Biffopolis

Remote desktop configuration

Ok, so now that you have a Media Center computer set up, there are many more things we can do with it.  If your Media Center is hooked up to your TV, you probably don’t want to have to be sitting in front of that system to do all your housekeeping, such as installing updates, programs, or moving files around.  I’ve got two tips here to help make your life easier on remotely managing your Media Center.  These only work in XP Media Center, don’t know about Vista.

Allowing multiple logins

Server guys already know and love this feature.  It allows you to have multiple people logged in to the same machine.  For example you can log in remotely to your system to move some folders around, or to update Windows while somebody else is watching TV, and you will not interrupt their session.  You can do these steps while logged in remotely to your machine.

Heres how to go about it:

1. Download this file – termserv.dll – Its the Windows Server 2003 which we’ll use to replace the stripped down version we find in Windows Media Center.
2. Type the following into Windows Explorer: C:\Windows\system32\dllcache.  Rename the termserv.dll that is already there to something else.
3. Copy the termserv.dll that you downloaded into that folder.
4. Navigate to C:\Windows\system32, and do the same steps above – rename the existing one, and copy the new one in.  We have to do it in this order because Windows filesystem will try to protect these dlls by replacing the one from the cache if the one in use is changed or removed accidentally.
5. Now Windows has the functionality required for what we want, we need to update the registry to make it work.  Hit up the registry editor at Start->Run-> type ‘regedit‘ and press Enter.
6. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core

   and create a new DWORD entry called ‘EnableConcurrentSessions‘ and give it a value of 1.

7. Close the registry editor.
8. Open up the Group Policy Window; Start->Run type in ‘gpedit.msc‘ and hit Enter.
9. Head on down the menu tree until you get to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services.  Click on Limit Number of Connections to modify it.  Check the ‘enable’ box, and enter the number you would like (3 is good).
10. Now all that is left is to create another user in the user management section in the control panel, and make sure they have a password, you need it or else you wont be able to log in remotely, which brings us to the next section…

Logging in remotely without a password

This is a tricky one to recommend – on one hand I have to say you should never allow a login without a password for remote connections, but on the other hand, it makes life a whole lot easier in the MCE world.  For instance, you need to install a program that the media center user (when you turn on the computer, the account it automatically logs into) requires access to.  Either you physically install it on the MCE machine – on the TV, or if you could log in remotely it would be easier.  The only problem is that by default, you require a password to use remote desktop.  You can get around this by using TwakUI to automatically log in with a username and password, but as soon as a screensaver comes on, or the system goes to sleep, then you need to enter in a password on the TV, and thats not fun using a remote.

Long story short, we can get around this limitation very easily by following the simple steps below:

1. Goto your computer’s administrative tools (Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools) and click on Local Security Policy
2. On the left Navigation pane, click on Local Policies, then Security Options.
3. Double click on the right side Accounts: Limit local account….. and change to disabled.

Thats it for that one, now you can log into your MCE box (or any XP machine) remotely without a password.