How to get more RDP connections on your Windows Server

As you may know the majority of people ordering servers with Windows OS on top are using it for virtual desktops or virtual offices. When ordering a Windows Server for your virtual office you need to set up enough RDP (remote desktop protocol) connections for your employees so they would be able to connect to their working places. As you know Windows Server allows only two RDP connections by default meaning that if you connect with additional user the previous session will be lost. In order to omit that problem and to expand the number of connections, which are virtually unlimited, you need to do certain tweaks in the system.

First of all, you need to see that the Remote Desktop Service on your server in enabled. To do so hit Windows+S to open Search and type Remote Desktop Settings. 

Check that Enable is set to ON.

Enable Multiple RDP Connections

The manual here is pretty straightforward.

1. On the server press Win+R to open Run
2. Type gpedit.msc

1. You need to proceed to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Remote Desktop Services/Remote Desktop Session Host/Connections

1. Here we need to fix 2 files. First one is Limit Number of Connections. We set it to 5 for example

Second is Restrict Remote Desktop Services users to a single Remote Desktop Services session. Set it to Disabled.

Now let’s create more users for our virtual office.

How to create new RDP users

1. Once again hit Win+R and type compmgmt.msc to open Computer Management.
2. Proceed to System Tools/Local Users and Groups/Users 

1. Right-click and then Create User. Type the desired name and password. Bear in mind that the password should contain at least 8 symbols including numbers and upper case letters.

1. Add the user to the Remote Desktop Group by navigating to Groups/Remote Desktop Users and add his username there.

You’re all set. But what if you want to add more than two users?

How to get 3 and more RDP connections to the server?

In order to have more users connect to your server you need to install Remote Desktop Services - RDS and unfortunately, you need to purchase a license. Plot twist! You’ll have 120 days of the free trial before you can actually pay for it. 

How To Install RDS

1. Hit Win+S and type Server Manager and hit enter.
2. In Dashboard, select Add roles and features.
3. On the next step you should choose Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next.

1. Select your server there and hit next.
2. Find the Remote Desktop Service check-box, click on it and hit next.
3. Skip Features step by hitting next. Nothing to do here.
4. Hit next once again and proceed to the Role Services.
5. The thing to check here are Remote Desktop Connection Broker and Remote Desktop Session Host. Click yes on the prompting window. If you wish to use it over 120 days of trial click on Remote Desktop Licensing as well. Click Next.

1. On the confirmation page check the Restart the destination server automatically if required and hit Install. The server will reboot a few times before the installation is complete.
2. The last thing. You can change the Remote Desktop Maximum Connection to whatever connections you want by following our guide.

Conclusion

As you can see, configuring your server to accept more RDP connections is a 5-10 minute job you can easily do by using our article. Remember that you have 120 days of free license use, and after that, you need to pay for it. We hope that this article was useful to you. Should you have any problems, don’t hesitate to contact the BlueVPS team to help you out.