Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (2024)

Want to allow multiple RDP sessions in Windows? You can establish multiple remote desktop connections at the same time on a Windows system however, this feature is restricted by license. It prevents you from creating a Terminal RDP server. If you need this service, you have to buy a Windows Server license, RDS CALS, and Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) should be installed on your computer. If you want a free alternative you can use RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) to create multiple Connections. In this article, we will discuss how you can enable RDP for multiple users on your Windows 11 computer.

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (1)

How to enable RDP for multiple users on windows 11

After understanding the requirement of any company, you may deploy the device at different locations. some are in office sites and easily accessible and some are in remote locations. All those devices have different brands and they may have different operating systems. Managing such networks is a challenging job for an IT administrator and Remote Desktop Connection makes your work easy.

Use the following methods to enable Remote Desktop Connection on Windows 11.

  1. Use RDP Wrapper Library
  2. Modify termsrv.dll Using HEX Editor
  3. Patch termsrv.dll With PowerShell Script
  4. Modify the Local Group Policies

Let’s discuss these methods to enable Remote Desktop Connection.

How to allow multiple RDP sessions in Windows

1] Use RDP Wrapper Library

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (2)

RDP Wrapper Library is a free open-source GitHub project that works as an intermediate between Remote Desktop Service and Service Control Manager(SCM). It allows users to make multiple RDP sessions on Windows 11 and you can also configure the RDP server on Windows Home editions without teasing the ‘termsrv.dll’ file. For simultaneous connection, RDP Wrapper Library loads the termsrv.dll library with updated parameters. It should be better for you to check the unpatched termsrv.dll file before installing RDP Wrapper Library.

Let’s enable RDP Wrapper Libary using the following steps.

  • Download the RDP Wrapper Library from github.com.
  • Extract the contents of the zip file.

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (3)

  • Right-click on “install.bat” and select Run as administrator.
  • Hit on ‘RDPConfig.exe’ to open RDP Wrapper Configuration and complete the installation process.

It has been seen that after installation of RDP Wrapper, it shows, it is running, but it is not working on Windows 10 (ver. 10.0.19041.1320).

  • Download the rdpwrap.ini file’s current version on your computer from raw.githubusercontent.com.
  • Open the downloaded file, select all content from there, hit Ctrl+ C, open file explorer, go to C:\Program Files\RDP Wrapper\rdpwrap.ini file, and paste all the copied contents.
  • Reboot the computer.
  • Hit on ‘RDPConfig.exe’ to open ‘RDP Wrapper Configuration.’ Verify if all items are green in the Diagnostics section.
  • Hit on ‘RDPCheck.exe’ to open a secondary RDP session or connect multiple RDP sessions from your remote computers.

Hopefully, this will do the trick for you.

2] Modify termsrv.dll Using HEX Editor

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (4)

The next and most effective solution for enabling multiple remote desktop connections on Windows 11 computers is to modify the termsrv.dll file. Follow the prescribed solution to enable RDP on your computer.

  • Back up the termserv.dll file before modifying it.
  • Press Windows +R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
  • Enter the following command in the Command Prompt to create a backup.
copy c:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll termsrv.dll_backup
  • To give ownership to the local administrator, run this command
takeown /F c:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll /A
  • After successful completion, you will see the following SUCCESS message.

c:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll” is now owned by the administrator group.

