Windows 11 Pro
Windows 11 Remote Desktop Host: A Short Practical Guide
Written by Windows 11 Field Guide Editorial Team · Updated
This page is a short, practical checklist for windows 11 remote desktop host on Windows 11 (versions 24H2 and 25H2). It covers the steps that apply in most cases and points you to our in-depth guides. For the full picture, start with our Windows 11 Pro guide.
What Pro adds
Windows 11 Pro includes everything in Home plus features aimed at business and power users: BitLocker drive encryption management, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, the Group Policy editor, Remote Desktop host (so other PCs can connect to this one), and joining a domain or Microsoft Entra ID. Home has device encryption on supported hardware, but not the full BitLocker controls.
Check your edition
Open Settings > System > About and look at Edition under Windows specifications. To move from Home to Pro, use Settings > System > Activation > Upgrade your edition of Windows, either with a Pro product key or by buying the upgrade in the Microsoft Store.
Do you need it?
Most home users never miss Pro. It makes sense if you need to connect to the PC with Remote Desktop, run virtual machines with Hyper-V, manage BitLocker in detail, or work in an organization that joins PCs to a domain.
Related guides
This page is a short checklist and has not yet been expanded into a full guide. Steps follow current Windows 11 menus; if your screens differ, check your version with the winver command.
Sources
Windows 11 Field Guide Editorial Team
Editorial team
The Windows 11 Field Guide team writes and updates independent Windows 11 guides and checks each step against Microsoft's documentation and the current Settings app.
