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Being able to remotely connect to another computer over the network or internet is very helpful when doing things such as working from home or another location or even providing assistance to someone else who is having trouble with their computer.
As you probably know, Windows comes with its own remote access software called Remote Desktop (RDP) which works great for connecting to other computers over the network or with a VPN connection. But it is not supported when it comes to connecting to computers running the Home edition of Windows. In this article, we will be showing you how to connect to a Windows Home edition PC using Remote Desktop by using a third party app to make it possible.
If you were to do a search for Remote Desktop in the settings on a Windows Home edition PC, you would see that it says Your Home edition of Windows doesn’t support Remote Desktop.
To connect to a Windows Home Edition PC using Remote Desktop, we will be using a program called Thinstuff XP/VS Terminal Server which can be downloaded here. This app offers a free 14 day trial and if you like it, you can purchase the software to use as often as needed. They have several editions as well so you should be able to find one that suits your needs.
You will then install the software on the Windows Home edition PC using the server installation option.
If you are trying out the Thinstuff software, you can choose the version that you want to test out on the next screen. You might want to refer to their website to see which version will work the best for you and try that in case you end up purchasing a license.
You will then need to reboot the computer once the installation is complete.
Each time you log onto your computer, you will be shown a message about the trial period, and it will ask you if you want to purchase a license. If you are still testing the software, simply click on the No button.
When you open the Thinstuff admin console, you will see the name of the computer it is installed on in the left pane (Win11-Home in our example) and then the user account that you are logged in with in the right pane.
If you want to change any of the setting such as allow login with a blank password, you can do so from the Options menu.
To connect to a Windows Home edition PC using Remote Desktop, you will need to obtain the IP address of the Home edition computer itself. Open a command prompt and type ipconfig to get the IP address of the Windows Home edition PC.
Now you can open the standard Remote Desktop client from another Windows based PC running any edition of Windows and enter the IP address of the Windows Home edition computer and then click on the Connect button.
You will then need to enter the username and password for an account that has access to that PC in the credentials box.
The first time you connect to that PC remotely, you will receive a warning saying the identity of the remote computer cannot be verified and if you still want to connect. This is normal and you can simply check the box that says don’t ask me again for connections to this computer and then click the Yes button.
Then you should connect to the Windows Home edition computer running the Thinstuff software and should then see the desktop of that computer.
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