Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server does not give out all available licenses
- by Erwin Blonk
I installed the Terminal Server role in Windows Server 2003 Standard 64-bits. Still, only 2 connections are allowed. The License Manager says that there are 10 Device CALs available, which is correct, and that none are given out. For good measure I let the server reboot, to no effect.
Before this, there was another server (same Windows, except that it is 32 bits) active as a licensing server. I removed the role first and then then added it to the new server. I then removed the Terminal Server Licensing Server component off the old one and added it to the new one. After that, I added to licenses. When that didn't give the required result, I rebooted to new server. Still, the new server, with licenses and all, acts as if it has the 2 license RDP.
The server are all stand-alone, there is no active directory been set up. Both servers are in different workgroups.
Update (4/12/10):
The server has changed the entries in the Terminal Server Licensing a few times.
After installing the licenses it added an entry of which the exact phrasing I forgot but it was about temporary Windows 2003 device licenses. Later it added Windows Server 2003 - TS Per Device CAL. The temporary held 2 licenses (standard RDP licenses, I think) and the other 10. At some point, seemingly unrelated from the testing we did, it used a licenses from the new pool.
This morning, 2 licenses were used from the pool of 10 and only 1 from the temporary/RDP pool (I wish I had screenshots to show, it changed every few hours oir so it seems). Although I had already activated the server over the internet, and re-activated it, I decided to go through the whole procedure by phone.
Long story short, here is what it says now:
Existing Windows 2000 Server, type:built-in [no licenses used, I add for for sake of being complete]
Windows Server 2003 - Terminal Server Per Device CAL Token, type:open [none of 10 used]
Windows Server 2003 - TS Per Device CAL, type:open [3 of 10 used]
As I tried to explain, this is the end result after a few changes, most of which I can't directly connect to any action from my part. Only going to the activation procedure by phone seemed to directly effect the TS, resulting in the above configuration.
Still, it is impossible to connect with more than 3 people, which is 1 up from the 2 that could connect yesterday. TS does say 7 licenses are avaible. Yet it won't give them out.
