Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows Vista
    - Admin Tips
      - Networking
        Changing the Remote Desktop Port

Section(s): Network, Network, Registry Hacks, Networking
Published on Jun 19, 2008.
Last Modified on Jun 19, 2008.
Last Modified by Eric Geier.
Rated 5 out of 5 based on 4 votes.

Changing the listening and connecting port for Windows Remote Desktop Connection.

The default port that the Windows Remote Desktop Connection program listens on is 3389. However, you can change to any port you wish; maybe you find public networks block everything except port 80 and 433 (in which you could set it to 433) or you feel changing to a non-default port is better security wise. Whatever your case, you must edit the Windows Registry:

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: \System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\
Name: PortNumber
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: desired port number in Decimal format

Then if you use the Windows Remote Desktop Connection program to connect to the computer, follow the address you want to connect to with a colon and the port number that you changed to; for example 255.255.255.255:433.

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Eric Geier is an author of many wireless networking and computing books including Home Networking All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (Wiley 2008) and 100 Things You Need to Know about Upgrading to Windows Vista (Que 2007).