54

In Windows 2003 and 2008 we had Terminal Services Manager (see screenshot below). However in Windows server 2012 it's gone.

Does anyone know how to access the list of currently remotely logged on users in Windows 2012 through a similar tool or some other way?

enter image description here

(I tried connecting to Windows 2012 from Windows 2008, that's why you see "win2012" in the TSM groups list. But that didn't quite work, and that's not a solution to my problem either. I was just trying to somehow manage remote users on the Win 2012 server.)

Chaminda Bandara
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Peter Krumins
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  • @MathiasR.Jessen Thanks for the link to the other question. I had searched, but hadn't found that question. Cole's answer below also contains information that's not in the answers to the other question. – Scott Dec 03 '13 at 00:45
  • have you run query session from CMD or PS shell? from there you should be able to run kill session on the session id in question. – organicit Dec 03 '13 at 00:12
  • Not sure about 2012, but in 2012 R2 you can view and manage current connections in Server Manager. Remote Desktop Services > Collections > [CollectionName]. – CrazyTim Jan 22 '16 at 02:54

6 Answers6

50

You can use qwinsta from the command line to display the current RDP sessions.

 qwinsta /server:computer01

 SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE   TYPE        DEVICE
 console                                     0  Conn    wdcon
 rdp-tcp                                 65536  Listen  rdpwd
                   administrator             2  Disc    rdpwd

To kill a session use rwinsta to delete the session specifying the ID number:

rwinsta /server:computer01 3

Here's the list of command line tools for Remote Desktop.

Or, you can use PowerShell:

Get-RDUserSession and Disconnect-RDUser

Here's the list of those cmdlets.

colealtdelete
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    Thanks. That works. I think I prefer the more verbose commands `query user` and `reset session` as those are easier for me to remember than `rwinsta`. – Scott Dec 03 '13 at 00:29
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    Very nice. Defaults to local machine, so just **qwinsta** then **rwinsta 3**, faster than trying to find tsadmin – Daniel de Zwaan Dec 21 '15 at 05:16
32

Yep, tsadmin is gone. Kinda' sucks. There's RDMS through Server Manager and the Remote Desktop Powershell cmdlets (get-command *RD*), but those both require that a full Remote Desktop Services deployment exist on that server. Those don't work on servers without RDS deployments or on workstations.

You can use Task Manager... or, if you want something command-line, you could use this utility that I wrote specifically for this: users.exe

Oh and there's also quser.exe that Microsoft already wrote, but my utility does a little extra that quser doesn't do.

Ryan Ries
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    Thanks for the answer. Does your `users.exe` only list the users? It looks like I forgot to mention but I also need to logout users. In the tsadmin, I'd just right click the user and choose "Log Off". Do you know of a way to logout users on Windows 2012? – Peter Krumins Jan 22 '13 at 12:24
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    C:\>logoff.exe x Where x is the session ID – Ryan Ries Jan 22 '13 at 12:56
  • Oops sorry I deleted my comment accidentally as I was trying to edit it. The question was: "I don't seem to have logoff.exe. Is it your utility?". – Peter Krumins Jan 22 '13 at 19:35
  • Thanks for the answer. Turns out my system does have logoff.exe. I must have overlooked something when I tried it earlier. – Peter Krumins Jan 22 '13 at 19:37
  • @RyanRies, What about the terminal services configuration `tscc.msc`? What's the equivalent in Server 2012? – Pacerier Mar 13 '15 at 16:42
  • @Pacerier Gone. Sucks, huh? You can still use the MMC snap-ins you know and love, remotely, from a 2008 R2 server against a 2012 server. You can also just directly modify the registry keys, or use Group Policy. Microsoft went on this weird VDI kick with 2012, and they left a serious gap by dropping the legacy RDSH administration tools. – Ryan Ries Mar 13 '15 at 18:09
13

Just open the Users tab in Task Manager. You'll get a full list of user sessions, their states, and running processes. Also you can log them off through the right-click menu.

It seems this is the replacement for tsadmin

x0lani
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  • I was just about to add this as the answer. Simple, quick and exactly what is needed to see who is logged in, and log them off if necessary. – Rich Mar 09 '17 at 11:51
8

I've just discovered that most of the actions can be performed from TaskManager, right on users (logoff, send messages etc...)

Jiimmy ANTOINE
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2

I have found a solution to the tsadmin problem. Copy these files from a 2008 server to the Windows 2012/8 computer under c:\windows\system32

  • tsadmin.dll
  • tsadmin.msc
  • umcRes.dll
  • wts.dll

Then import these registry settings and you have Tsadmin.msc working again! :)

Reg file is attached.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}]
"ApplicationBase"=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,\
  73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,00,00
"About"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"VersionStringIndirect"="@C:\\Windows\\System32\\umcRes.dll,-106"
"ProviderStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,\
  00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\
  5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,\
  00,31,00,30,00,32,00,00,00
"NameString"="Remote Desktop Services Manager"
"HelpTopic"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
  74,00,25,00,5c,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,5c,00,74,00,73,00,5f,00,6d,00,61,\
  00,6e,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,63,00,68,00,6d,00,00,00
"AssemblyName"="tsadmin"
"RuntimeVersion"="v2.0.50215"
"Description"="Manage Remote Desktop Services sessions"
"DescriptionStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,\
  64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,\
  00,5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
  2d,00,31,00,30,00,34,00,00,00
"LinkedHelpTopics"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,\
  00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,5c,00,74,00,73,00,5f,00,\
  6d,00,61,00,6e,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,63,00,68,00,6d,00,00,00
"NameStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,\
  00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
  75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,\
  00,30,00,33,00,00,00
"IconIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,\
  00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,75,00,\
  6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,31,\
  00,31,00,00,00
"FxVersion"="2.0.1.7"
"Type"="Microsoft.TerminalServices.Monitor.SnapIn.TSManagerSnapIn, tsadmin, Version=6.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
"FolderBitmapsColorMask"=dword:00000000
"ModuleName"="tsadmin.dll"
"Provider"="Microsoft Corporation"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}\NodeTypes]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}\Standalone]
Stefan
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-1

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2202.remote-server-administration-tools-rsat-for-windows-client-and-windows-server-dsforum2wiki.aspx

Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 from a computer that is running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

If you need to install management tools in Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2 for specific roles or features running on remote servers, there's no need to install additional software. Open the Add Features Wizard in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, or the Add Roles and Features Wizard in Windows Server 2012 and later releases, and on the Select Features page, expand Remote Server Administration Tools and select the tools that you want to install.

The linked article also lists RSAT download links for all windows versions since Vista. Though the size is huge (about 240 Mb for Win7).

I was able to install it on Windows 7.

After that tsadmin.msc works as expected.

Vadzim
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  • As far as I can tell from reading , installation of RSAT/RDMS on Server 2012 R2 appears to only be available when using "Remote Desktop Services installation" as the Installation Type. It doesn't appear for me when using "Role-based or feature-based installation". Unfortunately, I don't know enough about RDS deployment in 2012 to know if that's what I want to do. It also requires that the server be joined to a domain. I just want tsadmin back! – nstenz Jan 15 '16 at 19:51