Once you have an Remote Desktop Services [RDS] environment setup and want to continue using it past the 120 day trial period you will need to setup the RD Licensing role. This blog post will document how to setup the role, activate the license server with Microsoft, add a license key, then configure RDS with the license.
- Enable Remote Desktop License Server Expired
- Remote Desktop Services License Server
- Enable Remote Desktop License Server Port
- Setup Remote Desktop License Server 2019
- Enable Remote Desktop License Servers
- Enable Remote Desktop License Server 2012
- Enable Remote Desktop License Server Ip
Double-click Allow log on through Remote Desktop Services and then select Add User or Group. Type Remote Desktop Users (or the user names of each user account that you want to add, separated by semicolons), and then select OK two times. Configure the Remote Desktop Session Host role service to use the local RDS license server. Install client access licenses. After a license server is activated, you can install Remote Desktop Services client access licenses (RDS CALs). RDS CALs are installed through Microsoft from the Remote Desktop Licensing Manager tool. The RDS CALs are stored and tracked on the license server on which they were installed. Sep 20, 2018 License your RDS deployment with client access licenses (CALs). The RD Session Host server then requests an RDS CAL from the Remote Desktop license server. If an appropriate RDS CAL is available from a license server, the RDS CAL is issued to the client, and the client is able to connect to the RD Session Host server and from.
- How to Enable Remote Desktop in Windows Server 2016. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a Microsoft-proprietary remote access protocol that is used by Windows systems administrators to manage Windows Server systems remotely. What sets RDP apart from, say, Windows PowerShell or Secure Shell (SSH) remoting is the presence of the full graphical desktop, as shown in Figure 1.
- Remote Desktop Server 2019 will be a server role in Windows Server 2019. Q: How do we view this announcement with Windows Virtual Desktop announcement at Ignite? A: This is the most up-to-date version of RDS to enable running the latest on-premises multi-session virtualization available with Windows Server.
vBoring Blog Series:
Installing the Remote Desktop Licensing Role:
Enable Remote Desktop License Server Expired
First the licensing role needs to be installed. On your license server go to Manage -> Add Roles and Features
Click Next
Select Role-base or feature-based installation and click Next
Select the license server from the server pool. Click Next
Scroll down and select Remote Desktop Services then click Next
Click Next without selecting a Feature
Click Next
Select the Remote Desktop Licensing role
Click Add Features on the pop up
Click Next
Select the Restart the destination server automatically if required then click Install
Once finished click Close.
Activate Licensing Server:
Now the RD Licensing role is installed we need to activate it with Microsoft. To do this we need to launch the Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Remote Desktop Services-> Remote Desktop Licensing Manager
Right click your server name then click Activate Server
Click Next
If your computer is connected to the internet leave it on Automatic connection and click Next
Enter your information and click Next
[Optional] Enter additional information and click Next
Check the box to Start Install Licenses Wizard now then click Next
Install Licenses:
If you did not start the Install Licenses Wizard in the previous step it can be access by right clicking your server name in the RD Licensing Manager then click Install Licenses
Remote Desktop Services License Server
Click Next
Pick the type of license you want to install. I am installing a retail RDS Server 2012 license. Click Next
Enter your license click then click Add. It should populate the License Codes Entered section if the license key was correct. Click Next
Click Finish to complete the license install.
The license key you just added will show
Add license server to Activate Directory:
We can fix the yellow splat next to your license server name. Click on All servers then click Review
Since installing the license server we never moved it to the Terminal Server License Servers group in Active Directory. Click the Add to Group button for this to happen.
It will give you a pop up confirming the add. Click Ok
Now you should see all green. Click Ok
Configuration should now show green with a green check beside your server name.
To confirm the license server is added to the AD group you can check the computer account or the actual Terminal Server License Servers group.
Add License Server to your RDS Environment:
From one of your RDS servers open Server Manager. If the license server is on a different server you must first add it to the server pool by going to Manage -> Add Servers
Enter the name of your license server -> Click Find Now -> Select the server -> Click the right Arrow -> Click Ok
Now the license server is added to the server pool, Click Remote Desktop Services ->RD Licensing
Select the server you added above -> click the Arrow button -> then click Next
Click Add
Once finished click Close
RD Licensing now has an icon!
An easy way to validate your RDS license is to open the RD Licensing Diagnoser. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Remote Desktop Services -> RD Licensing Diagnoser.
You can now see the number of licenses installed and available.
You should now have a licensed RDS environment!
Continue reading – Part 3: Setup RD Gateway Role on Windows Server 2012 R2
This blog post was co-authored by Jonathan Federico, Product Marketing Manager, Desktop Virtualization and Christian Montoya, Program Manager, RDS.
We released the newest version of Remote Desktop Services (RDS), RDS 2019, on October 2, 2018. RDS 2019 builds on the strong foundation of RDS 2016, letting you rapidly deploy on-premises or in the cloud. RDS 2019 is generally available with Windows Server 2019.
RDS 2019 will give customers the opportunity to leverage fantastic enhancements that make it the optimal version of RDS, to date, with several areas of innovation to improve the administrative and client experiences.
