Enable SSH and Remote Desktop Connection in Windows Server
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) lets you access a Windows PC remotely from another device. It’s available on Windows Pro and Enterprise editions but not Home. In this guide, we shall discuss how to Enable SSH and Remote Desktop Connection in Windows Server. Please, see Create an NFS Storage on Synology NAS and Present it to XCP-ng, and how to Run Mendeley Reference Manager and Cite for Word on Windows.
Recently, I have always consented by the Hyper Manager to my VMs. Recently, I decided to set up Devolusions Remote Desktop Manager on Windows as you can see below.
But, when I tried to initiate a connection to a VM, I could not. Also, see how to install and license Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager on Mac, and Disable credential Prompts for Remote Desktop Connections.
Enable RDP
There are numerous ways to do this in Windows (Windows Server). This could be via the Windows Settings, Control Panel, Run Console, Windows Search Bar, GPO, Registry Keys, and the Command Prompt etc. In Windows, there are always numerous ways to get a task done.
As you can see in the Server Manager image below, Remote Desktop is disabled. We will have to enable it by clicking on the link Disabled close to the enabled button.
This will launch the System properties window as shown below. Under Remote Desktop, please, select “Allow remote connections to this computer”, and also select “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended).
Optionally, you can select the Users that you would want to grant RDP access to this VM. When done, click on OK.
As you can see below, we have enabled RDP on this Server.
You can verify this also from the Windows Settings, Systems and then Remote Desktop as shown below.
You can also achieve this via PowerShell with the command below.
Set-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server” -Name “fDenyTSConnections” -Value 0 -Force
Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup “Remote Desktop”
Start-Service -Name “TermService” -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Please, see “Is RDP enabled? Enable and disable Remote Desktop in Windows 10 for all users or selected users, how to associate SSH Public key with Azure Linux VM, how to fix Remote Desktop can’t connect to the remote computer for one of these reasons.
Enable SSH Access
Windows 10 and Windows 11 include OpenSSH Client and OpenSSH Server as built‑in, optional features, allowing secure command‑line access without installing third‑party tools.
Windows Server 2019, 2022, 2025, and newer versions also include OpenSSH Server as an optional Feature on Demand, which can be installed via Settings, Server Manager, or PowerShell.
To enable OpenSSH, you can click on the Disabled link from the Server Manager and follow the prompts as shown in the image below to enable it.
You can install OpenSSH via the PowerShell command below with administrative privilege. The below command will install, start, and auto-start SSH and enable firewall rule on port 22.
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
Start-Service sshd
Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType Automatic
New-NetFirewallRule -Name “OpenSSH” -DisplayName “OpenSSH Server” -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 22
When done, you can test connectiveilty by using the following command below.
ssh username@server-ip
Here are some security recommendations to consider when running OpenSSH. Change default SSH settings in “sshd_config” if exposed to the internet (e.g., disable password auth, use key-based login).
I hope you found this guide on how to Enable SSH and Remote Desktop Connection in Windows Server very useful. Please, feel free to leave a comment below.
