Windows Home Server · How-To

Remote Desktop Access - Windows Home Server

Doug Knox · · Restored archive post · Edited by Muhd Radhi Wahab
Restored from the windows-now.com archive. This post was originally published by Doug Knox on 31 March 2007. It is reproduced faithfully for its historical and reference value, with the original author and date credited. A present-day editor's note follows the original text. If you are the author and would like this amended or removed, contact us.

Ok, as I've mentioned previously, Windows Home Server allows Remote Access to the PC's on your home LAN, that support being a Remote Desktop Host. You can also access the Server after you log into the web interface and go to the Computers tab, but...... you only get the Windows Home Server Console, not the full Home Server Desktop. There are two work-arounds for this.

1) If you're behind a hardware router, forward TCP/IP Port 3389 to the Windows Home Server machine's LAN IP Address. This way you can use the Remote Desktop client to access your Windows Home Server's desktop directly.

2) On the Windows Home Server (either from the console or via Remote Desktop), open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Inetpub\Remote and locate the rdpload.aspx file. Open this file in Notepad. Locate the following two lines:

MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings.StartProgram = "HomeServerConsole.exe -r";
MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings.WorkDir = "c:\Program Files\Windows Home Server";

These tell the browser based RDP session to use HomeServerConsole.exe as the "shell", with a command line parameter to tell it not to show the Minimize and Exit buttons.

Replace the two lines, above, with the following two lines:

MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings.StartProgram = "Explorer.exe";
MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings.WorkDir = "c:\Windows";

Which tells the RDP session to use explorer.exe as the "Shell", which it normally is anyway. You can make other changes to the RDP settings, such as setting a timeout for idle sessions and others. Be careful though, if you don't know what you're changing.

Now, when you access your Windows Home Server from outside your LAN using the web interface, when you select Connect to my home server, from the Computers tab, you'll see the standard Desktop inside your browser window.

Editor's note — present-day context

This tweak is written for the original 2007 release of Windows Home Server, which reached end of support long ago; the rdpload.aspx web console file and its MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings lines belong to that specific product. On any current Windows machine you would instead enable Remote Desktop in Settings and forward port 3389 (or connect over a VPN) rather than editing a console page. We have preserved Doug Knox's original steps above unchanged for accuracy.

Frequently asked

How can I get the full Windows Home Server desktop instead of just the Console?

The web interface's Computers tab only gives you the Windows Home Server Console. To reach the full desktop, either forward TCP/IP port 3389 to the server's LAN IP address and use the Remote Desktop client directly, or edit the rdpload.aspx file so the browser-based session launches Explorer.exe as its shell.

Which file controls the browser-based Remote Desktop session, and what do I change?

The file is rdpload.aspx in C:\Inetpub\Remote on the Windows Home Server. Change the two MsRdpClient.SecuredSettings lines from HomeServerConsole.exe and c:\Program Files\Windows Home Server to Explorer.exe and c:\Windows, so the RDP session loads the standard Windows shell.