Terminal Server license problem

[phoenixlu]

Hi,
I have a problem with my terminal service running in Windows 2000 server. Yesterday, one of the client user suddently can not connect to the terminal server, it gave error message like" Terminal Server is busy.connection failed........"But other users still can connect to the server. Anyone has met this kind of problem before?Is this related to the Client license? We are using the client license as per seat now.

 

[dankelt]

Normaly an error like that is a connectivity problem. Make sure the client can get to the server (ex. ping)

 

[mst3k]

Terminal services has it's own licensing scheme that is not releated to the per server / per seat that windows uses. When you enable terminal services you have to choose "Remote administration" or "Application Server mode" The remote administration only allows two connections at a time. Rebooting will clear that number, then make sure that when you use terminal services on that box, don't just close the window, you must log off the server. Otherwise, your connection to the server remains active.

 

[dankelt]

I wouldn't bother rebooting to reset the active teminal service sessions, just use "Terminal Services Manager" in Administrative Tools to reset any exta sessions.

As far as licensing goes, in App mode you will need a client access license on the server for each user, and a Terminal Server Client Access License for each user that is pre 2000. The whole terminal services licensing is a bit confusing, and I don't know if I totaly undertand it yet either!

Dan

 

[phoenixlu]

Thank you for your infomation. but the most funny thing of my problem is that only one user try to connect to Terminal Server by his own computer, it fails. Any other users can still connect to the server while he can not.So this should not be the server licensing problem,but a client access license problem, I think. Is that reasonable?

 

[dankelt]

phoenixlu, I don't believe it is a licensing problem. Is this client computer on your LAN or comming in over the internet? How is he different from the other users? Can he ping the server? This seems to be a connectiviy problem, not a licensing problem. Also make sure he is connecting to the correct IP address or Host name. If it were licenses, you would get an error that said something like "No more client access licenses available."

As a quick test, I just tried to connect to an ip address that isn't a terminal server and got the error, "The client could not connect to the Terminal server. The server may be too busy. Please try again later."

 

[phoenixlu]

They are all connect to the server through Internet, and the user failing to connect to the server can still ping the server but just not be able to connect to the server. THat is why I consider this as a licensing problem.And that user can coonect to the server just a few days ago. Is it possible that the PC affected by virus?

 

[nhidalgo]

have you checked the licensing manager on your termnial server. It could be possible that your license for that client pc expired. also make sure "allow terminal login" is checked in the users manger of the terminal server or on your domain.

Nick

 

[phoenixlu]

Ya, the user is enabled to log into terminal server. But I am not sure how to check whether the client license expires or not in the server. please do me a favor to tell me how to do that?

 

[devastator]

That is done in Administrative Tools, TS Licensing, Expand All Servers, Expand Your Server, and select your license preference. In the right pane it will tell you the PC name, when the license was issued, and when it expires.


Dev

 

[nhidalgo]

The TS licensing must be installed on a domain controller though.

Nick

 

[phoenixlu]

I have a error message in the system event log as this :`The device, \Device\Scsi\cpq32fs21, did not respond within the timeout period. ` And that device is the harddisk, does it have any possible reason related to my problem?

 

[phoenixlu]

Hi, I found another possible reason. My this terminal server is not in the same domain as other terminal servers. Although I can still see the users setup in other servers.
When I want to start the Terminal Service Licensing on this server, I got this error log` Terminal Services Licensing can only be run on Domain Controllers or Server in a Workgroup. ...` , so that the Terminal Service Licensing can not be started. Is this most likely reson for my problem? What should I do since I can not easily just join the domain now.

By the way, My client gets error message as this:
"dail up and internet netowrk pretend logon from getting previous session"

and after I install the citrix client with the disks created by the server, the error message turns to:
"the terminal service client '%1' has provided an invalid license."

SO anyone has experienced this before?

 

[mlj30]

It is a license issue but it is on the client side. This can happen due to an expired trial license or just about any other reason files get corrupt in Windows. In any case to clear it you have to delete the client license registry entry on the client. Gonna have to reg hack.
Licensing information is stored in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing\Store\License00x
Locate the registry key (License000 or License00x) and delete it. This will not remove the license from the server but when you reboot your client will recieve a new valid license. The MS Q article is 248430

 

[Seizure]

If the workstation is Pre-2000, the problem may be that there are no more licenses that can be issued. Terminal server licenses (after 60 days from activation) are issued to pre-2000 boxes on a first-come first-served basis. The client generates a unique algorithm and hands it to the server. The issued license becomes permanently associated with that pre-2000 client. No other client can use it. If licensing problems show up approx 60 days after activation on Win9x clients, this is most likely. Contact MS clearing house to get the license re-issued. Jim - Synnex Info Tech

 

[phoenixlu]

Thank you so much for both of your suggestion.

To mlj30: Can u tell me where can I access the MS Q article 248430 for more information?

TO Seizure: becaue in my case, the Win98 users can connect to the server just a few days ago, but suddently from yesterday it cannot. So if the license has been issued to it permanently, then there should not have such problem.is it?

 

[phoenixlu]

To mlj30: I have tried to delete the registry,but the user still can not connect to the server. ANd I think maybe this is due to the Terminal Server recongnize the client by its MAC address. So is there anyway I can refresh the client license in the server?

 

[Seizure]

The license grace period is 60 days. During that time licenses are not issued at all. This gives the deployment team time to use their notebooks or devices to login without chewing up the licenses. When "hard licensing" kicks in, all pre-2000 machines must have one assigned, or they will be denied. If you have no free licenses available to be issued, the 98 machine that did not get one, will not get one until more are added or some are released. If there were no licenses available to begin with, or the server cannot find the license server, then this would explain your scenerio. Jim - Synnex Info Tech

 

[phoenixlu]

But in my case, the user can still login 60 days after the installation of the terminal server, which means it still can get a license at that time,right? SO why suddently it is denied access to the server?

 

[mlj30]

You can not remove the license for some crazy Microsoft reason from the server, it dont register there for any useful purpose anyway. The Q248430 Article on support.microsoft.com explains how to move the license from 1 client machine to another. I have had the same problem you are having and I was able to delete the registry key and obtain a new license. Be sure you have them to issue, and if you dont call the MS clearinghouse and tell them you have some lost licenses and they will give you a code to correct it. It is definatley a registry setting on the client though. Ill look deeper tonight and see what Ive missed getting to you.