i try to connect it closes back out immediately… is there something else i should do?
September 18th, 2009 - 12:33
@ Chris’ comment, #69
Thank you very much, this worked for me as well!
On my Windows 7 RC 64-Bit Ultimate laptop, I was able to connect to my Vista Home Premium 32-Bit desktop at work.
September 18th, 2009 - 13:41
Has anyone figured out a work around for windows 7 home rdp? I am waiting to upgrade but want to make sure they have a work around
September 18th, 2009 - 19:46
I too am waiting to get this working on Windows 7 Home Premium. Has anyone had any luck at all with this? James seems to have got the closest, but even he has fallen at the last hurdle.
September 18th, 2009 - 23:42
Thanks!
Issue – cant rdp in with a user that is not an Admin, gives error “connection denied not authorized for remote login”
Creating “remote desktop users” group and adding user doesn’t work, etc.
Anyone fix this?
Possible workarounds that I use – I use this to support my parents pc.
You can remote in with an admin account
You can give their account admin temporarily
Logoff and remote in with their account
Open taskmanager go to users and right click on the console user and click remote control
Issue – this seems to only work when it’s the same user taking over the same user account
It ask what keys sequence you want to use to get back out
It ask them if they want to allow it
This will switch to their session and BOTH of you can interact with it at the same time
September 19th, 2009 - 07:39
@Jack — great! And it’s no trouble.
September 19th, 2009 - 07:41
Ashok,
I did see the registry changes applied on my Vista x64 machine. I think they were in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp.
September 19th, 2009 - 07:43
Yeah Chris’ solution seems to be the way to go in your case. So thanks to Chris for his comments.
September 19th, 2009 - 07:46
For the Windows 7 issue, I am guessing that we’d just need updated versions of rdpclip.exe and termsrv.dll from a Windows 7 install that has Remote Desktop. I would be surprised if the registry entries even changed.
Thoughts everyone? I can certainly try, although I’ve only got 64-bit right now.
September 22nd, 2009 - 06:54
Hi,
I have been trying to run your patches on my Vista home premium sp2 x86, mix that one for sp2 and sp1, but without any result despite ports were always open and unblocked. Connection was terminating immediately after I connect from an other PC. Now i found this: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/48022.aspx?PageIndex=21 . And it helped.
September 26th, 2009 - 02:08
Has anyone got this to work from windows mobile 6.1?
i am tring to connect my windows mobile 6.1 using remote desktop connection TO my vista home premium 64bit SP1 OS.
This hack totally fixed a ton of the issues i couldnt figure out. and BIG THANKS to the guy who made it. I can now connect to my home pc from anywhere.
I still cant get my touch pro 2 to connect to is.. it says the connection was ended please try again. Wich leads me to a question…
On a normal RDP capable vista or windows 7 OS there is a section in system properties that allows you to add certain settings to your remote desktop
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43293&d=1253943892
since these settings are not at my fingertips on vista home premium how can i go about makig sure that the (allow connections from computers running any version of remote desktop (less secure)) is checked… i think that this is why i can connect with my laptop (running same OS) from anywhere but not from my TP2… running windows mobile 6.1
possible a registry tweak? anyone know how to figure this out?
September 27th, 2009 - 09:34
Whew, got it working after several hours. My situation was similar to the one Chris described in #69, but some points and the solution were different.
The batch script reported that “The port is listening”, and trying to establish the connection from XP Pro SP3 gave me no error messages whatsoever, but no RD window appeared. Very frustrating. I ran the script again and eventually noticed that there was a problem earlier on, it couldn’t overwrite the original termsrv.dll. After shutting down the service AND booting in Safe Mode, I still couldn’t even delete the file manually from an Admin Prompt.
In the end, I installed Unlocker which was able to get rid of the file. Running the script again, everything finally worked flawlessly.
Thanks, everyone, especially Andrew and Chris!
September 29th, 2009 - 17:55
Since installing SP2 on 64 bit Vista Home Premium the SP1 hack stopped working. It would connect but quickly logoff as I noticed in the System Security Event viewer. I was ready to give up and try some other third party tools. I tried everything listed here on this page and by other’s comments for a few days, the only fix that worked for me just now was comment #27 from Sonya. Thanks Sonya and thanks Chris. If anyone is still having issues please give Sonya’s post a try.
