Remote Desktop - Step 3 - Allow Connection & Firewall 4/10/2009 All Remote Desktop posts
Now we can make sure that your computer is set up to allow connections to it using the Remote Desktop Protocol Windows XP & Windows 2000
Right click on My Computer and select Properties.
Select the Remote tab
Check "Allow Remote Connections"
Click OK to continue
Windows Vista
Right click on Computer and select Properties
Select "Remote Settings" from the menu on the left
In this dialog select the 2nd or 3rd option to "Allow Connections from computers..."
Click OK to continue
If you have a Firewall running on your target PC you're going to need to open up port 3389 to allow RDP Traffic in. I will describe how to do this with Windows Firewall (comes with Windows, works well enough) but other Firewall software should be similar. In Windows, navigate to your Control Panel, click on Security Center, select Windows Firewall, and click on "change settings". Once the Windows Firewall Settings dialog opens select the Exceptions tab. This will show you all of the current exceptions (allowed traffic rules) exposed. If you see "Remote Desktop" listed simply check the box and you're done. If not click the "Add port..." button and enter "Remote Desktop" for the name and "3389" for the port along with TCP and click "OK". Click OK once more to close the dialog and you should be good to go on the Firewall front.
