Windows 7 : Setting Up the Remote Computer as a Host (part 1) - Configuring Windows 7 or Vista to Act as a Remote Desktop Host

2/28/2011 9:15:47 AM

Remote Desktop is easy to configure and use, but it does require a small amount of prep work to ensure trouble-free operation. Let’s begin with the remote computer, also called the host computer. The next few sections tell you how to set up a machine to act as a Remote Desktop host.

Windows Versions That Can Act as Hosts

The first thing you need to know is that not all versions of Windows can act as Remote Desktop hosts:

With Windows 7 and Windows Vista, the only versions that support Remote Desktop are Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.
If you want to use a Windows XP computer as the host, you can use any version except XP Home.

Setting Up User Accounts on the Host

For security reasons, not just anyone can connect to a remote computer’s desktop. By default, Windows gives permission to connect remotely to the host to the following:

The user who is currently logged on to the host machine
Members of the host’s Administrators and Remote Desktop Users groups

Note, however, that all of these users must have password-protected accounts to use Remote Desktop.

For anyone else, if you want to give a person permission to connect to the host remotely, you first need to set up an account for the username with which you want that person to connect from the client, and you must assign a password to this account.

Configuring Windows 7 or Vista to Act as a Remote Desktop Host

If the host machine is running the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate version of Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you have to do three things to prepare the computer for its Remote Desktop hosting duties:

Disable automatic sleep mode.
Allow Remote Desktop through the Windows Firewall.
Activate the Remote Desktop service.

Disabling Automatic Sleep Mode

By default, most Windows 7 and Vista machines are configured to go into sleep mode after 1 hour of inactivity. Sleep is a low-power mode that turns everything off except power to the memory chips, which store the current desktop configuration. When you turn the machine back on, the desktop and your open programs and documents appear within a few seconds. However, remote clients won’t be able to connect to the host if it’s in sleep mode, so you have to disable this feature.

Note

All we’re doing here is disabling the feature that puts your computer into sleep mode automatically after a period of inactivity. If need be, you can still put the computer into sleep mode manually by selecting Start and clicking the Sleep button.

Here are the steps to follow:

1.	Select Start, type power, and then click Power Options in the search results. The Power Options window appears.
2.	Click the Change When the Computer Sleeps link. Windows opens the Edit Plan Settings window.
3.	In the Put the Computer to Sleep list, select Never, as shown in Figure1. Figure 1. On the Remote Desktop host, turn off the feature that automatically puts the computer into sleep mode.
4.	Click Save Changes.

Configuring a Windows Firewall Exception for Remote Desktop

By default, Windows Firewall doesn’t allow Remote Desktop connections. This is a sensible security precaution because connecting to someone’s desktop gives you nearly complete control over that PC. To enable remote connections, you must configure a Windows Firewall exception for Remote Desktop.

Here are the steps you need to follow:

1.	Select Start, type firewall, and then select Windows Firewall in the search results. The Windows Firewall window appears.
2.	Click the Allow a Program or Feature Through Windows Firewall link.
3.	In Windows 7, click the Change Settings button; in Windows Vista, enter your User Account Control (UAC) credentials to continue.
4.	Activate the check box beside Remote Desktop, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. On the host, activate the Remote Desktop firewall exception.
5.	Click OK. Windows enables the firewall exception for Remote Desktop.

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, as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. On the remote host, select an option in the Remote Desktop group to enable remote connections to the computer’s desktop.
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.