Terminal Services Core Functionality

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

For Windows Server 2008, Terminal Services includes new core functionality that enhances the end-user experience when connecting remotely to a Windows Server 2008 terminal server. This new core functionality includes:

Who will be interested in these features?

The new core functionality in Terminal Services will be of interest to organizations that currently use or are interested in using Terminal Services. Terminal Services provides technologies that enable access, from almost any computing device, to a server running Windows-based programs or the full Windows desktop. Users can connect to a terminal server to run programs and use network resources on that server.

For Windows Server 2008, you might be interested in the new core functionality in Terminal Services if you use any of the following hardware:

  • Monitors that support higher resolutions, such as 1680 x 1050 or 1920 x 1200

  • Multiple monitors

  • Windows Portable Devices

  • Microsoft Point of Service for .NET devices

You also might be interested in the new core functionality in Terminal Services if you want to support any of the following scenarios:

  • Have users connect to a terminal server and have the remote computer look and feel more like the user's local Windows Vista® desktop experience.

  • Ensure that display, keyboard, and mouse data passed over a remote connection is not adversely affected by bandwidth intensive actions, such as large print jobs.

  • Allow users with a domain account to log on once by using a password, and then gain access to a terminal server without being asked for their credentials again.

Are there any special considerations about these features?

In order to take advantage of the new Terminal Services core functionality, you will need to use the following:

  • Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 6.0 or RDC 6.1

  • Windows Server 2008 configured as a terminal server

In some cases, you will also need to use Windows Vista.

Remote Desktop Connection 6.1

Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 6.1 is available with the following operating systems:

  • Windows Server 2008

  • Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1)

  • Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3)

The RDC 6.1 (6.0.6001) client supports Remote Desktop Protocol 6.1.

Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) 6.0 is available with Windows Vista.

The RDC 6.0 software is also available for use on Windows Server® 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2), and Windows® XP with SP2. To use any new Terminal Services features on any of these platforms, download the installer package from article 925876 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=79373).

Additional references

For information about other new features in Terminal Services, see What's New in Terminal Services for Windows Server 2008.