Event ID 1043 — Terminal Services Client Access License (TS CAL) Availability

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

A terminal server must be able to contact (discover) a Terminal Services license server in order to request Terminal Services client access licenses (TS CALs) for users or computing devices that are connecting to the terminal server. In addition, the Terminal Services licensing mode configured on a terminal server must match the type of TS CALs available on the license server.

Note:  A terminal server running Windows Server 2008 can only communicate with a license server running Windows Server 2008.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1043
Source: Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: EVENT_LICENSE_SERVER_AUTHENTICATION_FAILED
Message: This Terminal Server is not able to communicate with the License Server. Please make sure that this Terminal Server's computer account is a member of the "Terminal Server Computers" group on License Server (%1).

Resolve

Add the terminal server to the Terminal Server Computers local group on the Terminal Services license server

To resolve this issue, add the computer account for the terminal server to the Terminal Server Computers local group on the Terminal Services license server.

Note:  When the License server security group Group Policy setting is enabled and applied to a license server, the license server will respond only to license requests from terminal servers whose computer accounts are members of the Terminal Server Computers local group. This Group Policy setting is located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\TS Licensing.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To add the computer account for the terminal server to the Terminal Server Computers group:

  1. On the license server, open the Local Users and Groups snap-in. To open Local Users and Groups, click Start, click Run, type lusrmgr.msc, and then click OK.
  2. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
  3. In the left pane, click Groups.
  4. In the right pane, right-click the Terminal Server Computers group, and then click Properties.
  5. Click Add.
  6. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, click Object Types.
  7. Select the Computers check box, and then click OK.
  8. Locate and then add the computer account for the terminal server that you want to add.
  9. Click OK to close the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, and then click OK to close the Terminal Server Computers Properties dialog box.

Note:  If the license server is installed on an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain controller, use the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in to create the Terminal Server Computers group. To create the Terminal Server Comptuers group on a domain controller, you must have membership in the Domain Admins group in AD DS, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. To open Active Directory Users and Computers, click Start, click Run, type dsa.msc, and then click OK.

Verify

To verify that the terminal server can discover (contact) a Terminal Services license server with the appropriate type of Terminal Services client access licenses (TS CALs), use Licensing Diagnosis in Terminal Services Configuration.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To use Licensing Diagnosis in Terminal Services Configuration:

  1. On the terminal server, 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. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
  3. In the left pane, click Licensing Diagnosis.
  4. Under Terminal Server Configuration Details, the value for Number of TS CALs available for clients should be greater than 0.

Terminal Services Client Access License (TS CAL) Availability

Terminal Services