  • To allow the local administrators group with Full Control permissions for the termsrv.dll file using the icacls.exe, run this:
icacls c:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll /grant Administrators:F
  • After completing the operation successfully, you will see the following message:
c:\Windows\System32\termsrv.dll Successfully processed 1 file; Failed processing 0 files.
  • Terminate Remote Desktop Services (TermService) with the services.msc console. You can also run the following command:
Net stop TermService
  • To know the Windows version and build number, open PowerShell and run the following command:
Get-ComputerInfo | select WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion
  • Download a HEX editor software of your choice for example Registry Explorer and Install it.
  • Launch the ‘termsrv.dll’ file with HEX editor software. This Tiny Hexer editor is incapable of altering ‘termsvr.dll’ files from the system32 folder, so you have to copy it to your Desktop, to make alteration.
  • According to your Windows version and build, you need to find the following string.
Windows 11 RTM (21H2 – 22000.258): 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 4F 68 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 21H2: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 DB 61 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 21H1: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 2B 5F 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 20H2: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 21 68 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 2004: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 D9 51 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 1909: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 5D 61 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 1903: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 5D 61 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 1809: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 3B 2B 01 00/ Windows 10 x64 1803: 8B 99 3C 06 00 00 8B B9 38 06 00 00/ Windows 10 x64 1709: 39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 B1 7D 02 00
  • Now you should replace that string with the following string.
39 81 3C 06 00 00 0F 84 7F 2C 01 00

Finally, save the file, and run TermService.

3] Patch termsrv.dll With PowerShell Script

If your requirement of using Multiple Remote Desktop Connections is not resolved by modifying the termsrv.dll file manually using a HEX editor then you can use the following PowerShell script.

Let’s patch the termsrv.dll file with the help of a PowerShell Script.

  • Copy the following code and paste it into a Notepad file.
# Stop RDP service, make a backup of the termsrv.dllfile and change the permissionsStop-Service UmRdpService -ForceStop-Service TermService -Force$termsrv_dll_acl = Get-Acl c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dllCopy-Item c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll.copytakeown /f c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll$new_termsrv_dll_owner = (Get-Acl c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll).ownercmd /c "icacls c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll /Grant $($new_termsrv_dll_owner):F /C"# search for a pattern in termsrv.dll file$dll_as_bytes = Get-Content c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll -Raw -Encoding byte$dll_as_text = $dll_as_bytes.forEach('ToString', 'X2') -join '$patternregex = ([regex]'39 81 3C 06 00 00(\s\S\S){6}')$patch = 'B8 00 01 00 00 89 81 38 06 00 00 90'$checkPattern=Select-String -Pattern $patternregex -InputObject $dll_as_textIf ($checkPattern -ne $null) {$dll_as_text_replaced = $dll_as_text -replace $patternregex, $patch}Elseif (Select-String -Pattern $patch -InputObject $dll_as_text) {Write-Output 'The termsrv.dll file is already patch, exitting'Exit}else {Write-Output “Pattern not found”}# patching termsrv.dll[byte[]] $dll_as_bytes_replaced = -split $dll_as_text_replaced -replace '^', '0x'Set-Content c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll.patched -Encoding Byte -Value $dll_as_bytes_replaced# comparing two filesfc.exe /b c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll.patched c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll# replacing the original termsrv.dll fileCopy-Item c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll.patched c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll -ForceSet-Acl c:\windows\system32\termsrv.dll $termsrv_dll_aclStart-Service UmRdpServiceStart-Service TermService
  • Save this file with extension .ps1 (for example: TermsRdpPatch.ps1).
  • To alter the PowerShell execution policy settings for the present session, run the following PowerShell command:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
  • Hit on ‘termsrv_rdp_patch.ps1’ to run the script.

Make sure that you manually edit the termsrv.dll file every time after updating the Windows. This will do the trick for you.

4] Modify the Local Group Policies

We have one more method by which we can enable remote desktop connection and it is the Local Group Policy. We can also enable remote desktop connection by modifying group policy.

Let’s modify the Local Group Policy.

  • Press the Windows + R
  • Write gpedit.msc in the RUN dialog box and hit enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor panel.
  • Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Connections.
  • Click on the ‘Restrict Remote Desktop Services’ user and change it to a single ‘Remote Desktop Services’ session policy and set it to Disabled.
  • Click on the ‘Limit number of connections’ policy. The default state is ‘Not Configured.’ Select the Enabled radio button to enable the counter menu of ‘RD Maximum Connections’ permitted in the ‘Options’ section.
  • Set the ‘RD Maximum Connections’ permitted to 999999.
  • Click on OK to save the changes and Restart Windows.

