Enable Remote Desktop Access

A newly provisioned Windows server or desktop may not have had Remote Desktop enabled. That can certainly make it more difficult to stay in your seat.

The simple script below will enable Remote Desktop using WMI. It takes effect in a few seconds.

Supply a username and password if you don't have administrative rights natively. Yes, this exposes the password.

strComputer = "."
strUsername = ""
strPassword = ""

If WScript.Arguments.Count > 0 Then
   strComputer = WScript.Arguments(0)
   If Left(strComputer, 2) = "\\" Then
      strComputer = Mid(strComputer, 3)
   End If
   WScript.Echo "Querying \\" & strComputer & "..." & vbCrLf
End If

If WScript.Arguments.Count > 1 Then
   strUserName = WScript.Arguments(1)
End If

If WScript.Arguments.Count > 2 Then
   strPassword = WScript.Arguments(2)
End If
   
Set objLocator = CreateObject("WBEMScripting.SWBEMLocator")
Set objWMIService = objLocator.ConnectServer(strComputer, "root/cimv2", _
                                             strUsername, strPassword)

Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_TerminalServiceSetting") 
For Each objItem In colItems
   WScript.Echo "AllowTSConnections: " & objItem.AllowTSConnections
   If objItem.AllowTSConnections = 0 Then
      WScript.Echo "Enabling Terminal Services connections..."
      objItem.SetAllowTSConnections(1)
   Else
      WScript.Echo "Already enabled."
   End If 
Next