Solved Remote desktop access to Windows 7 from 2008 R2

I am logged in to Server 2008 R2 and attempting to logon to a Windows 7 Pro workstation using Remote Desktop. If the account I use to log on to the Win 7 machine has Domain Admin privileges, I can log on successfully. If I use an account lacking Domain Admin privileges, I cannot log in.

But I need to log on without Domain Admin privileges for the tests I need to run.

I tried making the account a member of Remote Desktop Users group, but that had no effect.

I tried running gpedit.msc and adding the account to Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment\Allow logon through Remote Desktop" and running gpudate /force, but still could not logon to the workstation using RDP.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to allow remote logon from a non-Domain Admin account.

Hello Guy,

Try going into the Win7 Local Security Policy (access this from the Start Orb), then Local Policies>User Rights Assignment, locate Allow logon Locally and Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services then add the User you wish to Remote Access that Win7 computer.

That didn't seem to work. I opened " Allow log on through Remote Desktop" and found that "Remote Desktop Users" was already in the list. The account I want to logon with is already a member of that group. Nevertheless, I added the account specifically to the list.

Same problem: when I try to logon, Windows says the account is not authorized to logon.

I should say that I am logged into an administrator account on the server via LogMeIn. I wouldn't think that would matter, would it?

What is the exact error?

Do you have a Terminal Server? If you do, go to AD Users and computers, the User needs to be Members of Remote Desktop Users and Terminal Server Computers.

The exact error message is: "The connection was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote login." Login is successful if I add the user to the Domain Admins group, but that is not what I want to do.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what a "Terminal Server" is. So I think the answer is "no." I certainly never installed anything by that name when building the server. This is a pretty vanilla 2008 R2 installation with no extra MS software added. It's the only server in the network and functions primarily as a file server and necessarily as the domain controller.

Thank you for your help. I got the account logon working by going through the steps at Configure Remote Desktop Access on Windows 7 Systems.

Thanks for letting us know. Glad to hear that your issue has been resolved. Sorry for the delayed reply.

I am also having a similar issue. I am on a Win7 machine connected to the office domain, trying to remote into another Win7 machine on the same domain. My domain username is part of the Admin group. The target machine is set to allow remote connections and my user name is on the list of allowed users. I can remote into the target machine's local administrator account, but cannot remote into the target machine's domain user account.

On the server (Windows Server 2003), the target machine's domain user account is part of Domain Users and also part of Remote Desktop Users. My domain account is set to those two, in addition to Administrators.

But when I try to login to the target machine's domain user account I'm still getting the "The connection was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote login."

It seems like step 6 covers this. After you hit the Add button to add a User you should be able to choose a location where this user is located.

6. To grant Remote Desktop access to a user, click Add. This opens the Select Users dialog box. In the Select Users dialog box, click Locations to select the computer or domain in which the users you want to work with are located. Type the name of a user you want to work with in the Enter The Object Names To Select field, and then click Check Names. If matches are found, select the account you want to use and then click OK. If no matches are found, update the name you entered and try searching again. Repeat this step as necessary, and then click OK.