Windows 2000 Terminal Services issues in an Active Directory domain environment

Windows 2000 Terminal Services provides increased functionality for Windows 2000 domain environments, and affects all aspects of the domain environment. This article describes the affected areas, and provides links to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that contain specific troubleshooting steps for those areas.

You can install Terminal Services for Windows 2000 during Windows 2000 Setup, or at any time thereafter. Windows 2000 server administrators can enable or disable Terminal Services by using the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel. For more information about how to install Terminal Services, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Installing Terminal Services on a Domain Controller

When you enable Log on Locally on a domain controller that is running Terminal Services, this feature is also enabled at the console of all domain controllers for this domain, and can be accessed by all Terminal Services clients. Log on Locally is described later in this article in the User Rights section.

Installing Terminal Services on a Member Server

Windows 2000 Terminal Services is designed to run a variety of Microsoft BackOffice programs. The following modes are available in Terminal Services:

Application Server Mode

• Users are able to connect to the Terminal Server, and functionality is similar to Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server.
• Requires Terminal Server Client Access Licenses (CALs).
• Citrix MetaFrame can be installed for user connections by Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) clients.

Remote Administration Mode

This mode permits administrators to remotely administer a Terminal Server through a session.

• Two concurrent connections are available for server administration, and Terminal Services clients are unable to run programs.
• Citrix MetaFrame is not feature complete.

For more information about Terminal Services modes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about changing Terminal Services modes, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For information about how to use Terminal Services for remote administration of the Windows 2000 Server family, view the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to add Server Operators to the list of available logons, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: NOTE: By default, only the administrators group has remote administration permissions. For more information about the performance impact of remote administration, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about installing MetaFrame in remote administration mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: NOTE: Remote administration mode only permits two concurrent connections and does not permit a Terminal Server to go into Install mode for program installation.

Active Directory Users and Computers

Terminal Server Profile Path

Used for profiles while in Terminal Server Edition (TSE), and for non-TSE profiles.

Terminal Server Home Folder

Home folders are used to store user data in a multiple-user environment. Local profiles are created in the x:\Documents and Settings\Username folder on the Terminal server, where Username is the user logon name.

It is not recommended for Clustered Terminal Services by Network Load Balancing or with Citrix MetaFrame add-on, which is described later in this article. This can also fill up the small system partition and not utilize the large data partitions.

Roaming Profiles

Terminal Server Profile Path is used for roaming profiles only while in TSE, and also works for clustered Terminal Server. You can select a server to house roaming profiles that can be accessed by any Terminal Server.

User Profile Path and Terminal Server Profile Path

User Profile Path

• Available for both Terminal Server and Windows NT Server.
• Available for Windows 2000 Professional desktops that have the same desktop settings whether they are using a Terminal Services session or a Windows 2000 Server and domain logon.

Terminal Server Profile Path

• The roaming profile is for Terminal Services use only.
• Works for Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98 clients, or other desktops that need a roaming profile that stores their virtual Windows 2000 Professional user settings.

For more information about roaming profiles, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Home Folders

Home folders store user data in a multiple-user environment.

Terminal Server Home Folder

System Policies: Local TSE and Domain Policies

• Local policies are applied when you work on that Terminal Server only.
• Domain policies are applied whenever the user logs on, and they are stored in the SYSVOL share on the Windows 2000 domain controllers.

Terminal Services Configuration

This is the system-wide user interface settings for RDP-TCP or ICA-TCP by using the Permissions tab, and it can override Connection Permissions settings in User Manager for Domains. This is often overlooked due to the standard Windows NT Server troubleshooting on the User Manager for Domains tool.

User Rights

"Access this Computer from Network" is needed to access the Server outside of Terminal Server sessions for file and print sharing.
For more information about the Log on Locally feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Terminal Server Licensing

License Manager tracks domain licenses and other Windows 2000 servers.

Terminal Server Licensing Service

If this is not completed, you may have profile issues. If no licenses are available, the user is able to log into the domain but does not load TSE local profiles.

For information about Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services Licensing, view the following Microsoft Web sites: For more information about activating a license server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For additional information about locating an activated license server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
For more information about license management for Terminal Services, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about upgrading from Windows 2000 Terminal Services Beta, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Terminal Services Licensing Tool

• An existing Windows 2000 license is used for client desktops that are running Windows 2000.
• Temporary licenses for Windows 2000 Terminal Services Client Access License is used for clients that do not have a license, and grants them 90 days access while licenses are being purchased for non-Windows 2000-based desktop clients.
• Temporary licenses for Windows 2000 license is used for clients that do not have a license, and grants them 90 days access while licenses are being purchased for Windows 2000-based client computers.
• Windows 2000 Terminal Services Client Access License is used for non-Windows 2000-based desktop clients.

Citrix MetaFrame Add-on Product

Citrix MetaFrame version 1.8 for Windows 2000 Server is the next generation from MetaFrame version 1.8 thin-client solutions for Windows NT 4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition.

• Server Clustering for Load Balancing of the Terminal Servers.
• Installs over Terminal Server.
• Citrix Licensing Services can be used as well as Terminal Server License Manager.
• Published programs for users to find and then start.

For more information about Citrix MetaFrame, view the following Citrix Web site:

Terminal Services Client Options

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is the Microsoft client program that permits connections to Terminal Services with or without Citrix MetaFrame.

Supported Clients

Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 3.x, HP/C clients for Windows CE, and Windows Based Terminals (WBT) with Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) embedded.

Add-ons:

• Remote control of a session.
• Remote printer attachment.
• Client clipboard redirector.

Independent Computing Architecture (ICA)

Citrixs client program for Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame

Clients: Microsoft Windows RDP clients, Macintosh, Unix, Novell, OS/2, Linux, Microsoft Windows CE, Windows Based Terminals (WBT) with ICA embedded.

Add-ons:

• Support for several client platforms.
• Shadowing.
• Remote printer attachment.
• Sound through the channel.
• Remote HDD attachment.

Terminal Services Tools

Included with Windows 2000 Server

For more information about these tools, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Benefits of Using Terminal Services

• You can use older hardware to run 32-bit programs.
• Efficient management on the server.
• Roaming profiles are easily managed.
• Efficient license management.
• Ease of remote administration.

For additional information about Terminal Services, view the following Microsoft Web sites: For more information about issues in a domain environment, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.