Configure Client Logon Information for Terminal Services Connections

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

To connect remotely to the terminal server, the user must provide credentials in order to be authenticated and for the terminal server to determine what actions the user is authorized to perform.

By default, a connection will use the logon information provided by the user, which the user provides when using Remote Desktop Connection to connect remotely to the terminal server.

Instead of using the logon information provided by the client, you can specify the logon information to be used for the connection on the Log on Settings tab in the Properties dialog box for the connection.

You can also specify that a user is always prompted to provide a password when connecting to the terminal server, even if the user has configured Remote Desktop Connection to use saved credentials when connecting to the terminal server.

Use the following procedure to configure the logon settings for a connection.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

To configure the logon settings for a connection

  1. Open Terminal Services Configuration. To open Terminal Services Configuration, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Terminal Services, and then click Terminal Services Configuration.

  2. Under Connections, right-click the name of the connection, and then click Properties.

  3. In the Properties dialog box for the connection, click the Log on Settings tab.

  4. Configure the logon settings as appropriate for your environment and then click OK.

    If the Always prompt for password check box is selected and is dimmed, the Always prompt for password upon connection Group Policy setting has been enabled and has been applied to the terminal server.

You can also specify that a user is prompted for a password when connecting remotely to the terminal server by applying the Always prompt for password upon connection Group Policy setting. This Group Policy setting is located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Terminal Server\Security and can be configured by using either the Local Group Policy Editor or the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Note that the Group Policy setting will take precedence over the setting configured in Terminal Services Configuration.

For more information about Group Policy settings for Terminal Services, see the Terminal Services Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=89673).

For more information about security and Terminal Services, see the Terminal Services page on the Windows ServerĀ 2008 TechCenter (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73931).

Additional references