Simple question

[Guest Brad]

I am TOTALLY new to Windows Terminal Services. Actually, as of this week.

Hopefully this is a simple question. We are running Windows Terminal

Services 2003. We have about 70-100 thin client terminals that use Terminal

Server for their applications. It seems like the license on the machines

expires about every 45 days and then the client has to reconnect to the

Terminal Server to reaquire the license. This has to be done by IT or a

system administrator manually as we log in as Administrator, access the

license server to aquire the license, and then reboot so the login script

signs in under a guest account. This process is painless, however the

company I am at is a 24-7 industrial plant. Getting a call at 2 in the

morning and having to drive many miles just to do this seems pointless.

 

Without giving the end user the administrator password over the phone and

walking them through the process, is there any way to automate the reaquiring

of licenses for these clients?

 

Thanks for the information.

[Guest Vera Noest [MVP]]

Re: Simple question

 

This process should be completely automatic and transparent to the

user. The fact that it isn't means that there is something not

quite right at your company.

 

First of all, your 45 days limit can't be right.

Either clients get a permanent license, which expires after a

random period of 52-89 days after issueing, and the clients

automatically start trying to renew the license 7 days prior to

expiration.

Or, in the absence of a free permanent license, clients can receive

a temporary license (only once per client), which expires after 90

days.

 

I'm assuming that your clients are using permanent licenses (check

in TS Licensing Manager).

The main thing that can go wrong is that the user doesn't have the

necessary rights to the registry key which stores the permanent

license. Also thin clients have a registry and they store the

license locally.

 

See here for the registry key. Some thin clients have an

administrative option in their setup menu to delete the registry

key, and thereby forcing the client to grab a new temporary

license, or access it in some other way.

 

187614 - Removing Terminal Server Licenses from an RDP Client

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=187614

 

I'm not exactly sure where the problem lies, but it seems that you

have restricted your users a little bit too much.

 

It is also possible that there is a specific problem with your thin

clients. Does the same problem occur when a user works on an XP

client? If not, then check with the vendor of the thin clients for

a firmware update.

 

Also check the EventLog on the TS for more info. It could shed more

light on exactly why the TS isn't able to renew the license on

behalf of the client (because that's what is supposed to happen).

 

_________________________________________________________

Vera Noest

MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server

TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net

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=?Utf-8?B?QnJhZA==?= <Brad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on 21

feb 2008:

> I am TOTALLY new to Windows Terminal Services. Actually, as of

> this week. Hopefully this is a simple question. We are running

> Windows Terminal Services 2003. We have about 70-100 thin

> client terminals that use Terminal Server for their

> applications. It seems like the license on the machines expires

> about every 45 days and then the client has to reconnect to the

> Terminal Server to reaquire the license. This has to be done by

> IT or a system administrator manually as we log in as

> Administrator, access the license server to aquire the license,

> and then reboot so the login script signs in under a guest

> account. This process is painless, however the company I am at

> is a 24-7 industrial plant. Getting a call at 2 in the morning

> and having to drive many miles just to do this seems pointless.

>

> Without giving the end user the administrator password over the

> phone and walking them through the process, is there any way to

> automate the reaquiring of licenses for these clients?

>

> Thanks for the information.