Change RDP listening port in Windows Vista

Posted on December 14, 2008 at 5:12 am

In an earlier post, I wrote about how to setup Remote Desktop on a Windows XP computer. In that article, I talked about several things that you must do in order to activate Remote Desktop, including setting an user account password, unblocking the remote desktop port in the XP firewall, and enabling remote connections in the System Properties tab.

Finally, if you are connecting to a computer from outside the local network, you have to forward the default RDP listening port (3389) to the computer you want to connect. That was all explain in the previous article I mentioned.

In order to change the RDP listening port in Vista, open your registry editor (Start and type regedit in the search box) and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet >Control > TerminalServer > WinStations > RDP-Tcp

change rdp port vista

Double-click on it and choose Decimal. Then in Value Data, type in the port number you want to use.

edit rdp port number

Click OK and then close the registry editor. Restart the computer and your computer will now be listening for incoming remote connections on the new port. Most people have to change the RDP port because they are trying to connect to multiple computers on the same network, however, it’s probably a good idea even if you are connecting to one computer for security reasons.

Hackers know the default port is 3389, so they launch bots trying to hack into computers might have Remote Desktop enabled with a weak password. In order to connect to a computer with a different listening port, just add a colon and the port number after the computer name or IP address.

remote desktop port number

So hopefully with these two articles, you have been able to successfully implement a remote desktop connection across your network or across the Internet. If not, post a question here and I’ll try to help! Enjoy!

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Related Posts

Comments

5 Responses to “Change RDP listening port in Windows Vista”

  1. Kevin said on : December 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Super idea. One way to make the port easier to remember is using the last four digits of a phone number (greater than 1024) or a four- or five-digit street address.


  2. akishore said on : December 14th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Kevin, that’s a great idea! I’ve been doing something similar myself, but hadn’t really thought about it. Thanks for the advice.


  3. Jan said on : February 9th, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    Don’t forget to open the new port in Windows Firewall or other firewall software and closing the old. If it’s just for protection against portscanning known ports over the internet you could also open another random port on your router and forward it to port 3389 of the local machine. It’s easier to maintain and you won’t have to hack the registry. Pick a port between 10000-64000 and take a look at portforward.com which ports are not in use by other software.


  4. Ian said on : March 5th, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    I am guessing that this procedure for changing the RDP listening port is the same for Windows 7? Is there an easier way to remotely connect to a Windows 7 machine?


    Pingbacks
  1. Map a TCP-UDP port from one PC to another using Port Mapper Says:

    [...] you want to remotely access multiple computers on a single network using remote desktop, you have change the RDP listening port from the default 3389. Read my post here on how to setup remote [...]

    April 9th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Please post your comments/suggestions!