Terminal Services administrative tools

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

Terminal Services administrative tools

In addition to the standard administrative tools, the following Terminal Services tools, tool extensions, and commands for administering Terminal Services connections, computers, and users are included in all of the Windows Server 2003 family operating systems.

  • Terminal Services Group Policies.

  • Terminal Services Manager.

  • Terminal Services Configuration.

  • Remote Desktops MMC snap-in.

  • Active Directory Users and Computers and Local Users and Groups extensions.

  • Terminal Server Licensing.

  • System Monitor counters.

  • Task Manager additional fields.

  • Multiuser support in Add or Remove Programs.

  • Commands.

Terminal Services Group Policies

Use Terminal Services Group Policies to configure individual terminal servers or groups of terminal servers, or to assign policies for Terminal Server users or user groups. For more information, see Configuring Terminal Services with Group Policy.

Terminal Services Manager

Use Terminal Services Manager to manage and monitor users, sessions, and processes on any server running Terminal Services on the network. Use it to:

  • Display information about servers, sessions, users, and processes.

  • Connect to and disconnect from sessions.

  • Monitor sessions.

  • Reset sessions.

  • Send messages to users.

  • Log off users.

  • Terminate processes.

For more information about Terminal Services Manager, see Terminal Services Manager.

Terminal Services Configuration

During the installation of a Windows Server 2003 family operating system, a connection is configured for the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). This connection provides the link clients use to log on to a session on the server for either Remote Desktop for Administration or Terminal Server connections. After installation, you can use Terminal Services Configuration (Tscc.msc) to change the properties of this connection on the local computer or to add new connections.

Note

  • Many of these settings can also be set with Terminal Services Group Policy or Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), in which case Terminal Services Configuration settings are overridden.

Use Terminal Services Configuration to:

  • Name a connection.

  • Specify a connection type.

  • Specify a connection transport and transport properties.

  • Set the maximum number of sessions allowed.

  • Enable or disable logons through the connection.

  • Set connection time-outs.

  • Set the level of encryption.

  • Set whether to disconnect broken connections.

  • Enable or disable session remote control.

  • Enable or disable automatic logons.

  • Specify a program to run when a user logs on.

  • Override user profile settings for wallpaper.

  • Set permissions on the connection.

  • Set client device mapping and connection parameters.

For more information about Terminal Services Configuration, see Terminal Services Configuration.

Remote Desktops MMC snap-in

This Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Remote Desktops snap-in allows you to create connections to multiple terminal servers, configure them to run specific programs upon connecting, and switch easily between Terminal Services connections by clicking the connection in the console tree. A special MMC version of the Terminal Services client displays the desktop of the selected computer in the MMC results pane.

For more information about the Remote Desktops snap-in, see Remote Desktops snap-in.

Active Directory Users and Computers and Local Users and Groups extensions

Terminal Services extends Active Directory Users and Computers and Local Users and Groups to allow you to control Terminal Services features for each user. You can also use Terminal Services Group Policies to control these features, although settings you have specified might be overridden.

Use the Terminal Services extension to:

  • Set the path to the Terminal Services user profile for each user.

  • Enable or disable logons.

  • Set time limits on session.

  • Set whether to disconnect or reset a broken connection.

  • Enable or disable remote control.

  • Specify a program to run when a user logs on.

  • Make client drives and printers connect at logon.

Terminal Server Licensing

Use Terminal Server Licensing to register and track licenses for Terminal Server clients. For more information, see Terminal Server Licensing.

Important

  • You must install Terminal Server Licensing or your terminal server will stop accepting connections from unlicensed clients 120 days from the date of the first client logon.

System Monitor counters

Terminal Services extends System Monitor by adding User and Session objects and their counters. You can use these objects and counters to monitor the resources that a user or session consumes. Terminal Services also adds counters to the Process and System objects.

For more information on System Monitor, see System Monitor overview.

Task Manager additional fields

Terminal Services provides two additional fields, ID (session ID) and User, to Task Manager for monitoring and ending processes for all sessions.

Multiuser support in Add or Remove Programs

Add or Remove programs ensures that applications are installed for use in a multisession environment.

Commands

The following table shows the commands you can use to manage Terminal Services at the command prompt.

Command Function

Change logon

Temporarily disable logons to a terminal server.

Change port

Changes COM port mappings for MS-DOS program compatibility.

Change user

Changes the .ini file mapping for the current user.

Cprofile

Removes user-specific file associations from a user's profile.

Flattemp

Enables or disables flat temporary directories.

Logoff

Ends a client session.

Msg

Sends a message to one or more clients.

Mstsc

Runs Remote Desktop Connection.

Query process

Displays information about processes.

Query session

Displays information about Terminal Services sessions.

Query termserver

Lists Terminal Services servers on the network.

Query user

Displays information about users logged on to the system.

Register

Registers a program so that it has special execution characteristics.

Reset session

Allows you to reset (delete) a session from the terminal server.

Shadow

Allows you to monitor or remotely control an active session of another user.

Tscon

Connects to another existing Terminal Services session.

Tsdiscon

Disconnects a client from a Terminal Services session.

Tskill

Terminates a process.

Tsprof

Copies user configuration and changes profile path.

Tsshutdn

Shuts down a Terminal Services server.