Changing the listening port for Remote Desktop

Posted

on March 27, 2008

You can use the Remote Desktop feature in Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2003 to connect to a remote computer.Â The default port Remote Desktop listens on is 3389.

Note: The Remote Assistance feature in Microsoft Windows XP may not work correctly if you change the listening port.

To change the port that Remote Desktop listens on, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor by click on the Start button, selecting Run, type in regedit, and then press Enter.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber

3. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Decimal.

4. Type the new port number, and then click OK.

5. Quit Registry Editor.

To connect to the computer you changed the listening port on, you must specify the port number in the Remote Desktop Connection dialogue box. For example, instead of just typing the computer name, you need to add Portnumber to the end (where portnumber is the listening port).

Default - No port specified - connecting to the default port of 3389.