Remotely Enable Remote Desktop on a Windows 7 System
Purpose
Many times Systems Administrators (admins) find themselves needing to remotely connect to Windows 7 systems in geographically separated offices. In some cases, the admins find themselves unable to connect to the remote Windows 7 system, due to the fact that Remote Desktop connectivity never was enabled on the remote system.
Assumptions
1) You have appropriate rights/privs to modify/administer the remote workstation
2) The remote registry service is running on the remote workstation
To enable remote desktop on a remote Windows 7 workstation, from the Windows 7 command prompt, type:
REG ADD \\remote-computer\HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
Where "remote-computer" is the name of the remote Windows 7 workstation for which you need to enable RDP.
The desired setting is shown in the following image:
Test Connectivity
Test connectivity - from the Windows 7 command prompt, type:
mstsc /v:remote-computer /f
If you are presented with the Windows Username/Password login prompt, then you have successfully enable Remote Desktop Protocol connectivity to the remote system.