TSplus as an alternative to RDS without paying RDS license fees to microsoft
Hello, We are evaluating whether to use TSplus (https://www.terminalserviceplus.eu/) as an alternative to Microsoft RDS/Terminal Server. According to TSplus we can not install or uninstall the RDS role, so we do not use RDS CALs and use TSplus CALs. This way it would not be necessary to pay for Windows Remote Desktop licenses. Is this correct? I can't find any information from Microsoft about it reading documentation. As I see it is correct that using TSPlus without installing Microsoft RDS it would not be necessary to pay Remote Desktop licenses. Could someone confirm me that it is so?2025-01 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2019 KB5050008 Causing Slow Performance and Freezing
We had this same problem back in August with the 2024-08 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2019 KB5041578, slow performance and freezing. Here we go again with KB5050008. Remote Desktop does not respond. It freezes up for minutes. We have SQL Server and Terminal Server on this Windows Server 2019 and people can't access it through Remote Desktop. I had to uninstall KB5050008. The server went back to normal. I don't a repeat of this with every Windows Server update. Please advise.Quser hangs and how to find the citrix load index equivalent
Dear all, at first, I was mostly active in a german forum, but most experts of it don't speak german... so I think in english I get more contact to admins with good knowledge. But could you give me some hints which foum, community here is the most activ one for questions on topics Windows Server, Remote Desktop Services and Active Directory? I found this sites and I am not sure how to select the right one: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/tags/301/remote-desktop https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/tags/220/windows-server https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-server/ct-p/Windows-Server https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-server-for-it-pro/bd-p/WindowsServer Now to my current question on Remote Desktop Services: We have a farm with over 30 rdsh. Since some weeks we have login issues. We encountered, that we also have issues with getting session information with the "quser" command. The prompt hangs and no output is done. We have no idea why this happens. Did anybody seen this before? Second question: Some years ago we had Citrix Terminalservers. There was a thing called load index. The Citrix TS put up their load to the max value of 10000 during a logon process from a user. Afterwards it comes down to a lower value based on some math rules for ressources and so on. I haven't found any command in RDS to get a value alike the load value. Is RDS doing something similar to the load index like Citrix? Where can I get this value? How does a rdsh prevent too many logins at the same time? If we force simultaneously logons the user gets a message with i assume is in english "remote desktop services utilized" (in german Remotedesktopdienste ausgelastet). And also the quser command seems to take a "short break" and the output comes some seconds later. Best regards, Stefan
New Teams on terminal servers
We have Teams installed on our terminal servers (Windows Server 2022) as well as locally. The video and voice functions aren't usable on the terminal servers, but everything else works (most notably the Outlook addin). I've been letting users decided whether to try the new Teams. I've been using it locally for months and not recently had any issues. It initially seemed OK on the terminal servers too. I decided to set it as the default in the Teams admin centre recently, and in setting up a couple of new user profiles on a terminal server the problems have started to come to light. Specifically: 1) Teams doesn't want to update - it displays a restart and update icon on the menu, but this doesn't actually cause it to update. Even logging in as an admin and using right-click run as administrator doesn't make any difference. The standalone installer uses an msix package, which doesn't work on WIndows Server (I am aware that there are ways to get it to run these packages, but it shouldn't be necessary and I'd rather avoid it for now if I can) 2) The Outlook addin doesn't work (as in doesn't appear in Outlook). I've looked for Microsoft documentation, and all I can find is this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/new-teams-vdi-requirements-deploy Which doesn't seen to specifically refer to local terminal servers at all! Assuming that much of what applies to AVD will also apply, I've checked the registry settings it lists and they all appear correct. Today I have created a new test VM, Server 2022, terminal server role, and installed Office using the normal XML config file method (using the latest available .exe for this). Office installed, and as expected only included the new Teams, not the old one. Still doesn't work properly - even after a clean install Teams wasn't up to date and the update now button didn't work. Manually closing and opening Teams caused it to update in this case (that doesn't work with the live terminal servers), but it's unclear whether this is going to continue to work reliably, or why it won't update on the live servers. The Oulook addin doesn't appear at all, although the settings and registry entries as listed in the link above all appear correct. Anyone got any ideas? The lack of mention in the documentation suggrsts that - as usual - Microsoft isn't making any effort to accommodate those using on-prem session hosts. Thanks
Moving vb6 program windows via rdp with fixed resolution
Hello, we have the following problem. Environment: - Windows Server 2022 Terminal Server - VMWare 7 and 8 - Android Mobile Computer (Datalogic & Zebra) - Mobile app Remote RDP apk with resolution forced to 240x320 - VB6 programs Randomly while using the mobile computer when I open a new window or application it opens shifted relative to the others and also relative to the center. The connection does not go down you stay connected all the time. And being there fixed screen can not be moved. If I exit and re-enter everything is resolved. From what could be due VB6 programs for window management? I would like to point out that with Windows Server 2019 version it does not give any kind of problem. I ask for your help or adviceTerminal servers - image viewer
I'm setting up some new terminal servers and trying to keep them as lightweight as possible. Server 2022 and Edge / Office can handle most file types for general office use, but of course there is no image viewer in Windows Server. What do others use? I believe there are licensing issues with Irfanview. Had a look at Nomacs but that looks a bit antiquated. Edge can actually open most common image files, but I've so far not found a way to set it as the default image viewer (still investigating). It currently defaults to Paint, but that's pretty useless as it opens at 100%, which is really not what is required given that most of the pictures being opened will be photos. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks
Excel addin silent install for all users on TSE (security warning)
Hello, We are testing our new Terminal Server infrastructure (not in production yet) to provide access to Excel for our users. We have installed a proprietary plugin for them, and the issue is : everytime a user log on the server for the first time and starts excel, he is a facing the following security warning : https://imgur.com/a/U6IrhqP Is there a way to install this plugin once and for all for everyone ? Or to hide this warning and force a silent install ? If it's not possible, disabling it by default with the possibility for the user to enable it in the COM plugins developper tab would be acceptable too.Office 335 Apps on Terminal Servers
I have recently discovered that the Office 365 Apps are not supported at all on Server 2022, and will only continue to be supported on Server 2016/19 until 2025 (despite those OSs being in support until 2026/29 respectively). This is a pretty big deal for those who rely on terminal servers run on-prem or on any non-Microsoft cloudy services (e.g. AWS). It appears that after 2025 the only option will be Office 2021 LTSC, which is supported on Server 2019/22, but only until 2026 (which is when Office 2021 goes out of suppport) - and it seems unclear what will happen after that. Plus it would be very expensive as it would entail buying the Office 2021 licenses on top of the cost of the Office 365 subscriptions. None of this was mentioned in any of the regular notification emails which Microsoft sends out to tenant admins (those tend to focus on trivial matters in many cases), so I only found out by looking for the system requirements in detail. I have therefore had to abandon plans to upgrade our terminal servers to 2022, and stick with 2019. Does Microsoft have any plans to change this situation, or is the intention to force users away from terminal servers and onto Azure Virtual Desktop? The problem with that of course is that it can only be run on Azure or Azure-linked on-prem services (i.e. Azure Stack HCI). This is not a road we were planning on going down. Really not impressed by this. I can see no logic (other than driving yet more users towards Microsoft's subscription services), and the complete lack of announcements mean that sysadmins may not even be aware of it - normal precedent is for any in-support versions of Office to be validated on any new versions of Windows so the Office 365 apps not being supported on Server 2022 is not something which would have been reasonably predictable.
