Enable Remote Desktop Using Group Policy

I recently needed to enable Remote Desktop access to multiple computers in a domain that my company services. I had no desire to visit each computer and manually make the change, so I search Google and found a KB article on Microsoft's website detailing the steps for enabling Remote Desktop via Active Directory and Group Policy.

To use the computer's local group policy to enable Remote Desktop:

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK.


2. In the Group Policy editor, click to expand Computer Configuration, click to expand Administrative Templates, click to expand Windows Components, and then click to expand Terminal Services.


3. Double-click the Allow users to connect remotely using Terminal Services policy.


• Set the policy to Enabled, and then click OK.

You can also use the following procedure to disable Remote Desktop; however, if you use the preceding procedure, the following configuration is overridden:

1. Right-click My Computer and click Properties.


2. Click the Remote tab.
   In the Remote Desktop section, click to clear Allow users to connect remotely to this computer, and then click OK.

NOTE: Remote Desktop is disabled by default on Windows XP Professional.