Enabling Multiple Remote Desktop Sessions in Windows XP Professional and Media Center Edition 2005
October 18th, 2005 - 297 CommentsIf you have ever used a real remote computer system like Citrix, then you have probably been craving multiple Remote Desktop sessions since you first fired up Windows XP Professional and/or Media Center Edition. Here is a HACK (translated: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK), to enable multiple Remote Desktop sessions on your XP Pro or MCE 2005 box:
NOTE: You will have to have knowledge of the Windows operating system and more specifically the Windows Registry. If you have no experience with the registry, then I would recommend you find someone who does or leave these alone. I do not make any kind of warranty that this will work for you or your friends. This is provided for entertainment purposes only. Don’t call me if your computer stops working. Got it?
- Print these directions so that you have them to work from.
- Restart your computer in Safe Mode – Follow this link to learn how to restart Windows XP in Safe Mode
- Turn off/disable Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) and Terminal Services
- Right click My Computer
- Select Properties
- Click on the Remote tab at the top of the window
- UNCHECK the box next to, “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer“
- Click OK
- Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
- Find Terminal Services in the list
- Right click on Terminal Services and click Properties
- In the Startup Type box, select Disabled
- Click OK to close the window
- Here is a copy of the Terminal Services DLL – Save it to your Desktop or other suitable location
- Using a file manager like Windows Explorer open C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
- Rename the file termsrv.dll to termsrv_dll.bak or whatever you would like.
- Copy the downloaded termsrv.dll file (the one you just downloaded from the web) to C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
- Open the C:\Windows\system32 folder
- Delete the file termsrv.dll in C:\Windows\system32
You should be good to go.
I obey the steps. I restart the laptop and start the terminal services but then I cannot make remote desktop connetion to this laptop. It gives “protocol error”. No one can connect to this laptop even only one user. I copied this new dll under the system32 too. the error is
“Because of a protocol error detected at client, this session will be disconnected”
Restarting was tried for several times. Also Before making all the steps in this wep page I connected to this laptop from my pc for several times. There was no protocol error.
Urgent help please.
Reix, you can type the location c:\windows\system32\dllcache directly to the explorer location bar
To those who can’t get it to work, it’s better to go for commercial version such ThinServer XP
http://www.aikotech.com/thinserver.htm
I have already using My Windows xp as teminal server. I can log on with many user with the same time, But sometimes apper network disconnection at the corner ( top side). I check with ping, good result. ( Is it not stabil ?) and fast user swithing run with not normal in terminal server.
help please
my problem was that i didn’t have fast user switching on. it being off stopped it from working.
hope this helps others it did for me when my brother used my computer whilst i was at college
Using Remote Desktop, I am able to access my database and enter text changes via the remote computer’s keyboard. However, I am not able to read/transfer information from USB thumb drives or floppy disks that are plugged into the remote (“client”?) computer. Is there a way to do this? thank you. paul
Hi Paul,
You need to click on Disk Drives under the Local Resources tab of your Remote Desktop client software
You will then see your local drives appearing on your remote server !
THANK YOU. I carefully followed the instructions and it worked first try. WOW this is awesome. I don’t know why they don’t leave this as a feature and BRAG about it. Maybe they consider it a huge security risk for the average user. (It is, i suppose.) VERY very cool. Thanks a lot.
Will this hack work on XP 64 Bit? Are we sure it’s free of spyware grayware and any viruses?
I need a help on mstsc. System XYZ has been enabled with mstsc & works fine.
When 2 people connect, System A or System B, the other person gets looses the connection, I understand since it is Single instance which is allowed. But I need one System A to work on that System XYZ and System B also to connect @ same time and just view What system A is doing ? How to do this. Please help. Thanks
Revised instructions…
1. Print these directions so that you have them to work from.
2. Download the Terminal Services DLL – Save it to your Desktop or other suitable location
3. Restart your computer in Safe Mode – Follow this link to learn how to restart Windows XP in Safe Mode
4. Turn off/disable Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) and Terminal Services
5. Right click My Computer
6. Select Properties
7. Click on the Remote tab at the top of the window
8. UNCHECK the box next to, “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer“
9. Click OK
10. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
11. Find Terminal Services in the list
12. Right click on Terminal Services and click Properties
13. In the Startup Type box, select Disabled
14. Click OK to close the window
• Next you will replace the current version of the Terminal Services DLL (termsrv.dll) with an unrestricted version from a previous release of Terminal Services.
