How To Connect Clients to Terminal Services in Windows Server 2003

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to connect a Windows Server 2003-based terminal services client to a terminal server by using Remote Desktop Connection.

Open Remote Desktop Connection

To open Remote Desktop Connection, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection.

Create a Terminal Services Connection

To create a Terminal Services connection, follow these steps:

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection.
2. In the Computer box, type the computer name or the IP address of a terminal server or a computer that has Remote Desktop enabled.
   Note: To connect to the console session of the remote computer, type computername or IP address /console.
3. Click Connect.
4. In the Log On to Windows dialog box, type your user name, password, and domain (if necessary), and then click OK.

Save Connection Settings

You can save a connection as a Remote Desktop protocol (.rdp) file. An .rdp file contains all the information for a connection to a terminal server, including the Options settings that were configured when the file was saved. You can customize any number of .rdp files, including files for connecting to the same server with different settings. For example, you can save a file that connects to MyServer in full screen mode and another file that connects to the same computer in 800×600 screen size.

To save your connection settings, follow these steps:

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection, and then click Options.
2. Specify the connection settings that you want for this connection.
3. On the General tab, click Save As.
4. In the File name box, type a file name for the saved connection file, and then click Save.

Note: To edit an .rdp file to change the connections settings it contains, click Start, click My Documents, right-click the file and then click Edit.

Open a Saved Connection

To open a saved connection, follow these steps:

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection, and then click Open.
2. Double-click the .rdp file for the connection that you want to open.

Copy Files Between the Local Computer and the Remote Computer

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection.
2. Type the computer name or the IP address of a terminal server or a computer that has Remote Desktop enabled.
3. Click the Local Resources tab, select the Disk Drives check box, and then click Connect.
4. Click Start on the task bar of the remote computer, and then click My Computer, or double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop of the remote computer.
   
   Note: The drives on the remote server appear with the drives on your local computer. Your local drives appear as driveletter on tsclient, where tsclient is the name assigned to your (local) computer.
5. Locate the file that you want to copy, right-click the file, and then click Copy.
6. Locate the folder where you want to paste the file, and then click Paste.

Log Off and End the Session

To log off and end a session, follow these steps:

1. In the Remote Desktop Connection window, click Start, and then click Shut Down.
2. In the Shut Down Windows dialog box, click Log Off username, and then click OK.

REFERENCES

For additional information about Terminal Services, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: