Desktop color depth when using RDP on Windows XP SP3
I recently installed SP3 (duh) and whatever I tried I couldn’t get more than 256 colours when connecting via Remote Desktop. No matter what configuration in the RDP client (256 or 15/16/24/32bit) all the icons on the remote desktop were ugly as hell.
But there is a fix, ha!
Open up the Group Policy Editor (start > run > gpedit.msc), and dive to the following policy:
Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Terminal Services
Enable the policy named “Limit maximum color depth” and set it to “Client Compatible“.
Reboot, log on again and enjoy your colorful desktop again :)