Increase the number of concurrent users on Windows Server 2008

remote desktopuser-accountswindows-server-2008-r2

I have a Windows Server 2008 R2 running and I am able to connect to it using 2 different users via Remote Desktop Connection. Since a colleague and me are working on the server almost all the time and another colleague also wants to connect there is always the need to disconnect one user which is bad.

Is there a possibility to increase the number of allowed users? On another server there are more than 2 users allowed. What is different there?

Best Answer

This is a licensing issue:

  • When remote desktop is used only to administer the server, no additional licenses are required but the number of simultaneous connections is limited to two.
  • When remote desktop is used to do normal business work on the server (eg running LOB application) or when more than 2 simultaneous connections is required, you need to buy additional Remote Desktop Services Client Access License either for each user that is accessing the server or for each device that is used to access the server (whichever option is cheaper or more comfortable for you)

See this TechNet article for details about RDS licensing. There's also a more detailed document available.

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