Enabling Remote Desktop Connections to Server Core

Q. How do I enable remote desktop connections to my Windows Server 2008 Server Core installation?

A. There are essentially two steps to enabling remote desktop to Server Core. The first is to enable remote desktop connections and the second to open up the Windows Firewall to allow remote desktop connections. To enable remote desktop perform the following steps:

C:\Windows\System32>cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 0
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Registry has been updated.

C:\Windows\System32>cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.7
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server fDenyTSConnections
View registry setting.
0

To enable the firewall to allow the remote desktop use the following command:

C:\Windows\System32>netsh firewall set service type=remotedesktop mode=enable ok

— John Savill