We brought innovation centered around three areas in RDS 2019 – Simplify IT management, User experience, and Improved security.
Simplify IT management
We have time and again heard from customers that license management should focus on simplification to scale deployments. Over the past few years, we have focused on improving management of Remote Desktop (RD) Licensing servers and entitlement through Active Directory (AD).
- Now, you will be able to leverage high availability RD Licensing servers with forward-compatibility for future versions of Windows Server to enable easier management of licenses from a variety of RDS releases.
- We have also made it easier to manage licenses for your employees by bringing the ability for the RD Licensing servers to update RDS user Client Access Licenses (CALs) into AD objects without accessing AD directly.
- Lastly, we added perfmon (Performance Counters) APIs to provide partners an easy way to access data to build monitoring dashboards and deliver a consistent user experience.
User experience
We have also invested in providing an enhanced user experience where end users will be able to leverage desktops and apps through RDS 2019 to maximize productivity.
- To start, we have added modern notifications for RemoteApp in the Action Center to improve productivity with applications like Microsoft Outlook.
- We have improved upon innovations in Discrete Device Assignment in RDS 2016 to bring better security, virtual machine (VM) isolation, and performance for your graphic-intensive workloads. These improvements in GPU virtualization technologies will result in reduced network traffic and smooth video playback.
- In addition to the GPU virtualization technology, we added high-level redirection of built-in or attached video cameras to deliver optimized video stream at higher frame rates in new and legacy remote applications and desktops. Users can now have a better experience with video-intensive interactions.
- Lastly, we have reduced CPU usage on the client and server and bandwidth with better image quality to bring a faster end-to-end web client experience.
Security
One of our primary goals as the Remote Desktop Services product team is to help improve your security posture for your desktop and app virtualization environments. We have improved security through several enhancements.
- With Windows Admin Center integration, it is easy to consolidate all local and remote server management into a single pane.
- We have brought several Windows Defender optimizations for multi-session to give you more confidence in bringing a secure, scalable and cost-effective desktop experience to end users.
- We also added web client support for Single Sign-on (SSO) to deliver a streamlined authentication experience for users connecting via the web client.
- A few additional features include easy-to-configure DTLS-based encryption, all of which, work toward providing a trusted end-to-end RDS deployment.
Deploying RDS 2019 on Azure
We recognize that giving you the ability and making it easier to deploy RDS on Azure gives you a lot of flexibility, scalability, security and several other advantages of Azure. To improve flexibility and ease of cloud adoption, we also support hybrid deployments where the infrastructure roles can be in Azure while the host Virtual Machines (VMs) can be on-premises.
Key enhancements for deploying RDS 2019 on Azure include using Azure Key Vault for simplified certificate management and using Azure SQL DB for the RD licensing high-availability feature.
Lastly, later in October we will announce the availability of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) subscriptions through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. The availability of RDS in CSP addresses customer needs for additional cost-effective solutions that support desktop and app virtualization.
With RDS Subscriptions, partners can directly sell RDS subscriptions through our CSP program, eliminating the extra step of customers and partners acquiring different licenses through various programs. With this model, customers can enjoy a faster licensing cycle due to CSP integration with other Microsoft licenses including Windows Server, SQL Server, and Office to make it easy for partners to simplify the buying process.
For more technical information on RDS 2019, please refer to the RDS documentation page.
Download Windows Server 2019 that includes RDS 2019 now.
Frequently asked questions
Q: When will I be able to download the final version of Windows Server 2019?
A: Windows Server 2019 that includes RDS 2019 became generally available on October 2, 2018. It is available for evaluation and download through Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).
Enable Remote Desktop License Server Port
Q: Is Remote Desktop Server included in Windows Server 2019?
A: Yes. Remote Desktop Server 2019 will be a server role in Windows Server 2019.
Setup Remote Desktop License Server 2019
Q: How do we view this announcement with Windows Virtual Desktop announcement at Ignite?
A: This is the most up-to-date version of RDS to enable running the latest on-premises multi-session virtualization available with Windows Server. Windows Virtual Desktop is a desktop and application virtualization service on Azure. Read the blog post Microsoft 365 adds modern desktop on Azurefor more information.
Enable Remote Desktop License Servers
Q: How is RDS on Azure different from Windows Virtual Desktop?
A: RDS is the ideal on-premises desktop and application virtualization solution, with a Windows Server operating system to provide a multi-session desktop experience. When deployed on Azure, you can scale your deployment and manage RD infrastructure roles in your own subscription. Windows Virtual Desktop enables customers to deliver a brand-new multi-session capability with a full Windows 10 experience, with the scale and flexibility of Azure. With this new service, Microsoft manages the infrastructure roles. Windows Virtual Desktop will be available for public preview later this calendar year. For more information, please visit the product page.
Enable Remote Desktop License Server 2012
Q: Will there be a path to go from RDS to Windows Virtual Desktop?
Enable Remote Desktop License Server Ip
A: Yes, we are developing Azure documentation guidance for this migration path as Windows Virtual Desktop gets closer to public preview later in calendar year 2018.