Normally, Remote Desktop is enabled using the Remote tab from the System Properties dialog box. However, in order to use this method, you must log on to the local computer.

Remote Desktop can be enabled remotely by creating a new RDP listening port through the remote computer’s registry. You can accomplish this by completing the steps described below:

1. Open the Registry Editor on your computer.
2. From the File menu, click Connect Network Registry.
3. Locate or type in the name of the remote computer. Click OK.
4. Browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Terminal Server.
5. In the right pane, open the value called fDenyTSConnections (REG_DWORD).
6. Change the value data from 1 to 0. This will enable Remote Desktop on the remote computer.
7. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

The remote computer must be restarted in order for the changes to take effect.

Locking a Computer Remotely
If you are physically seated at a computer, you can easily lock your workstation by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and selecting the Lock Workstation option. Alternatively you can also press the Windows Logo and “L” keystrokes.

However, for those of you who use the remote administration features of Vista, you will soon discover that you cannot lock the workstation using either of these methods (for the obvious reasons of course). What you can do though is create a shortcut on the remote desktop. When you double click the shortcut, the remote computer will automatically be locked.

Here is what you have to do. Right click on the remote desktop, point to New and click Shortcut. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, type in the following: c:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation. Click Next. Type in a name for the shortcut, such as Lock Workstation and click Finish. Now when you double click the shortcut, the remote computer will then go into a locked state.

[tags]remote administration, vista, windows[/tags]