Comments on: Windows Terminal Server and User Auto Log-Off for RDP

By: Dharmavirsinh Jhala

Dharmavirsinh Jhala — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:39:48 +0000

Hi Troy,

Solution on this post is for those who want to auto-log-off when users disconnect terminal server. So in that case you just have to change "Sessions" setting for User's profile under Manage Groups and Users section of your Windows Server.
Basically what version of Windows Server are you running with? I have noticed with Windows Server 2008 R2, there is ability for new user trying to login can request Log off to another user when terminal license limit is reached, that request will log off requested user if he does not respond in 30 seconds. This will prevent restart of server when people forget to log-off and just disconnects from the server.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you still have some doubt.

By: Troy

Troy — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:58:31 +0000

I have a similar problem but not due to User mistake. I have provided them with a RDP file for a particular application. However, when they exit the application, the RDP file only disconnects them. The RDP does not seem to log them out of the terminal server when it exits.

Any suggestions? Or have I misunderstood how the RDP file for a hosted application should work?

By: Dharmavirsinh Jhala

Dharmavirsinh Jhala — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Thanks Kyle.
Thanks for sharing…

Dharmavir

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:34:31 +0000

You can also open Terminal Server Manager from another server with Domain Administrative rights. Find the maxed out Terminal Server, and reset or logoff the sessions there. This is essentially the same thing as Michal reported, but via a GUI.

By: Dharmavirsinh Jhala

Dharmavirsinh Jhala — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:04:51 +0000

Thanks Michal.

By: Michal

Michal — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:56:53 +0000

Actualy there is yet one option how to shoot down the forgotten inactive sessions on the terminal server, even when you are not able to connect to the server that is affected, and you don't even have to restart the server.

The trick is to log on to any machine in the domain with domain administrator privileged account, and to run these commands:

query session /server:servername

this will list all the sessions on the mentioned server, including their state, so you can choose which ID of the session is the correct one to kill in next step.

reset session [ID] /server:servername

this will kill the session marked by the ID obtained in the previous step. Once this command is finished, you should be good to go to log on the terminal server again.

Hope this will help someone, and prevent in such occassion to restart the server, when it is not needed.