If you missed the story over at We Got Served regarding XP SP3 and remote desktop, here’s the details.
Some users cannot get RDP connected through Internet Explorer after installing Service Pack 3 (SP3) on Windows XP machines due to the ActiveX control being disabled by default in the Service Pack. Luckily the Terminal Services can be re-enabled by the following method:
Click on Tools -> Manage Add-Ons -> Enable or Disable Add-Ons in IE to enable the Terminal Services ActiveX control. If you are unable to see/enable the Terminal Services ActiveX control in IE7 on XPSP3 as a workaround can you try deleting the following registry keys:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{7390f3d8-0439-4c05-91e3-cf5cb290c3d0} HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{4eb89ff4-7f78-4a0f-8b8d-2bf02e94e4b2)
Once you delete these keys, the activeX control should be enabled in IE7.
May 21, 2008 at 11:08 pm
The software running on the WHS to facilitate the Remote Desktop connection will only allow for up to two simultaneous sessions despite WHS 10 PC clients as designed by Microsoft.
WHS supports 10 PC clients, but Remote Desktop is limited to just 2 simultaneous sessions! 10-8=2 Shouldn’t it be 10=10?
Or is WHS being sold as basic, premium, business and ultimate (ultimatum) editions now?
May 29, 2008 at 6:27 am
None of the tricks I found online worked including the ones above.
I was so frustrated I removed IE7, noticed that IE6 worked fine.
I got it Remote Desktop running with IE6 (make sure Activex is Enabled) then I reinstalled IE7. Lo and behold, it now works! Damn that Microsoft.
June 2, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Thanks for this info. I kept getting errors when trying to connect my XP SP3 machines via RDC.
I deleted the keys in the Registry as you noted (couldn’t see them in IE Tools menu) and I can now connect from one XP SP3 machine to another.
What a frustrating experience. Hopefully MS will make this issue known and publicize the fix.
August 12, 2008 at 4:06 am
It’s worth mentioning that, after getting to “Enable or Disable Add-ons,” I had to select “Downloaded ActiveX Controls” from the “Show:” control to get “Microsoft RDB Client” to appear in the list.
Worked great for me after wasting a lot of time today.
September 26, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hi!
Can´t see the Terminal Services ActiveX, are a novice and wonder where I can find the registry keys so I can delete them.
Thanks!
/u
September 26, 2008 at 12:39 pm
On a new install of XP SP3 which has never had the Active X control downloaded I am unable to install it. So I’m not able to enable it as it was never there in the first place. Very frustrating. Any advice?
September 26, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Another day wasted on trying to get this fixed. Anyone have a solution that works, at this stage I´m prepered to pay money to be able to use a remote service of some sort.
September 27, 2008 at 9:41 pm
@ Ulf
Take a look here https://secure.logmein.com/
remote acces works great
September 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm
@Paul: I have the same problem. Hope someone can find a solution.
October 1, 2008 at 9:12 pm
s4mbal!
Thank you! logmein work like a charm. :-)
October 2, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Take a look at this:
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whssoftware/thread/e0e6ae17-fa40-4d55-bbdf-0e905f3ede94
Maybe it will help you with your problems
October 15, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I got it to work!!!
I had the same problem, and because I had a new install of XP SP3 which has never had the Active X control downloaded I also was unable to enable it or even install it.
Finally I got it to work!
I had to uninstall IE7 (IE6 appears automatic)
Then I chose to accept all Active X controls and tried to connect to the remote computer, in order to download the needed Active X control.
Then I had to open “Add-ons” and enable it. (I saw it in the list, but I dont know if it depended on that. I also had set two registry keys deleted first, see above).
Then it worked! – I also reinstalled IE and it still works!
I hope Microsoft get this bug fixed before they release SP4 (if they do).
October 21, 2008 at 7:40 am
SP4??? Man all a service pack is, is all the updates from the past rolled into one large update. All they need to do is one small update to fix it, not a whole service pack, not only that I dont think you will see anymore service packs for XP for awhile if at all…
January 18, 2009 at 3:11 pm
[...] want die zegt "er is een > nieuwere versie aanwezig" > Iemand enig idee? Dit????: http://mswhs.com/2008/05/20/remote-d…p3-workaround/ — [...]
February 19, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Thanks for the information. I tried many site which I didn’t get a genuine info. I kept getting the same error message when I tried to connect using RDC.
You saved me.. Thanks again…
February 19, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Hey Reine …
Microsoft website clearly explains it.. It does help. Thanks for the link…
Cheers
February 23, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I always seem to find great solutions at experts-exchange.com… But this time I was routed to your web site… great solution! Thanks!
May 4, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I too have been bumping up against this issue and everything that I’ve tried including the ones listed here and everywhere else I’ve googled does NOT fix this issue consistently. One thing that has been working for me though, is to install IE8. Seems to make the activeX prompt to install everytime. I think MS knew they had an issue in IE7 and perhaps fixed it in IE8.
Hope that helps anyone.
Rick