How to enable Remote Desktop on Windows 11 and 10

Open Settings, then System, then About, and look at Edition under Windows specifications. If it says Pro, Enterprise or Education, carry on. If it says Home, the Remote Desktop switch isn't there; skip to Windows Home: what to use instead.

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   Step 1: Open Remote Desktop settings

   Press Windows+I to open Settings, choose System on the left, then Remote Desktop.

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   Step 2: Turn on Remote Desktop

   Switch Remote Desktop on and click Confirm. Windows also allows Remote Desktop through Windows Firewall.

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   Step 3: Keep Network Level Authentication on

   Expand Remote Desktop and leave Require devices to use Network Level Authentication to connect ticked. It makes people sign in before Windows starts a session. The same panel shows the Remote Desktop port, 3389 unless someone changed it.

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   Step 4: Note the PC name

   The page shows the PC name. That's what you type to connect from another PC on the same network.

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   Step 5: Let other accounts in, if needed

   Administrator accounts on the PC can connect already. For anyone else, choose Remote Desktop users, click Add, type their user name and click OK. Every account that connects needs a password: a blank one doesn't work over Remote Desktop.

• Open Settings, then System, then Remote Desktop.
• Turn on Enable Remote Desktop and click Confirm.
• Leave Keep my PC awake for connections when it is plugged in ticked, so the PC is there when you connect.
• Under Advanced settings, keep Network Level Authentication on.
• Note the PC name, and use Select users that can remotely access this PC to add accounts that aren't administrators.

System Properties (any version)

Press Windows+R, type SystemPropertiesRemote and press Enter. On the Remote tab, choose Allow remote connections to this computer, keep the Network Level Authentication box ticked, and click OK.

PowerShell (as administrator)

Handy for a PC you're setting up from a script. The second line turns on Windows' own Remote Desktop firewall rules:

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server' -Name fDenyTSConnections -Value 0
Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop"

The firewall group's name follows the language of Windows, so on a PC in another language, use the name shown there.

• Turning Remote Desktop on in Settings or System Properties also allows it through Windows Firewall, so there's usually nothing else to do on your own network.
• If you use another firewall program, allow TCP and UDP port 3389 for Remote Desktop.
• Set your home network to Private (Settings, Network & internet, then your connection), so Windows treats it as trusted.
• Set the PC not to sleep while it's plugged in (Settings, System, Power). A sleeping PC can't take connections.

What the port is, how to check it and how to change it are in RDP port 3389: which port Remote Desktop uses.

Remote Desktop Connection is the app built into every edition of Windows, Home included, for connecting to a PC that has Remote Desktop turned on. Its program name is mstsc. It shows that PC's desktop in a window or full screen, sends your keyboard and mouse to it, and can bring the remote PC's sound, your clipboard, printers and drives along. The PC you connect to does the work; Remote Desktop Connection only shows it. That's what people mean by using RDP, the Remote Desktop Protocol it speaks.

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   Step 1: Open Remote Desktop Connection

   On the other Windows PC (any edition, Home included), click Start, type Remote Desktop Connection and open it. You can also run mstsc.

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   Step 2: Type the PC name or IP address

   Use the PC name from its Remote Desktop settings, or its local IP address (run ipconfig on that PC and look for IPv4 Address). Click Show Options to save the user name and set things up first: the Display tab sets the window size and whether to use all your monitors, and Local Resources sets sound, the clipboard, printers and drives.

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   Step 3: Connect and sign in

   Click Connect and sign in with an account on the remote PC, using its password, not a PIN. For an account that signs in to Windows with an email address, type the full email address.

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   Step 4: Accept the certificate the first time

   Windows may warn that the identity of the remote computer can't be verified, because the PC uses its own certificate. Check the name is the PC you meant, then continue. Tick the box so it doesn't ask again for that PC.

To end the session, close the Remote Desktop window to disconnect (your apps keep running on the PC), or sign out from the remote PC's Start menu. Ctrl+Alt+Break switches full screen on and off. Windows 11 and 10 allow one person at a time: signing in over Remote Desktop locks the PC's own screen, and if someone else is using it, Windows asks before taking over. Ctrl+Alt+Del works differently in a session; see how to send Ctrl+Alt+Del in Remote Desktop. If it won't connect, work through Remote Desktop not working: fixes.

Remote Desktop is built for PCs on the same network. From the internet, your router has to forward port 3389 to the PC, which also lets anyone on the internet try passwords against it, and it can't work at all if your internet provider shares one public address between customers. The details, and how to limit the risk, are in the RDP port guide's section on port forwarding.

A remote access app avoids that: it connects out from the PC, so nothing on the router has to change. That's how RemoteAccessApp reaches PCs, explained in remote desktop without port forwarding.

Windows 11 Home and Windows 10 Home can't accept Remote Desktop connections. There are two ways around it:

• Upgrade to Pro. It's a paid upgrade, in Settings, System, Activation. Then follow the steps above.
• Use a remote access app that runs on Home. RemoteAccessApp has its own Agent, so it doesn't need the Remote Desktop feature at all. Install it on the PC from the download page (no administrator rights needed), choose Set up this PC, and open the PC from another PC or any browser.

With RemoteAccessApp, the PC asks the person there to allow each connection and shows a banner for the whole session, unless you switched on unattended access at that PC to reach it when nobody's there. Every step is in how to access your PC remotely for free, and free remote desktop for Windows 10 and 11 covers what you can do in a session.

If you only turned Remote Desktop on for a one-off job, switch it off again in Settings, System, Remote Desktop. A PC that doesn't accept Remote Desktop connections is one less way in. If you think someone has been using it without your say-so, see how to tell if someone is remotely accessing your computer.