When using a VPS with Windows Server, the most efficient way to work on it is to use the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Since most Windows Servers worldwide use Remote Desktop, it is a favored target for hacker / automated bots attacks: It is not uncommon for bots to attack RDP port of a Windows Server within minutes of a Windows Server coming online for the first time.

You can protect your Windows Server from such attacks by changing the Remote Desktop Port and / or limiting access to the Remote Desktop Services to specific IP addresses (for example, from a VPN connection). In this tutorial we explain how to do this.

Step 1

Connect to your Windows Server via Remote Desktop or the VPS console.

Step 2

Click the Windows Start button, type 'firewall' and click 'Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security' in the search results.

Step 3

Click left on 'Inbound Rules' and scroll down to 'Remote Desktop'. Then double click on the line 'Remote Desktop - User Mode (TCP-In)'. Have you changed the RDP port? Then double-click the name of the firewall rule you specified in step 11 above.

Step 4

Select the 'Scope' tab, 'These IP addresses' and click 'Add'.

Step 5

Enter the IP address from which you want to allow RDP connections (this can be a range that you define via a subnet) and click 'Ok'.

Step 6

Finally click 'Apply' and 'Ok' to implement the changes. Repeat steps 3 through 6, but this time in step 3 open the line for 'Remote Desktop - User Mode (UDP-In)'.

This brings us to the end of this tutorial for restricting remote desktop access to specific IP addresses on a Windows Server.

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