I’m sure most of you use Remote Desktop for Administration (RDA) on your Windows servers.  It is probably one of the most valuable parts of the Microsoft server operating system, in my opinion.

One limitation of RDA is that you can only have 2 client connections on the server.  Several times I’ve been unable to connect because someone has carelessly disconnected their session when they really should have logged off, and then reopened another session with a new connection.  Then you have to go into the connection manager and kill one of the connections, hoping that the person wasn’t running anything important on that connection.  Whoops!

I have found at least one answer to this problem!  In Windows Server 2003 (only), there is a new group policy setting called Restrict Terminal Services Users to a Single Remote Session.  In the Group Policy snap-in, it is located under (Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services).  Set the state to Enabled, and people won’t be able to have two connections.  So they will either reconnect to their session, or come complain for help.  But you won’t be locked out! 

If the users just don’t understand the difference between Disconnect and Logoff, another useful policy is Remove Disconnect Option from Shut Down Dialog.  Then the only way to disconnect is to close the Remote Desktop Window.  But doing that will popup a dialog box that tells the user the session will still be active.