Running Server 2012 with RDS
We have one device which employees use to access an app on a particular server, I brought a Device CAL for this, no problems accessing through this device.
I occasionally administer the server using the Administrator account through my machine, today I have been getting "No Remote Desktop client access licenses available".
I was always under the impression that the Administrator account always had a Client Access CAL assigned so the server could be administered… looks like I am wrong about this assumption so just wondered what my options were?
If possible I would like to just purchase the one User CAL but not sure if I am able to mix and match RDS Device and User CALs? I will be the only user besides the unique device all other employees use to access the server. Although I would like the flexibility of the User CAL incase another Admin wanted to administer the server in future.
Best Answer
You seem to have setup Remote Desktop licensing wrong, and seem to be confused about how it works.
There are two RDS licensing modes. Per device, or per user. Your server has to be in one mode or the other, so you can't mix and match the way you want to.
By default, Windows Server is in per device mode and allows two concurrent RDS connections. (The licensing requirements or implications around that are not on-topic here.) If you choose to use per user mode instead, (in order to allow more than 2 concurrent RDP sessions, being a frequent reason) the server needs to be able to contact a licensing server that has a user CAL for each user that will use RDS. Again, the licensing part of this is not on topic here, but it sounds like your issue is either that this server is not configured with a licensing server to contact, or the licensing server it is contacting does not have any licenses assigned to it.