Warning - if you use the RDP hack on Win7 home premium

[webminster]

If you use the RDP enable hack to get Remote Desktop on Win7 Home Premium, and you install recent updates:

I just got bit by an update that appears to kill that, at least did for me. The remote session disconnected right after login. I was able to remove that update for the time being, and get RDP back. It may be limited to only admin logins, and may be something that can be worked around, but haven't looked that hard yet. Just wanted to let people know if they do this and their RDP access suddenly stops working.

Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2984972)
A security issue has been identified in a Microsoft software product that could affect your system. You can help protect your system by installing this update from Microsoft. For a complete listing of the issues that are included in this update, see the associated Microsoft Knowledge Base article. After you install this update, you may have to restart your system.

More information:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2984972

[mark1234]

Yeah, I've been bitten by this as well. Do you just have to uninstall the update to get the hack back?

[Ed]

I can still connect to mine from 8.1 Pro. Or you mean the win 7 won't connect to a guest machine?

[webminster]

I mean my Win7 client (laptop) could no longer get past authentication and display the desktop - just disconnected after the auth.
I suspect uninstalling the update only would do it, but didn't test that - uninstalled the update and re-ran the setup of the RDP hack.

[mark1234]

I was able to connect to my 7MC from a Win10 laptop, but that doing so meant taking over the main session that was running on my TV. I've uninstalled KB2984972 and can now connect to the 7MC machine without kicking off the main session.

Remember to go into Windows Update, check for updates and hide KB2984972 otherwise it'll just come straight back.

[Chillout]

Thanks for sharing this info. I suddenly found this hack no longer working and went out searching for answers. You provided me with the perfect information.

[slowbiscuit]

Yep, thanks very much OP. I'd bet an update to the hack will come out that will work around this too.

[woodchuck]

Tx OP! Makes it easy to remove the update thanks to you.

[homiesmurf]

I didn't think much about not being able to RDP until I realized this killed my MCE's too. Sucks that I had to dig through the updates to find out what caused it. Glad an uninstall/reboot fixed up everything quite nicely.

Seems to be messing with AutoDesk as well. It's hidden in the updates for now.

[KScott]

I had same issue connecting to my Win 7 x64 Media Center after installing recent Windows updates.
Yes, KB2984972 breaks current RDP hack.
Google KB2984972 breaks RDP.
You'll find info with a script and new termsrv.dll for x86 or x64 Win7.
As the threads indicate, you will need to change (add) permissions for the new termsrv.dll.

I restored to an image backup to before I installed the Windows updates.
Then I looked at the existing permissions for termsrv.dll and took screenshots.
I then installed the updates, ran script to install new hacked termsrv.dll, and set permissions properly.
Works flawlessly.

[dejavux2]

Dumb question, but what does the RDP hack allow you to do?

[duncane]

Hi, see here http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/enable-c ... ns-in.html

It lets more than one user use RDP so the WMC user doesn't get kicked out.

[webminster]

Potentially more than that... If you use Home Premium, Remote Desktop is not enabled by Microsoft (only for Pro and Ultimate editions). This hack enables Remote Desktop access for Home Premium, and if installed with the "multi" option permits more than one concurrent login (nice to get a remote desktop on your machine while the main console is still showing WMC and playing content).

This is the older solution, still generally works. There's a newer solution ("RDP Wrapper") as well, but I've not tried it out yet.

[mark1234]

I'd not heard of RDP Wrapper, so thanks for mentioning that. It looks interesting and probably a better long term bet than the hack. I'm not going to try it just yet though, on the basis that what I have works. But I'll keep it in mind for next time I have to reinstall 7MC.

RDP Wrapper site: http://stascorp.com/load/1-1-0-63

[Fusion]

Another thanks for the RDP Wrapper tip! Just downloaded. So far so good.

[Pixelz]

Another vote of thanks to the developers of RDP Wrapper, which I installed successfully this week.
For me it's working well and seems more immune by design, to Windows Updates.

As I'm only using one set of credentials on my media centre machine, I did need to configure
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer
fSingleSessionPerUser DWORD value 0

The possible values for this DWORD are
0x0 Allow multiple sessions per user
0x1 Force each user to a single session

If you're connecting via RDP and have a different user name for Media Centre then this step is not necessary.

[seajunk]

RDPWrapper works a treat.
Thanks also for the registry setting tip.
Win 8.1

[mark1234]

My 7MC machine installed this month's patches last night and has broken the hack again. Not looked into which update it was, but I think it's time to look into RDP Wrapper now.

[Pixelz]

Looks like the same update broke RDP Wrapper 1.3
Fortunately 1.4 addresses this and is already available.

[mark1234]

I got around to applying RDP Wrapper yesterday. It had a changelog that listed compatibility with last week's updates, so I was happy.

I can confirm that installation is a breeze and that it "just works". I didn't try applying it whilst connected remotely, which actually works with the old hack.