Tip: Pressing the WIN Key+ Pause/Break keys simultaneously brings up the System window.
If you only see the Remote Assistance box in the Remote tab but not Remote Desktop, that is because there are some restrictions that Microsoft has implemented in your version of Windows. Only Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise can accept connections from Remote Desktop but NOT for Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic and Home Premium. You can however, use Remote Desktop to initiate a connection from any edition of Windows 7.
Many branded laptops and computers come with Windows 7 Home Premium or possibly Home Basic pre-installed, but not to worry because there is a hack patch that can enable the Remote Desktop Connection in Windows 7 Home Premium with a single click.
There is a tool called Concurrent RDP Patcher which is meant to enable concurrent remote desktop connections, which means multiple logons per user. When you log in using the Remote Desktop Connection, the computer that is being controlled will show a message saying “Logged on remotely from COMPUTERNAME”. If you click on the user icon to login, the remote connection will be terminated with the popup:
Your Remote Desktop session has ended. Another user connected to the remote computer, so your connection was lost. Try connecting again, or contact your network administrator or technical support group.
This allows multiple users to control the remote computer using Remote Desktop.
Amazingly, this tool also enables the Remote Desktop Connection for Windows 7 Home Premium. The good thing about this patcher is you can revert the changes back to the way it was by clicking the Unpatch button. There are some scripts that can also do the same by patching termsvr.dll file but it doesn’t provide a way to undo the patch.
By default, a Remote Desktop Connection only allows you to login with a user account that has a password assigned to it. User accounts with a blank password cannot be used to login with a Remote Desktop Connection. You can handily bypass that restriction by checking the “Enable blank password logons” checkbox.
The Concurrent RDP Patcher tool was originally released by a member of The Green Button, which used to be the official Windows Media Center Community forum. Sadly that forum is no longer available. The patcher was updated by its original author a while ago to include compatibility for Windows 7 Service Pack 1. As it was effectively abandoned by the author after this we have since made further updates to the tool as and when needed. It is compatible with both 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows 7.
Download Concurrent RDP Patcher
SHA1: C7C79D848717E71209B21E3A43C623123FFFE0D3 (for Zip file)
Note that this version of Concurrent RDP Patcher patches the dll on Windows 7 RTM, Service Pack 1 and with update KB3003743 which was released in October 2014.
Important Updates For 2019 (and October 2018)
For four years the termsrv.dll file wasn’t changed and the Concurrent RDP Patcher worked fine from October 2014 onwards. Recently though, Microsoft made changes to the dll and it broke the patcher with Rollup update KB4462923 released in October 2018. If you are still running with that update or have not yet installed any Rollup updates beyond January 2019, we have a dedicated Concurrent RDP Patcher that works with it.
Download Concurrent RDP Patcher 2018 with KB4462923 Fix
SHA1: 2A257693D8492191FAF7E55B787398CB57EBAD09 (for Zip file)
Unfortunately, it’s only been a few short months and Microsoft has yet again changed the termsrv.dll to break the patcher once more. The offending update is Rollup update KB4486563 released in February 2019. The January 2019 Rollup Preview (KB4480955) also contains the same dll file. We have created a new patcher that should work for this latest update.
Download Concurrent RDP Patcher 2019 with KB4486563 Fix
SHA1: CCC6D13F966F833454DEBC05D77715A34142275F (for Zip file)
NOTICE: Please be aware that the Feb 2019 version of the patcher has not been extensively tested so it should be considered as alpha/beta software and could contain bugs. Please use it with care and at your own risk. Of course, we welcome any feedback on how this latest patcher version works for you.
Concurrent RDP Patcher fixed versions work on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and newer. Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate are supported, but not Enterprise. We will do our best to update the Concurrent RDP Patcher if there are any more updates to the termsrv.dll library in 2019. Support for Windows 7 ends in January 2020 so there aren’t likely to be any more updates after this time.
April 2019 Test Version
Microsoft has updated the dll for the second time in 2019 and enjoys making life more difficult! Rollup update KB4493472 will break things again. The below patcher is a test version and should be treated as such on 64-bit and 32-bit Windows 7 so please take care when using it.
Download Concurrent RDP Patcher April 2019
SHA1: 2451C977543871DC09EDEB383016A650261725D5 (for Zip file)
As always, feedback about this version is welcome.
