Event ID 1026: The terminal server could not locate a license server in the domain

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Cause

The process of locating a license server is called license server discovery. If license server discovery is not functioning correctly, Event ID 1026, Source:TermServ, might appear in the application event log, with the following message: "The terminal server could not locate a license server in the <domain> domain. Confirm that all license servers on the network are registered in WINS/DNS, accepting network requests, and the Terminal Server Licensing Service is running."

Solution

Set a preferred license server.

If your terminal server is running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), you can do this by using Group Policy settings or Terminal Services Configuration, or you can use the registry or a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) script. If your terminal server is running Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 without SP1, you must use the registry or a WMI script. For three scripts that you can use to set preferred license servers, delete preferred license servers, or query preferred license servers, see Preferred License Server WMI Scripts (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=26220) in Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Licensing on the Microsoft Web site.

Note

The license servers and the terminal servers must either be in the same domain or in domains that trust each other.

Solution

If explicitly specifying a license server does not resolve this issue, perform additional troubleshooting steps, as described in The terminal server cannot locate the license server.