Using RDP to connect to terminal services on Win2k server 1

[gk759]

Hi,


I am having trouble connecting to terminal services on a Windows 2000 server from client computers (4 workstations) running windows XP.

I get the following error from 2 workstations while the other 2 work fine.

'Remote desktop disconnected'

The client could not establish a connection to the remote computer

The most likely cases for this error are:
1)remote connections maynot be enabled on the remote computer
2)The maximum number of connections have been exceeded on the remote computer
3)A network error occured while establishing the connection.

I can't seem to find errors related to the above resons.

Please let me know what i should do now, I'll really appreciate if someone has a clue of why this is happening.

thanks,

Gary

 

[ahalecitrix]

Windows 2000 Terminal Services runs in two different modes. Remote Administrator Mode and Application Server Mode.

Unless you are using the server as an application server to host applications from a Terminal Server or Citrix MetaFrame server you want to install Terminal Services in Remote Administrator Mode which is the default option. (This is how you have it installed so you're good to go.)

How do I know this you ask? Because in Remote Admin Mode Terminal Services supports up to 2 concurrent RDP connections by administrators.

You connected to the server with the first two XP machines fine. The 3rd and 4th machine cannot connect because those two sessions are still active.

The sessions will remain active if you remain logged on or if the session remains in a disconnected state.

You may have closed the RDP session from the first two XP workstations but the session remained in a disconnected state. This can cause problems because those sessions can remain locked like that until the server reboots. If you log off from the start menu you will be completely logged off and a connection will become available again.

You can modify the default settings by going to Terminal Services by going to Admin Tools\Terminal Services Configuration and going to the Sessions tab. Here you can tell the server to end a disconnected session after a period of time (say 5 minutes perhaps) and to disconnect an idle session after a period of time (say 1 hour perhaps).

A disconnected session can be reconnected to. So say you are remotely working on the server creating a new user account and you lose your network connection to the server, when the connection comes back up and you reconnect you will get back into the same session you were working in and be able to finish what you were doing when you lost the connection.

Hope that explains it for you.

 

[gk759]

Hi ahalecitrix,

Thanks for your suggestion. The Windows 2000 terminal services is currently running in the application server mode. It has been working fine for the past two months.

Usually there is only one remote user using the terminal services server at one time. This connection broke first. To troubleshoot this situation I tried to RDP from inside the network and from the other remote computers. So 1 remote computer still works perfectly but 2 generate the above error and I get the same error when I try to connect internally over the LAN.

All the configurations are the same, nothing has changed but I am unable to find the solution for this situation.I tried to reset the sessions too. Hope you can help me figure out this problem....

Looking forward to ur reply

Gary

 

[Davetoo]

What OS are the workstations? You say XP...Home or Pro?

 

[gk759]

The LAN workstations are XP pro and the remote user workstation is Windows 2000 proffessional. Only one of the remote workstations connect without a problem.

All the above generate this particular error.


gary

 

[ahalecitrix]

gk759,

Sorry for the long wait. I have one question for you. Since you have the server running in application server mode do you have Terminal Services Licensing installed on your network?

The reason I ask is because you were able to connect for 2 months and now you have the problem.

Win XP Pro and Win2K Pro have a "built-in" TS CAL, but they still need an activated Terminal Services Licensing server to "activate" the built in TS CAL. This can cause connectivity issues to an application server.

 

[gk759]

Hey ahalecitrix,


Your absolutely right!!!! That was the problem, now after activating Terminal Services Licensing, RDP is working perfectly.


Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it !

Gary

 

[ahalecitrix]

No problem I'm glad that worked out.

 

[mbroeder]

I am having a problem with Remote Desktop for a new user. The first time she attempted to access our server she did not know her user name or password. I assume she gave up after a while and cancelled. Now that she has her information she gets the error: The client could not establish a connection to the remote computer
The most likely causes for this error are
1) remote connections might not be enabled at the remote computer
2) maximum number of connections was exceeded at the remote computer
3) a network error occurred while establishing the connection.
Did the server think that her first connection was an attack? If so is it possible to clear the attacking address? Or any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.