Connecting to Windows Server 2012 R2 console session with RDP

remote desktopwindows-server-2012-r2

I need a server process to run with full access to the physical desktop of the server. I also need to view/control it's state remotely.

My current solution involves a VNC Server service, but I want to have a more "native" solution.

I tried using RDP's session shadowing, but it doesn't work for the console session:

mstsc /shadow:3 /v:somehost.example.com /noConsentPrompt

All I get is "The specified session is not connected", while query the session on the server give me:

> query session
 SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE   TYPE        DEVICE
 services                                    0  Disc
 >rdp-tcp#2         Administrator            1  Active
 console                                     3  Conn
 rdp-tcp                                 65536  Listen

FWIW, I configured the group policy to allow connections without consent.

Is there something else I might be missing or this is just not possible ?

Best Answer

I don't think it can be done with windows 2012. I know in the past I have used either the /console or /admin switches because of the following reasons:

  • Look at the console screen to see a popup that a service failed or the system or the system is running low on virtual memory
  • some software only would install if it is on the Console (ID=0)

But it doesn't look like this is possible in Windows 2012 because it never attaches you to ID 0

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