Windows 7 / Networking

Activating the Remote Desktop Service

Now follow these steps to activate the Remote Desktop service:

  1. Select Start, type systempropertiesremote, and then press Enter. In Windows Vista, enter your UAC credentials to continue. Windows 7 opens the System Properties dialog box with the Remote tab displayed.
  2. In the Remote Desktop group, you have three choices:
    • Don't Allow Connections to This Computer-This option turns off Remote Desktop hosting.
    • Allow Connections from Computers Running Any Version of Remote Desktop-Select this option if you want people running previous versions (that is, Windows XP and earlier) of Remote Desktop to be able to access the host.
    • Allow Connections Only from Computers Running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication-Select this option if you only want the most secure form of Remote Desktop access. In this case, Windows 7 checks the client computer to see whether its version of Remote Desktop supports Network Level Authentication (NLA). NLA is an authentication protocol that authenticates the user before making the Remote Desktop connection. NLA is built in to every version of Windows 7, but is not supported on older Windows systems.
  3. If you didn't add more users earlier, skip to step 6. Otherwise, click Select Users to display the Remote Desktop Users dialog box.
  4. Click Add to display the Select Users dialog box, type the username, and click OK. (Repeat this step to add other users.)
  5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box.
  6. Click OK.
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In this tutorial:

  1. Remote Network Connections
  2. Setting Up the Remote Computer as a Host
  3. Configuring Windows 7 or Vista to Act as a Remote Desktop Host
  4. Configuring a Windows Firewall Exception for Remote Desktop
  5. Activating the Remote Desktop Service
  6. Configuring XP to Act as a Remote Desktop Host
  7. Installing Remote Desktop on an XP Client Computer
  8. Connecting to the Remote Desktop
  9. Making an Advanced Connection
  10. Working with the Connection Bar
  11. Connecting to a Remote Desktop via the Internet
  12. Changing the Listening Port
  13. Configuring Windows Firewall
  14. Setting Up Port Forwarding
  15. Configuring a Network Computer for Remote Administration
  16. Configuring a Network Gateway for VPN
  17. Configuring the VPN Client
  18. Making the VPN Connection