Hello guys,
first of all, I would like to thank anyone here for their awesome work and time they invested to create such a great piece of Software!
After having played around with some of the options and getting VMware simulate several created images, I saw that TermService (as the name might suggest, responsible for the remote Desktop host abilites as terminal server), and many other services, were obviously not only deactivated but (their files in System32 or SysWOW64) removed in order to save space. However, one of my most important targets yet has been to deploy and manage computers in a "comfortable" (here: sitting at my own Computer in contrast to always Need to move between computers) way, because the computer Hardware differs mostly from time to time so there is not that much to automise.
I already tried out TeamViewer and it seems to be working as it should, but I already got quite a bit of progress after some hours of trying out that I would like to be able to use Remote Desktop in the end. In order to do that, I first copied all files that were directly related to the corresponding (depending) services and Drivers (such as RDPDR by patching winloader.exe, rdpdr.sys and the required bcd entries; all kinds of rdp*.dll) to the System32 and SysWOW64 folders [are there other important locations?] and attempted to start the services. Most of the services required for RDP Host functionality could start (including TermService) so I added Administrator to the group "Remote Desktop Users" and finally set the Terminal Server to listen for incoming connections (see HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Terminal Server).
When I now try to connect to the virtual machine, I am prompted a dialog where I can input credentials (added a Password for Administrator as it is (normally) required for Remote Desktop Host). However, after they are validated and the (ordinary) certificate error is ignored, the Remote Desktop Client window just closes and no connection is established.
After several hours of trial-and-error I would like to ask you if there is anything I could have forgotten. As a final try I created a Windows 8.1 x64 (German) ISO where both System32 and SysWOW64 have been filled with ALL missing files using the "Additional Files" plugin. Any help is appreciated!