Enabling Remote Desktop via Group Policy

In a previous post, I provided some details on the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). In a follow-up post, I also discussed the Active Directory domain structure and mentioned how I use the Group Policy feature of Active Directory to "effortlessly" configure new servers.

For example, I have defined a Group Policy (named Enable Terminal Services Policy) with the following settings:

• Computer Configuration
  • Policies
    • Windows Settings
      • Security Settings
        • Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
          • Inbound Rules
            • Remote Desktop (TCP-In)
              • Enabled: Yes
              • Action: Allow
    • Administrative Templates
      • Windows Components
        • Terminal Services
          • Terminal Server
            • Connections
              • Allow users to connect remotely using Terminal Services: Enabled

By linking this Group Policy to the appropriate OUs (e.g. Development/Resources/Servers) I do not have to manually enable Remote Desktop connections on each new server (e.g. a new SharePoint development VM). Instead this is automatically configured as soon as I join a server to the domain and reboot.

I'll cover some of the other Group Policy objects in subsequent posts.