1. Using a file manager like Windows Explorer open C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
2. If there is an existing file termsrv.dll, rename the file to termsrv_dll.bak or whatever you would like.
3. Copy the downloaded termsrv.dll file (the one you just downloaded from the web) to C:\Windows\system32\dllcache
4. Open the C:\Windows\system32 folder
5. If there is an existing file termsrv.dll in this folder, rename this file to termsrv_dll.bak or whatever you would like.
6. Copy the downloaded termsrv.dll file to C:\Windows\system32
• Now we can edit the Windows Registry to enable more than one RDP connection. Go to Start -> Run and type regedit – Hopefully you knew that already
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core
• Add a DWORD Key named EnableConcurrentSessions and give it a value of 1
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
• Ensure the DWORD Key named AllowMultipleTSSessions is set to a value of 1.
• Though this is not required, you may also wish to modify the DWORD Key named LogonType. Set to a value of 0 to force users to enter a name and password to logon locally; set to a value of 1 to force users to logon using the Windows XP Welcome screen.
• Close the Registry Editor window
• Go to Start -> Run and type gpedit.msc to run the Group Policy Editor
• Browse to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services and double click Limit number of connections
• Select the Enabled button and enter the number of connections you would like to enable….at least 2.
• Restart Windows
• Right click My Computer and select Properties.
• Click on the Remote tab at the top of the window
• CHECK the box next to, “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer“
• Click OK
• Go to Start -> Control Panel ->Administrative Tools -> Services. Select Terminal Services from the list and double click it or right-click -> Properties. Set the Startup Type to Manual.
• Restart Windows/Computer
You should be good to go.
Whoa that is a lot of steps but thanks
Does anyone know if this work with xp home or the new windows home server ?
tks
Wow, ppl need to learn how to read, i read every comment and ppl just post questions that have already been answered… great forum btw, too bad won’t work with my xp pro 64bit
Wow, just been to ThinServer XP (thin client software ) website.
They are having Xmas sales now !
http://www.aikotech.com/purchase.htm
Anyone know if a recent update killed this? Just tried it on a brand new XP Pro 32bit machine. Replaced the DLL, changed the policy settings, but a second login still kills the first.
Please give us the configration that could work on VISTA OS.
Sam
Can only add that this method is simply replacement of termsrv.dll. This version is not a hack. It came from the beta of SP2 and didn’t have restrictions to 1 session. Only complication is that this service can’t be stopped by normal commands. That’s why there’s a suggestion about running safe mode. But you don’t have to.
And you can also do it remotely. I just did it. You need telnet session for that. First you upload termsrv.dll to C:\ on the target machine using terminal session or FTP. And then use the command
sc config termservice start= disabled
Then you restart the machine from the terminal service and reconnect telnet after it reboots. Then you replace termsrv.dll in system32 and system32/dllcache with whatever you uploaded using copy command.
Then use
sc config termservice start= demand
and then
net start termservice
That’s all.
One more addition. Other changes to policy and registry mentioned above are needed. I was only talking about replacing DLL remotely.
Where is this hack supposed to be done, is it on the local computer or on the remote computer?
Also, does it work with RDC6 (Terminal Services Client 6.0) KB925876 ? Just updated my client PC to that version
Yes, it’s supposed to be installed on the server ( the pc acting as the remote desktop server )
Should be able to work on RDC6 cos RDC6 is compatible to RDP5
If you having trouble, u can try some commercial software
http://www.thinsoftinc.com
http://www.aikotech.com/thinserver.htm
Thanks Netter for the reply. But I’m still confused, does it allow 2 users (1 on client computer and the other on the server) to logon simultaneously with the same username and can actually see same contents displayed on the screen, view same documents and control same applications at the same time?
I followed the instructions carefully but still the server does not allow simultaneous logon using the same username. It only allows one user at a time except if the other user logs on using a different username.
I dont see to have a Terminal Server component in Group policy, under computer config, admin templates, win components. Only thing there is a windows update map.
Any ideas?
This is excellent! Thanks for sharing it. I have an XP Home system which does not list Remote Desktop under Accessories/Communication; tried to install and it says it is already installed. Any idea where I can find the executable file?
Just FYI for the xp home guys…
http://www.thinsoftinc.com/
Winconnect Server XP allows home edition to be a term server. It also allows Pro to work. Awesome program, if anyone wants to check it out!
There is another utility supposed to enable RDP access on XP Home. You can try if it works
Couple with ThinServer XP, it is still much cheaper than Winconnect
http://kickme.to/boosterxp
http://www.aikotech.com/thinserver.htm
Hi, is there a way to do a RDP session and have the other person watch what you are doing. The same as what VNC does?
