Remote Desktop for Administration overview
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Remote Desktop for Administration overview
Remote Desktop for Administration (formerly known as Terminal Services in Remote Administration mode) provides remote access to the desktop of computers running any Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 family operating system, allowing you to administer your server from virtually any computer on your network. For detailed information about using Remote Desktop for Administration for remote server administration, see Using Remote Desktop for Administration for remote server administration.
Important
Be aware of the security implications of remote logons. Users who log on remotely can perform tasks as though they were sitting at the console. For this reason, you should ensure that the server is behind a firewall. For more information, see VPN servers and firewall configuration and Security information for IPSec.
You should require all users who make remote connections to use Strong passwords.
To use Remote Desktop for Administration, you must enable remote connections at the server you plan to connect to. For more information, see Enable or disable Remote Desktop.
To connect to Remote Desktop for Administration from a remote computer, use Remote Desktop Connection. For more information, see Remote Desktop Connection.
Notes
Remote Desktop for Administration is disabled by default in Windows Server 2003 family operating systems.
By default, the Remote Desktop Users group is not populated. You must decide which users and groups you want to have permission to log on remotely, and then manually add them to the group. For more information, see Add users to the Remote Desktop Users group.
Remote administration of servers with Remote Desktop for Administration is available on any computer running a Windows Server 2003 family operating system. A simpler version of Remote Desktop is also available on Microsoft Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional. For information on installing and configuring Terminal Server, see Terminal Server.