Share via

Configuring Remote Desktop for Administration

  • Article

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

Configuring Remote Desktop for Administration

You can use the Terminal Services administrative tools to configure computers and users for Remote Desktop for Administration connections.

In addition to the standard administrative tools, Windows Server 2003 family operating systems include the following Terminal Services tools, Windows Server 2003 tool extensions, and commands for administering Terminal Services connections, computers, and users. While many of these tools are primarily intended for configuring Terminal Server for multiple users, they can also be used to configure Remote Desktop for Administration connections.

Terminal Services Group Policies

Use Terminal Services Group Policies to configure individual computers or groups of computers, or to assign policies for Remote Desktop for Administration users or user groups.

To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

Terminal Services Manager

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

  • 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 on Terminal Services Manager, see Terminal Services Manager Overview.

To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

Terminal Services Configuration

During the installation of any Windows Server 2003 family operating system, a connection is configured for the Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) protocol. The 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 automatically 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 on Terminal Services Configuration, see Terminal Services Configuration Overview.

To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

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, in which case settings you have specified might be overridden.

Use the Terminal Services extension to:

  • Set the path to the Terminal Services user profile of 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 automatically when a user logs on.

  • Automatically connect client drives and printers at logon.

For more information on the Terminal Services extensions, see Terminal Services Configuration Overview.

To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

Open Computer Management.

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 Terminal Services performance monitoring, see Performance monitoring.

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. For more information, see Task Manager overview.

Command line

Use Terminal Services command-line functions to configure Terminal Services from the command prompt.

Command Function

change logon

Temporarily disables 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.

dbgtrace

Enables and disables debug tracing.

flattemp

Enables or disables flat temporary directories.

logoff

Ends a client's session.

msg

Sends a message to one or more clients.

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.

For more information on Terminal Services command-line functions, see Terminal Services commands.

Terminal Services WMI Provider

With the Terminal Services WMI provider, you can create customized scripts for configuring, managing, and querying terminal servers. For more information, see Configuring Terminal Services with WMI.