Remote Desktop/Terminal Services Q&A

Connection Limits

Windows 2000 and 2003 servers are usually configured in what is know as Remote Desktop Administrators Mode. This permits up to two concurrent remote desktop logins. For Web Server this limit cannot be extended.

For Server and Enterprise Server you can extend this by switching the mode to application server, allowing up to the number of Client Access Licenses registered to the server. These limits can cause problems should stale sessions exist that are consuming the license even though nobody is actively logged on.

Avoiding Reaching the Limit

You can adjust the configuration to set maximum session length and to control what happens to idle sessions. Find the configuration utility under Start -> Control Panel -> Adminitrative Tools -> Terminal Server Configuration.

Right Click RDP-tcp in the right hand panel and choose Properties.

Click the Sessions tab.

check Override User Setting

set end a disconnected session to 5 minutes (this allows just enough time for modem users to reconnect and resume their session)

set Active session limit to 8 hours (or however long your usual working day is, you will be forced to logout if you leave you session running for longer than this, even if there is activity going on).

set Idle Session limit to 2 hours (if you're users are lazy leaving remote desktops open shorten this)

check Override User Setting

check End Session

Resolving Too Many Connections for Windows 2003 Machines (NOT 2000)

Try connecting to the console session of the machine.

Start -> Run

Windows XP/2003 clients enter: "%SYSTEMROOT%\mstsc.exe /console" and click Run

(Windows 2000 clients default location is: "C:\Program Files\Remote Desktop\mstsc.exe /console")

Enter your usual administrator id and password and connect.

When connected choose: Start -> Settings -> Administrative Tools -> Terminal Services Manager

Click This computer in the left-hand pane

Click the tab Sessions on the right-hand pane

Find the Disconnected sessions (or any connected sessions that are not yourself), right click and choose Log Off or Reset

Please DO NOT use the console mode for normal use as we require access via the console to provide support.

Resolving Too Many Connections / Booting or Logging Off Users or Stale Sessions

Should the first method fail, you will need to have the Telnet or SSH active (the Telnet service must be set to Automatic within services). We stronly suggest you have the windows firewall restrict telnet to only allow either local subnet or a list of your IPs that should be able to administrate the server.

To telnet to your server, at a command prompt type (see your SSH client docs for details on SSH connections):

telnet server_domain_or_ip

Enter your administrator username and password as prompted

At the command prompt (either telnet or ssh) type:

quser

Users connected and their state will be listed. Notice the ID column, you will need to use this ID to log off that user. Type:

logoff ID

Repeat for any other users you no-longer wish to be connected.

You may wish to warn a user that you are about to force them to log off if so type:

msg ID [your message]

If you do not have Telnet acces, there is another method that uses RPC over the local network. You can only use this method from another machine within the same network. Follow the above instructions from a working machine adding /server:intranet_ip