How to enable Remote Desktop on an XP Pro computer - remotely

It's easy to set up an XP Pro computer so you can access it across the local network or Internet - if you're physically sitting at the computer. You just go into System properties from Control Panel, click the Remote tab and check the "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" checkbox. But what if you want to connect to the desktop of a computer that hasn't been set up this way? Are you out of luck? Maybe not. Here's how to change that setting remotely:
1. From another computer on the network, open the registry editor.
2. On the toolbar, click Rile, then Connect Network Registry.
3. Enter the IP address or name of the computer to which you want to connect.
4. Enter the user name and password of an administrative account on the other computer to log onto the computer to which you want to connect.
5. Now the other computer's registry will be shown in the registry editor console.
6. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server
7. In the right pane, double click the entry DenyTSConnection. Set the value data to 0. If the item doesn't exist, create it as a new REG_DWORD value).
8. Close the registry editor. You should now be able to connect to the other machine using Remote Desktop. If it doesn't work, you may have a firewall on the other machine with settings that are preventing the connection. As always, back up the registry before you make any changes.