How to change the listening port for Remote Desktop

How to change the listening port for Remote Desktop.

You can use the Remote Desktop feature in Microsoft Windows XP Professional to connect to your computer from another remote computer. 

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

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

307711 Remote Assistance invitation file does not contain correct port number

To have us change the port that Remote Desktop listens, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50595

Notes

• Please type the new integer port number between 1025 and 65535 in the PortNumber text box during the installation of the Fix it solution. Make sure the new port number is not in use by other application.


• This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.


• If you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD and then run it on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section. 

Let me fix it myself

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

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

1. Start Registry Editor.


2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\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.


6. Restart the computer.

Note When you try to connect to this computer by using the Remote Desktop connection, you must type the new port. Maybe you have to set the firewall to allow the new port number before you connect to this computer by using the Remote Desktop connection.

304304 How to configure the Remote Desktop client to connect to a specific port when you use Windows XP