October 4th, 2009 - 21:14
@kassyopeia,
I am glad unlocker worked…that has been a handy tool I have relied on multiple times in the past. Sadly it doesn’t work on Vista/Win7 64-bit.
Couldn’t you have also tried taking ownership of the file?
October 4th, 2009 - 21:16
@quamosa,
So apparently we need to give Sonya credit for her suggestions! Thanks Sonya.
October 10th, 2009 - 04:11
Hi guys,
I also had problems with incoming remote desktop on Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit. I am trying to connect from Windows 7 Enterprise. This is what I did to resolve it thanks to Håvard’s advice.
1) Install the SP2 fix for Home Premium
2) Install the SP1 fix for Home Premium (even though it’s SP2 we’re using)
Strangely, this combination works and has been reported by many commenters here. I am now logged in to VHP 32-bit from my W7 Enterprise 64-bit machine without a problem.
Thanks Andrew for a great guide and actively responding to all the comments!
October 11th, 2009 - 09:23
@90. dzx – This also worked for me this way.
October 19th, 2009 - 07:50
Searched high and low for RDP on Vista Home Premium SP2 and finally this works! Had to run the SP2 patch followed by the SP1 patch (as outlined above) otherwise it listens but client won’t complete the connection.
I was SO pleased when I saw the RDP login come up AND it didn’t log me out of my main session.
Thanks to everyone here.
October 21st, 2009 - 15:35
I too am interested in a Windows 7 premium version of this trick. Thanks!
October 22nd, 2009 - 10:38
Hey Keith, I’ll start looking into the Windows 7 thing. My hope is that the procedure is exactly the same as Vista, except with updated termsrv.dll and rdpclip.exe files.
October 23rd, 2009 - 01:01
Thank you, thank you! I used the steps outlined by Chris above and they worked great.
Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP2.
Remote Desktop working just fine thanks to you.
Now, two last questions (simple, I hope):
1. How do I set which users are/are not allowed to connect remotely?
2. How do I set the number of users that can connect simultaneously?
Thank you.
October 23rd, 2009 - 13:04
Hey Glenn,
For #1 — since the normal nice GUI in System Properties -> Remote is not available in Home Premium (even with the hack), I believe this would normally need to be handled through Local Users and Groups. However, I think that is not available in Home Premium, either. Try running “lusrmgr.msc” from the Run menu, and see if it comes up. If it works, you could add the desired users to “Remote Desktop Users”.
If that doesn’t work, try running the Command prompt as Administrator, and then try the following command:
net localgroup group_name user_name /add
Where group_name is the name of the group, and user_name is the user you want to add to that group. Example: net localgroup “Remote Desktop Users” andyblock /add
Then try net localgroup group_name to see if it worked. If it worked it will show the user(s) in that group.
For #2, I have no idea. Sorry.
October 23rd, 2009 - 13:21
More info on the net localgroup command: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490706.aspx
P.S. If groups/names contain spaces then they must be enclosed in quotes.
October 28th, 2009 - 10:11
Hi Andrew,
Could you post those file for 64bit windows 7 ?
I’d like to try to get this working..
Thanks
October 29th, 2009 - 16:14
I successfully installed terminal services on Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium using the hack at the following site:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/79427.aspx
This hack is extremely easy to implement and allows concurrent sessions.
October 31st, 2009 - 12:29
@liriel,
Great find! Is this a standalone patch, or does it require another hack first?
November 1st, 2009 - 19:31
Ran this on my home premium. Now when I mstsc to it, I get a credential request. When I put the wrong credentials in, it tells me that access has failed (correctly). When I put the right credentials in, the remote screen does not display on my client. Suggestions?
November 2nd, 2009 - 16:12
@Andrew Block: It is a standalone patch with a very simple installation process – don’t even need to reboot. I have been using it for a few days now with no problems.
November 4th, 2009 - 14:55
@liriel and Andrew
Good work on finding the patcher – I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium, and that enabled the RDP host for me first try.
One addition: This patcher does not allow you to take over the console session (current session open on the local computer). That can be fixed easily by changing a registry value that was previously discovered on this forum (which is the same in Win7 as it was in Vista).