2ndly, how can you use RDP WEB without install IIS on a XP machine. There is a windows 2003 server install with many xppor clients.
Hope someone knows the answer.
[...] Fonte: http://www.golod.com/2005/10/enabling-multiple-remote-desktop-sessions-in-windows-xp-professional-and-media-center-edition-2005/ [...]
Just stumbled on this site, I’ve been looking for something like this.
Fly, Remote Assistance works like VNC but it’s kind of a hassle to get connected. Although, it does requires Windows Messenger to work.
This “hack” doesn’t seem to work. When i get 2 user logged on at the same time, the new session will login and freeze.
Serg_zone,
Are u using same user or different user?
Hey guys this does work and the instructions need some attention. But overall I wanted to let you guys know I have used a hack for unlimited connections for remote desktop that actually allows you to have more than lets say 10 connections simultaneously while logged into the same PC. I have it setup on a dev box that a group of developers hit from india. Unfortunately I need it again and my firefox blew out my favorites. When I find it Ill post the link.
Its win xp sp2 here. I have set all settings now its showing this client might be busy.
Hi, I followed the instruction carefully, but I am having troubles most of the time … especially if local(other account) has already logged on to the system before I start remote desktop from other pc.
I can see desktop background (using LAN connection) then remote desktop window will close automatically. If I keep on trying it will ask to log off the current user (the one already logged on) so I can remote desktop into my pc …the same way as if I were using regular/original termsrv.dll
Any suggestions?
I’ve made the install correctly and all worked (I was able to have two remote clients connected successfully,1 windows and 1 linux). However, I started experiencing errors just today : “Connection Time Out” on Linux and another error in Windows. Anyone came across this issue and a good workaround on it?
Tried eveyrything as instructed, twice, once using the original instructions and one using the revised instructions. Still no go
Wow…
)
It’s even simple to share a session:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/29917/ShowThread.aspx
Fantastic!
Works like a charm on my up-to-date XP SP2 install. Many thanks.
It seems to be good. I have Windows XP Home edition SP2 in my machine which has enough RAM, diskspace and Intel D915GVL motherboard. Does your solution work in this environment (in Windows XP Home)? I have an idea of installing one more graphics card (mid-range) and connecting my HDTV to it. I will use wirless keyboard with mouse to login as additional user through it. Please clarify.
Windows XP Home users go to
http://www.geekport.com/2007/08/15/enabling-remote-desktop-in-xp-home/
Then go to
http://sala.pri.ee/?page_id=11
This worked for me and I did not have enable fast user switching.
ThinServer XP SELLS actually a HACK of termsrv.dll …
tclient.ocx is a renamed hacked verion of termsrv.dll . The actual size as well as the metadata are the same with termsrv 5.1.2600.2180
SHAME ON YOU aikotech.com !.
There is a tested unlimited version below:
=============================
http://dot651.blog.com/1883945/
http://www.filesend.net/download.ph…24b9c319ec3110e
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ccfb85/
I have seen this working on a xp sp2 x86 but now I want to use this on a XP SP2 X64, I don’t have a file named terms.dll in the dllcache folder, what can I do?
I’ve seen others ask this question but no-one answered them…
Smarty,
I know a lot of people is looking for 64 bit version (including myself). I will let u know once I found it
M2008,
All of these is based on the patch concept. I supposed u think Xpunlimited is also a hack !!! I doubt ThinServer is using the same hacked dll. The hacked dll does not resume disconnected state and also is not stable unlike ThinServer
Arie-Lex,
Thanks for the link
Great article.
I made this changes without restart
1. killed svchost
2. shutdown -a
buhahah
) bad site.. I wrote so many lines.. but it shows only two of them 
Sucks !
Thanks a lot!!!, it worked perfect, and solved me a big problem!!!
M2008
I just checked tclient.ocx and the size is only 150K, the hacked dll is 288k so I dunno what WEED u r smoking !!
seems good..it works for me too..thanks for the post..
Great Blog!!! Best tweak I have seen for XP in a while!
I’m using windows XP SP2 and tried with the above steps, but when I logon using another user id, system will kick out the existing login user id. Still cannot have multiple user id login. I’ve the message like ” The user xxx is currently logged on to this computer. If you continue this user’s windows session will end and any un-saved data will be lost. Do you want to continue? Hope that someone can help. Thanks!
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I have done revised version
but not able to login with 2 user id’s
we are using DOMAIN.
plz let me knw if thr is ne solution