Terminal Services - Frequently Asked Windows Terminal Services Questions!

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[260] Frequently Asked Windows Terminal Services Questions!

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How can I create a selection to open the Command Prompt on the desktop mouse right click context menu? 

If you`re from the old school and still use the command prompt regularly, then this tip is for you. You can create a new right-click option to open a command prompt window from the directory you`re currently working in. Open your Registry using RegEdit (not RegEdit32), and find the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell. Create a new sub key called "CommandPrompt" as in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CommandPrompt.
Change the value of default within the key to equal the text you would like on the right-click menu, for example `Open Command Prompt....` Create another new subkey under the key you just created, and name this subkey "command" as in
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\CommandPrompt\command.
Change the value of default within this key depending on your OS to equal either:
Windows 9x
command.com /k cd "%1"
or
Windows NT
cmd.exe /k cd "%1"
Now right-click a folder, and the new option of "Open Command Prompt..." should be available.

When I try to save a Word 97 document directly to the local hard drive in Terminal ServerI get the following error message: This is not a valid file name:* Check path to make sure it was typed correctly * Select a file from a list of files and folders (\\Client\C$\.doc What is causing this? 

This information can be found in MS KB article Q171406
Open up regedt32 and set up a registry key as follows:
HKeyCurrentUser\Software\microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Options
Add the key "DontUseUNC" as a DWORD value and give it a value of 1.
This should fix your problem.
Of course, this needs to be performed for all users. You can use a utility called reg.exe with the "add" command to add the key in the usrlogon.cmd logon script.

How do I schedule a nightly reboot in Terminal Server or Terminal Services? 

I recommend that you reboot your server daily or at least weekly. •Terminal Server comes with a command-line tool called TSSHUTDN on TS 2000 and SHUTDOWN on TSE 4.0. This command can be used in conjunction with the Scheduler Service and the AT command to schedule an automatic shutdown and restart of your Terminal Servers.
TSSHUTDN /reboot
Shutdown /reboot
Scheduled….
at 23:00 /every:M,T,W,Th,F,S,Su "tsshutdn /reboot"
Or
at 23:00 /every:M,T,W,Th,F,S,Su “shutdown /reboot"
This would reboot the server every day at 11:00 PM

Is there a way to prevent users from installing software on a Terminal Server 

Use Regedt32 to navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software
Use Security / Permissions to remove the write permission on this key for ordinary users.

Do you have any tips on diagnosing problems with 16 bit Apps? 

These suggestions come from Jsiinc.com at: http://www.jsiinc.com/tip0100/rh0151.htm
Here are some reasons for having problems with 16bit applications:

1. The PATH variable is too long or has an entry pointing to the WINDOWS or WINDOW/SYSTEM directories of a Windows 3.x or Windows 95 installation. This would be in either Control Panel / System / Environment or the AUTOEXEC.BAT. See tip 021.

2. The COMMAND.COM used by Windows NT is missing, damaged or replaced by another version. Repair System files and re-apply your latest Service Pack.

3. The VER.DLL file in the %systemroot%\system or %systemroot%\system32 directories is corrupted or replaced by an invalid version.

4. SHARE.EXE (or VSHARE) is being loaded in an %systemroot%\system32\AUTOEXEC.NT.

5. Insufficent environment space, see tip 047.

6. Check %systemroot%\system32\CONFIG.NT, here is mine:

dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=75
shell=%systemroot%\system32\command.com /p /e:4096
ntcmdprompt

7. Corruption of the WOW sub-system files. Repair System files and re-apply your latest Service Pack.

8. Make sure the following files are from your latest SP or NT CD, whichever is later:

        Commdlg.dll
        Compobj.dll
        Ddeml.dll
        Ole2.dll
        Ole2disp.dll
        Storage.dll
        Ctl3dv2.dll
        Ole2nls.dll
        Stdole.tlb
        Typelib.dll
        Ver.dll

NOTE: Ver.dll should be in both %SystemRoot% and %SystemRoot%\System32.

Are there any tips to increase disk speed performance on a Windows Terminal Server? 

Yes
By default, Windows will update the last access time on each directory when listed. You can provide a slight disk read performance increase by disabling this option, since users on a Terminal Server will be performing mostly file reads on the server. You can turn off this default behavior by adding the NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate REG_DWORD value and setting it to 0x1. under the following Registry key:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
This value does not exist by default and a reboot is required in order for this change to take effect.

How do I remove the IE icon from a Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server desktop? 

This tip comes from http://www.jsiinc.com/tip2200/rh2212.htm To remove the Internet Explorer icon from your Terminal Server desktop, start the registry editor from the Terminal Server console. Delete the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\Namespace\FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8
NOTE: Deleting the above key will also work on any Windows NT 4.0 platform.

How do I list all users accessing a specific file? 

There are several ways to do this but here is an excellent suggestion that was posted to the Thin List by Dirk Blose:
The most efficient way I have found to see who is accessing a file is to go back to the old way. Open Winfile.exe which is the old File Manager for those who remember such. Navigate to the file select the file and open it`s properties, on the properties window there is a "Open by" button. click it and it will show all users that currently have the file open and in what mode. Winfile.exe is still on NT 4.0 and TSE servers by default, it should be in the System32 directory.

How can I force Terminal Server to terminate a disconnected client session? 

This tip comes from http://www.jsiinc.com
When a Terminal Server client abnormally (power failure, network failure, etc..)
loses their connection to the Terminal Server, their session may not be marked
as disconnected. When the client logs on again, a new session is created, leaving
the origonal session active, consuming resources.
To fix this problem, apply the latest Terminal Server Service Pack.
Then use Regedt32 to navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server

On the Edit menu, Add Value name KeepAliveEnable as a type REG_DWORD.
Set the data value to 1. The default is 0.

Use the Connection Configuration tool to double-click rdp-tcp, and click Advanced.
Locate the On a broken or timed-out connection, connect action the session line. Then:

Clear the Inherit User Config check box.
Check Disconnect.
Press OK.

With these settings, KeepAliveEnable will use Carrier Loss Detection,
polling each client every (KeepAvileInterval / #sessions), to disconnect the client session.

How do I disable Roaming user profile caching? 

The normal behavior of a Windows server is to cache a roaming profile on the server to speed up accessibility to it the next time the user logs onto that server. Because of the potential for a large number of users to connect to a Terminal Server over time, it`s suggested that you disable the caching of the roaming profiles by setting the registry value DeleteRoamingCache to 0x1. This value is located under this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
If the value doesn`t exist you can add it, with the data type of REG_DWORD.