How To Setup Remote Desktop Connection for AWS(Amazon Web Services) Virtual Private Server(VPS)

Remote Desktop Connection, known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier. It is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows a user to take control of a remote computer or virtual machine over a network connection. RDS is Microsoft's implementation of thin client, where Windows software and the entire desktop of the computer running RDS, are made accessible to a remote client machine that supports Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). With RDS, only software user interfaces are transferred to the client system. All input from the client system is transmitted to the server, where software execution takes place. This is in contrast to application streaming systems, like Microsoft App-V, in which computer programs are streamed to the client on-demand and executed on the client machine.

Windows includes three Client Connections that use RDS:

1. Windows Remote Assistance

2. Remote Desktop Connection (RDC)

3. Fast User Switching

The first two are individual utilities that allow a user to take control of a remote computer over the network. In case of Remote Assistance, the remote user needs to receive an invitation and the control is cooperative. In case of RDC, however, the remote user opens a new session on the remote computer and has every power granted by its user account's rights and restrictions. Fast User Switching allows users to switch between user accounts on the local computer without quitting software and logging out. Fast User Switching is part of Winlogon and uses RDS to accomplish its switching feature. Third-party developers have also created client software for RDS. For example, rdesktop supports Unix platforms.

Other client versions of Windows only allow a maximum of one remote user to connect to the system at the cost of the user who has logged onto the console being disconnected. Windows Server allows two users to connect at the same time. This licensing scheme, called "Remote Desktop for Administration", facilitates administration of unattended or headless computers. Only by acquiring additional licenses (in addition to that of Windows) can a computer running Windows Server service multiple remote users at one time and achieve virtual desktop infrastructure.

For an organization, RDS allows the IT department to install applications on a central server instead of multiple computers. Remote users can log on and use those applications over the network. Such centralization can make maintenance and troubleshooting easier. RDS and Windows authentication systems prevent unauthorized users from accessing apps or data.

Microsoft has a long-standing agreement with Citrix to facilitate sharing of technologies and patent licensing between Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix XenApp (formerly Citrix MetaFrame and Citrix Presentation Server). In this arrangement, Citrix has access to key source code for the Windows platform, enabling its developers to improve the security and performance of the Terminal Services platform.

Remote Desktop Connection:

Remote Desktop Connection (RDC, also called Remote Desktop, formerly Microsoft Terminal Services Client, is the client application for RDS. It allows a user to remotely log into a networked computer running the terminal services server. RDC presents the desktop interface (or application GUI) of the remote system, as if it were accessed locally. In addition to regular username/password for authorizing for the remote session, RDC also supports using smart cards for authorization. With RDC 6.0, the resolution of a remote session can be set independently of the settings at the remote computer.

With resource redirection, remote applications can use the resources of the local computer. Audio is also redirected, so that any sounds generated by a remote application are played back at the client system. Moreover, a remote session can also span multiple monitors at the client system, independent of the multi-monitor settings at the server. RDC can also be used to connect to Windows Media Centre (WMC) remote sessions; however, since WMC does not stream video using RDP, only the applications can be viewed this way, not any media.

RDC prioritizes UI data as well as keyboard and mouse inputs, as opposed to print jobs or file transfers. So as to make the applications more responsive. It redirects plug and play devices such as cameras, portable music players, and scanners, so that input from these devices can be used by the remote applications as well. RDC can also be used to connect to computers which are exposed via Windows Home Server RDP Gateway over the Internet. Finally, RDC can be used to reboot the remote computer with the Ctrl+Alt+End key combination.

So that’s the brief description on how Remote desktop connection works and its uses, now I am going to start the tutorial on how to setup remote connection for AWS VPS easily, this can be done in just 2 minutes. Just follow my tutorial

First you need to register or login to your Amazon Web Services account and then create an instance of virtual private network. If you don’t know how to do it, check out my complete tutorial on “How to get free vps for 1 year from amazon web services-Complete Tutorial”

you need to select an Instance, for which you want to connect remote desktop connection and click on "Connect"

To start Remote desktop connection will need to download this file, so Click "Download Remote Desktop File"

You need username and password to start your VPS connection, so you need to get one, which is created by the AWS server. As "username" is already given and we need password also. so click on "Get Password"

here, a file is to be selected, most of you get confused to select the file, we need to select the file which we get while creating "Key Pair", there we downloaded a file. you need to upload that file to get your VPS password

after you select the file, click on "Decrypt Password"

After Decryption we get the password, save the username and password in notepad or anywhere where you can access it easily.

Now open the "Remote Desktop File" that you downloaded earlier, double click and open it

click on "Connect"

you need to enter the password in the next step, so copy the password

In the next step of connecting VPS, you need to enter username and password of your VPS

In some system's it takes default username as Administrator(just as in my case). paste the password that you copied earlier and click OK