The World According to Mitch

Like most IT Managers I manage myriad servers, most of which are both remote and virtual.  So when I configure them initially I make sure that I can manage them remotely… including in most cases the ability to connect via RDP (Remote Desktop).

But what happens if you have a server that you need to connect to, but does not have RDP enabled?  Using PowerShell it is rather simple to enable the RDP feature remotely:

Enter-PSSession -ComputerName computername.domain.com –Credential domain\username
Set-ItemProperty -Path ‘HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server’-name “fDenyTSConnections” -Value 0
Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup “Remote Desktop”
Set-ItemProperty -Path ‘HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp’ -name “UserAuthentication” -Value 1

That should get you going.  Good luck!