Change Listening Port for Windows Remote Desktop [Tip]

remote_desktop_connection

The default listening port for Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection is 3389. The most common reason for needing to change the RDP listening port is needing to have remote access for more than one Windows XP/Vista/7 machine behind the same firewall.

To change the listening port is just a simple registry edit on Windows XP/Vista/7:

Start->Run
In the Run box type regedit
In the Registry Editor locate the subkey: KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\
TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber
Double Click on the PortNumber subkey to edit it
Change the Base selection to Decimal and then change the Value to the port you would like to use
Click OK to save

To access a machine with a modified listening port you need to add :portnumber after the IP address or DNS name.
Examples:
192.168.1.20:3390 mail.yourcompany.com:3391

Don’t forget: If you would like to access this machine from outside your network, you will also have to setup port forwarding on your firewall.