After making these changes your RDP session is configured for multiple users.

So, as you can see, you can easily enable multiple concurrent users in Remote Desktop using any of the aforementioned methods. If you don’t want to download a third-party app or use a batch file, your best option is to configure the Group Policy ofRestrict Remote Desktop Services,however, alternate methods are there to give you options.

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11 (2024)

FAQs

Enable RDP for multiple users on Windows 11? ›

To enable multiple RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) sessions in Windows 11 Enterprise, you need to meet the licensing requirements and obtain the appropriate Windows 11 Enterprise licenses.

Can multiple users use RDP on Windows 11? ›

Hello, Windows 11 doesn't officially support multisession in the same way as Windows Server does. Remote Desktop Services (RDS) with multisession capabilities is a feature typically associated with Windows Server editions. Windows 11 Home, for example, traditionally supports only one user session at a time.

How do I enable Remote Desktop on Windows 11 for all users? ›

Step 1: Enable Remote Desktop on Windows 11 with Settings
  1. Open Settings app on Windows 11.
  2. Click on System on the left side.
  3. Scroll down to Remote Desktop on the right side and click on it.
  4. Turn on the Remote Desktop toggle switch.
  5. Click on the Confirm button.
Oct 1, 2023

How do I allow multiple users on Remote Desktop? ›

To have multiple RDP connections, we should disable the single-user remote desktop mode and change the remote connection limit. In this situation, you can have 2 RDP sessions simultaneously for free, but if you wish to have more, you should install the RDS role through the server.

How do I have multiple users on Windows 11 simultaneously? ›

In the left sidebar, select the "Family & other users" tab. Under the "Other users" section, click on the "Add account" button. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a new user account. Once the new user account is created, you can switch between user profiles by clicking on the user icon on the login screen.

How to allow multiple Remote Desktop connections in Windows 10 or Windows 11? ›

The first option to enable the remote desktop for multiple users on Windows 10/11 is by using the RDP Wrapper Library. The RDP Wrapper open-source project permits users to support more than one simultaneous RDP session (without replacing the termsrv. dll file.)

Why can't i connect to Remote Desktop on Windows 11? ›

If remote desktop can't connect to the remote computer, the reason could be problems with your IP address. If the Windows 11 remote desktop is not working, it may be necessary to add a new IP manually.

How many users can you have on Remote Desktop? ›

With Windows, the number of concurrent remote connections allowed for a connection can be configured. By default, Windows only allows up to 2 concurrent RDP sessions to a VPS. If you want to connect to more than 2 users at the same time, you must install the RD session host role on your VPS.

How do I allow more than 2 RDP connections to a Windows Server? ›

  1. Allowing more than 2 RDP sessions on a Windows Server 2019 requires two steps: installing the necessary roles and obtaining appropriate licensing. ...
  2. Install the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) role:
  3. Open Server Manager.
  4. Click on "Add Roles and Features".
  5. Select "Role-based or feature-based installation".
Jan 15, 2024

Can two users simultaneously share one PC? ›

Windows 10 and 11 make it easy for multiple people to share the same PC. To do it, you create separate accounts for each person who will use the computer. Each person gets their own storage, applications, desktops, settings, and so on.

How do I setup multiple desktops in Windows 11? ›

Multiple desktops are great for keeping unrelated, ongoing projects organized—or for quickly switching desktops before a meeting. To create multiple desktops: On the taskbar, select Task view > New desktop . Open the apps you want to use on that desktop.

Is Windows 11 single user or multi user? ›

We can perform multi-tasking in the Windows operating system but the multitasking can be performed by a single user at a time. So, Microsoft Windows can be referred to as a single-user, multi-tasking operating system.

Can multiple users use Remote Desktop connection at same time? ›

You can have multiple users. But you can only run one user at a time. Any attempt to run another user will log the first user out. Using Switch User also has the same limitations.

How many users can RDP at the same time? ›

We know that without a licence, only 2 simultaneous RDP connections are allowed.

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