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\fSingleSessionPerUser
must be set to 1.
November 4th, 2009 - 15:33
@Jordan: Wow, thank you so much for that reg edit. In old versions of terminal services you could use the /console switch to connect to the console session; however, that has been replaced by /admin switch which opens a special kind of RDP session rather than the active console session. I had given up on using RD to connect to the console and resigned myself to VNC.
You made my day!
November 7th, 2009 - 19:39
hey guys, Im having some real issues getting a connection betwen my HTC phone and my vista x64 desktop, my pc listens but continually gives the ‘connection was ended because of a network error’ when i try to connect on the phone. I’ve tried with firewall off, no go. The sp2 then the sp1 fix, no luck there. Checked to make sure the port is open. I haven’t the technical know-how to troubleshoot this much further and its driving me completely crazy. Any help would be appreciated
November 9th, 2009 - 23:49
Dan is the remote client on your phone installed to an SD card or main phone memory? I know that there are issues if the remote client is installed on the SD card.
November 10th, 2009 - 16:56
I was also struggling to get RDP working with 32-bit Vista Premium. I read the whole thread and have found out something that would have saved me lots of time. I have multiple computers on my home network and so have to use a different port than 3389. The registry entry to change is well documented. However, I was failing to reboot after changing the listening port, so I was never really listening on the new port and so of course it would not connect. As soon as I rebooted, I checked that it was listening on the new port and it worked first time. So unfortunately, I don’t really know what fixed it. The last thing I tried was the suggestion of reapplying the SP1 patch after the SP2, but as far as I know, the SP2 patch may have worked right out of the box.
By the way, in looking into this I found out about using the “Netstat” command (with -noa switches) to determine which ports are being listened to – very helpful. Thanks everybody, it’s working great.
November 17th, 2009 - 07:17
@Dustin
Try this.
http://blogs.sepago.de/helge/2007/09/12/programmatically-determining-terminal-server-mode-on-windows-server-2008/
November 30th, 2009 - 14:26
Logged into my PC (Windows 7 x64 Home Premium) using logmeinfree, which i already had set up… downloaded, and installed OP’s workaround, tested with WM 6.1 on an HTC Touch Pro w/ WM RDP 5.5, worked like a charm. Thank you so much. Now I can get back to my super-fast internet surfing and music downloading from my phone while at work! – Mark
December 15th, 2009 - 10:11
hi
thanks for this.
i finally got it working and here’s what i had to do.
for some reason my terminal service -service is named termservice in my vista home premium.
so i had to change the syntax a bit in the batch-files for them to work correctly.
i changed the following lines
net stop “Terminal Services”
net start “Terminal Services”
to
net stop termservice
net start termservice
then i had to run the sp2 batch and after that the sp1 batch, both modified. and now this damn thing works!
hope this helps someone.
December 20th, 2009 - 16:00
@flip, that’s a great observation. I could be wrong but I swear I’ve seen it spelled both ways! Either way, thanks for figuring this out…I am guessing that should help a lot of people out.
December 26th, 2009 - 10:28
Flip. I have been fighting this battle ever since sp2 wiped out my patch. Last resort, I am gonna try your syntax change. Question ( it’s been so long since I did it in sp1). After success, am I supposed to suddenly have the option to enable rdp on that dialogue box for remote assistance?
Will try soon and revert…
Thanks
January 2nd, 2010 - 03:53
Thanks very much. The SP2 patch with SP1 Termservices worked fine after updating to SP2. Hugely appreciated!
January 4th, 2010 - 22:27
Glad it worked for you, SteveXPS!
January 7th, 2010 - 14:22
I initially applied this fix to my SP1 machine, and it stopped working after the SP2 install.
@ Chris’ comment, #69 worked flawlessly for me (SP2, 32-bit, Home Premium). THANKS TO EVERYONE, especially Andrew.
January 7th, 2010 - 18:05
Hi all,
Just a few questions.
I have a vista home premium sp2 64 bit. Just a newbie question. Should I use x64 or x86 batch? x64 batch for 64 bit, right?
Also, it seems from the first few thread that the sp2 hack for 64 bit is only working with sp1 termsvr?
So which one should I install to get the remote control on mine desktop?
