Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Setting up Windows 2012 R2 server as Session Host server without installing a full RDS farm


If you are looking to setup a simple remote desktop session host server on windows 2012 R2 server like you were able to do in Windows 2008 R2 Server or pervious versions continue reading this article.

Pre-requisites
A valid Remote desktop License server

Here's a high-level process.

1. Stand up a Windows 2012 R2 server

2. Install the Remote Desktop Services Session Host Server role from the server manager.

3. Once a Windows 2012 R2 server is setup with the Session Host remote desktop services role (Remember to restart after the installation), go to Windows Registry.

4. Update the value of "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\Licensing Core\LicensingMode" to "2" for per device or "4" per user

5. Create a Multi_SZ value under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermService\Parameters\LicenseServers" with the name "SpecifiedLicenseServers" and specify the FQDN of the license server as the value. i.e. RDLicense.abc.com

6. Restart the Server

7. Open RD Licensing Diagnoser from Administrative Tools > Remote desktop

8. It should not show any problems.