// March 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Nothing is more frustrating than trying to connection remotely to multiple machines with a different port but then also keeping 3389 as the standard port internally. If you’re like me you’re mad that Microsoft doesn’t give you a GUI tool to add additional RDP listeners but it’s really easy to fix. Keep in mind this will only work with Microsoft Operating Systems that have RDP so that includes Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, and any Windows Server starting with Server 2003. If you have XP Home or Vista Premium or Home you’re out of luck.
1. Open the Registry Editor by running regedit
2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp
3. Right-click on RDP-Tcp and choose Export.
4. Type a name and save the file to your desktop.
5. Now find the registry file and right-click on it and choose Edit.
6. The third line down should read: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp].
7. Just add a number after the RDP-Tcp to make it a unique key name. An example would be: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp2]
8. If you can do a Hexadecimal to Decimal conversion in your head then you’re in luck and can change the port number here by changing the number in the following line: “PortNumber”=dword:00000d3d
9. If you aren’t good at changing it then just save the file and double-click on it and choose Yes to import the information back into the registry.
10. Now switch back to the Registry Editor and you will notice there is a new key below the other one. Navigate down to “PortNumber” and double-click on it.
11. Click the radio button to Decimal and enter a new port number. I usually use something like 4000. Once you choose a port click OK.
12. Now reboot your machine and you can test the port. The easiest way to test is to put the name in the Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe) with the following context: testserver: port number. So if your server is called Server1 and you set the port to 4000 just type server1:4000 and click Connect.
Please make sure that you do change your firewall to do the proper port mapping so you can connect remotely. The great part about this is you will still be able to use the standard connection internally but then also get to your machine remotely on the alternate port.