I install the x64 premium batch sp2. Although there are error in the beginning, but at the end of the command window, it is listening to port 3389. So does this mean I can connect to my vista PC now?
thank you
January 19th, 2010 - 10:46
Andrew (and others here),
Thank you very much for providing this information and files. This has been extremely helpful.
January 23rd, 2010 - 11:56
with vista home premium I get the message:
Cannot import termonpremium.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes.
I’ve tried it in safe mode and it says the same
January 23rd, 2010 - 11:56
Thats the x64 version.
February 11th, 2010 - 09:18
Ken,
Glad it helped!
February 11th, 2010 - 14:20
Thanks Sonya, you’re a winner!
February 16th, 2010 - 06:14
I got the similar issue with @Locster but am running on 32bit SP2.
QUOTE
Basically I could see 3389 listening but I got a network error message from teh other end (running XP) when trying to connect. I used telnet to determien that connection was indeed being made…
UNQUOTE
I can successfully run mstsc on the same box but no luck on another machine in the same network. I cannot find the “Security” tab in my RDC client and can’t make use of @Locster’s hints.
Anyone got similar and fixed?
February 18th, 2010 - 03:25
Worked a treat for me (running Win Vista Home Premium x86 (32bit) SP2).
Did the SP2 patch first, then SP1, presto.. Works a treat, thanks heaps.
Note – forgot to run the Premium.bat as Administrator, but soon figured that out when I saw the access denied messages.. A case of RTFM I’m sure.
Cheers.
March 27th, 2010 - 19:33
A warm “thank you” to many people posting here. I have Vista SP2 and had found another site with this same hack but did not work. Then I found this one, which had different versions of the hack. The SP2+SP1 combination worked for me too. Again, thanks!
April 5th, 2010 - 18:32
I ran the SP2 hack and ended up with 2 Terminal Services under services.msc. One was set as Manual and one is Automatic. Also, it created 2 “remotedesktop” entries under Windows Firewall for port 3389. Ports are open but firewall temporarily stopped until resolved.
However, when I try to connect it says “Session automatically terminated on client’s behalf” when using Bitvise Tunnelier.
Can anyone help? Thanks.
April 16th, 2010 - 11:47
@Paul, no problem. Glad it is all working for you.
@Rich I have no clue. That’s one error I have not heard of. Google is your friend.
April 23rd, 2010 - 13:29
The bat file doesnt work properly on non english versions of vista. To make it work you must change “Terminal Services” to “TermService” in net commands.
April 30th, 2010 - 14:10
@ A:-)Brunu? –
Thanks for the tip. That’s good to know.
May 6th, 2010 - 09:33
Hi ,,, have tried every combo of patches for premium 32. I always get the connection reset by peer error and a message saying NOT IMPLEMENTED.
Port 3389 is listening.
Rdesktop works okay connecting to Win 7, so that’s not the problem.
Any ideas? Please ….
May 7th, 2010 - 14:09
Further to the comment made about foreign language versions of Vista:
You will also need to change “Terminal Services” in the batch files to “TermService” if you use a non-American English language. For example, UK English or Canadian English.
I am using Vista with Canadian English and my system uses “TermService”.
May 10th, 2010 - 21:31
@castalla,
Do you have an American English version of Vista? If not, you need to change “Terminal Services” in the batch files to “TermService”. This goes for non-American English and non-English versions of Vista. Just a thought.
May 10th, 2010 - 21:33
@ThanksAndrew,
Thanks for the tip. That’s good information to know. I think I may create a version for non-American English / non-English versions of Vista.
June 15th, 2010 - 16:31
sp1 hack worked for my vista home premium sp2. however, i can’t seem to connect using a remote computer. using a computer that’s on the same network, it works perfectly (even when using the actual ip address). i checked the firewall setting, and it’s set to allow remote desktop connections from any computer on the internet. any help would be appreciated. thanks.
June 16th, 2010 - 09:16
it works now (well, sort of). it has been working all this time but the problem is i can’t seem to connect from my work computers ( it gives me ” A licensing error occurred while the client was attempting to connect. (Licensing timed out.)”
I can connect from any other computer.
June 20th, 2010 - 00:20
John Knolls,
That is bizarre, and believe it or not, that’s a new one to me! Never heard that one before. What OS does your work computer have?