TechTips: How to Change the Remote Desktop Protocol Listening Port

When you allow users to use remote desktop to access servers for maintenance or various other purposes you are opening up a tiny security loophole. There is no real great way to totally secure the server when you are allowing RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), but you can help make the security slightly better. To do this you simply should change the default port that the RDP listens on. Changing this one setting can make your system a lot safer, if you leave it on the default port someone who is trying to break into your system will know the normal port that RDP uses and it will be easy for them to access it. If you change the port like I show you in this guide you will have one more layer of security protecting your Remote Desktop Sessions.

Most businesses that have servers or server farms use RDP to connect to the servers for a ton of different reasons, so just not allowing RDP isn't an option. So instead of trying to go nuts and block RDP we can simply try to make it a little more secure by changing the default port the RDP listens on. That way if someone does gain access to your network they will have a harder time finding the RDP port and less of a chance of getting into one of your servers.

So to change the port that RDP listens on follow these steps:

Login to machine you want to change port for

Click Start

Click Run

Type Regedit

Hit Enter

Navigate to KEY (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp)

Double Click PortNumber DWORD

Click Decimal Radio Button

Enter value for new port number you want to use (I used 23587)

Click OK

Close Registry

Reboot Server

Try to remote into server using new Port Number

That is all you should have to do for the server to listen on the new port. Now when you got to login to the server you will have to type (ServerName:PORT_NUMBER - in my case TEST:23587) to access the server on the RDP connection.

This simple change can make your Remote Desktop Protocol so much more secure in the event of a system breech. Also if you are using something like a citrix client and allow a connection via the internet you want to make sure your RDP sessions are harder to get into for security purposes.

Well I hope this guide helps you to secure your RDP sessions better to prevent any attacks.