Terminal Services

Description:

Terminal Services allows multiple users to be connected interactively to the computer as they were logged on locally.
Terminal Services also provides the feature of displaying the desktops and applications to remote computers.

The terminal server uses by default port 3389 to listen for incoming remote control connections. This can be configured with this registry setting:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Control \TerminalServer \WinStations \RDP-Tcp]
PortNumber = 3389

More Info MS KB187623
More Info MS KB306759

Note when connecting to Windows 2000 with Remote Desktop then it will only display 256 colors. To get around this limitation then one has to upgrade to Windows XP/2003. More Info MS KB273725

Note when connecting to Windows XP Pro with Remote Desktop then it will only allow to receive a single session. If using Windows XP Home then it is only possible to receive Remote Assistance.

Note during the BETA testing of WinXP SP2 it became possible to have a locally and remotely logged on user at the same time. It required that it was two different accounts and Fast User Switching was turned on along with the Welcome Screen. The ability was removed just before SP2 was released, but it worked with Build 2055 of termsrv.dll when setting these DWORD registry keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \System \CurrentControlSet \Control \Terminal Server \Licensing Core]
EnableConcurrentSessions = 1
MaxInstanceCount = 2

Related Remote Desktop Client

More Info MS Terminal Services FAQ (Win2k)
More Info MS KB186566
More Info MS KB186607
More Info MS KB278502
More Info MS KB306561
More Info MS KB323353

Default State:
  • Manual.
  • Vista: Automatic.
Process Name:
Supports:
Depends:
  • None