Is RDP enabled? Enable and disable Remote Desktop in Windows 10 for all users or selected users

In this article, we shall discuss “Is RDP enabled? Enable and disable Remote Desktop in Windows for all users or selected users via CMD, PowerShell, Control Panel, and Windows Settings”. See the following guide on how to remove saved RDP credentials entries in Windows 10 and How to remove RDP connection entries. RDP is based on, and an extension of, the ITU T.120 family of protocols. How to allow saved credentials for RDP connection, How to change a password on a Remote Desktop session, and  How to fix Windows 11 Remote Desktop Connectivity issues.

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) provides remote display and input capabilities over network connections for Windows-based applications running on a server.

RDP is designed to support different types of network topologies and multiple LAN protocols. Remote Desktop Protocol or just RDP allows a user to establish a connection between two computers and access the Desktop of a remote host.

By default, the server listens on TCP port 3389 and UDP port 3389. You can use the command quickly to determin this (netstat /p tcp /a | findstr 3389). This does not mean, RDP is enabled. You can use Remote Desktop to connect to and control your PC from a remote device by using a Microsoft Remote Desktop client (available for Windows, iOS, macOS and Android).

When you allow remote connections to your PC, you can use another device to connect to your PC and have access to all of your apps, files, and network resources as if you were sitting at your desk.

Should I enable Remote Desktop?

If you only want to access your PC when you are physically using it, you don’t need to enable Remote Desktop. Enabling Remote Desktop opens a port on your PC that is visible to your local network.

You should only enable Remote Desktop in trusted networks, such as your home. You also don’t want to enable Remote Desktop on any PC where access is tightly controlled.

Be aware that when you enable access to Remote Desktop, you are granting anyone in the Administrators group, as well as any additional users you select, the ability to remotely access their accounts on the computer. You should ensure that every account that has access to your PC is configured with a strong password.

Please see Disable credential Prompts for Remote Desktop Connections, how to Prevent the Saving of RDP Credentials in Windows 10, and “Remote Desktop cannot find the computer this in the specified network: Verify the computer name and domain that you are trying to connect“.

Step 1: Check whether RDP is enabled

The process to check is almost the same process to enable a Remote Desktop connection on Windows 11. You will need to complete the following steps. below.

The first Step 1: Right-click This PC or My Computer on your desktop and then select Properties from the menu. (You can directly access this via the About page on Windows Settings also).

Step 2

On the System Properties window, under About, click on System Protection as shown below.

Step 3

Click Remote Settings on the left pane.

Under the Remote tab, see if the box next to Don’t allow connections to this computer is checked to check if the Remote Desktop feature is enabled.

Please see Restrict the number of tabs a user can open in Chrome and Edge, and How to create Synology Snapshot Replication.

Enable Remote Desktop Connection

If your Remote Desktop is not enabled on Windows 10, you can enable it now by following exactly the same steps discussed above. You can enable this feature via Windows Settings.

Furthermore, You need to be an Administrator on the device or added to the remote User group on the device locally or in Active Directory before you can connect via RDP. You may want to see this guide on how to set up a Domain Controller.

Enable RDP for Selected Users

Please follow the steps described below. They are the same steps as above but with the introduction of a new step. In this example, I will be using Windows 10.

Search for the Control Panel as shown below.

Click on System and Security once the Control Panel opens.

Select Allow remote access, located under the System tab.

Click on Select Users, located in the Remote Desktop section of the Remote tab. (Note: If the option to enable remote connection is not selected, this option will be grayed out).

Note: You may wish to allow connections only with Network Level Authentication. If you want to restrict who can access your PC, choose to allow access only with Network Level Authentication (NLA).

When you enable this option, users have to authenticate themselves to the network before they can connect to your PC. Allowing connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with NLA is a more secure authentication method that can help protect your computer from malicious users and software.

This will open up the Remote Desktop Users window as shown below. Click on Add.

This will open the select user windows as shown in the figure below. Enter the object names you wish to allow RDP access to the device and click on Check names.

When you are done, click on OK.

I will also want to show you the various other ways one could enable Remote Desktop via the Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell.

Enable Remote Desktop via Command Prompt

To enable RDP via the command line, just edit the registry with the reg command as described below.

Run the Command Prompt as Administrator. Type the following command on the Command Prompt window and then hit the Enter to run this command.

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Note: When the above command has been executed, you need to run another command and hit Enter to execute it. This command will add and update rules in the Firewall and after that, you can use Remote Desktop.

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="remote desktop" new enable=yes

Enable Remote Desktop via Windows PowerShell

Run Windows PowerShell as administrator. Then type the following command and hit the Enter key to run it.

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server'-name "fDenyTSConnections" -Value 0

Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop"

If you want to disable the Remote Desktop feature on Windows 10, you can also run the following commands in Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell. Please do not forget to hit the Enter key after typing each command.

Disable Remote Desktop via Control Panel / Windows Settings

These steps are exactly as described above when determining if RDP is enabled or you wish to enable it.

This time, you will have to select “Don't allow remote connection to this computer“.

Disable Remote Desktop via Command Prompt

Launch Command Prompt with Admin Privileges and run the below commands. These commands should help disable Remote Desktop Connection on your device.

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="remote desktop" new enable=No

Disable Remote Desktop via Windows PowerShell

To enable and disable Remote Desktop in Windows 10, begin by launching PowerShell with Administrator privileges. Then, execute the provided commands to effectively disable Remote Desktop Connection on your device.

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server'-name "fDenyTSConnections" -Value 1

Disable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop"

I hope you found this guide on how to “Is RDP enabled? Enable and disable Remote Desktop in Windows for all users or selected users via CMD, PowerShell, Control Panel, and Windows Settings” helpful. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment section.