So you bought Per User CAL’s for Windows 2003 Terminal Service and they dont work? Well, I’ve been there. I spent two hours figuring out why they didn’t work because a number of my users were getting disconnected with the message: “The remote session was disconnected because the local computer client access license could not be upgraded or renewed.“. I knew that their temporary cert’s had expired. So what to do? Here’s the short version.
Goto Control Panel > Licensing. Make sure its set to “Per Device or Per User”. Now to Administrative Tools > Terminal Service Configuration. Hit “Server Settings”. Change “Licensing” from “Per Device” to “Per User”. Magically — RDC/MSTSC works again.
Now you’ll notice for each one of 100 people to connect to your server, when you only have 5 CAL’s that the number in Terminal Server License (also in Administrative Tools) doesnt decrease. Here’s what Microsoft has to say about that (Instructions above and quote from KBA 822134).
Currently, Windows Server 2003 does not manage User CALs. This means that even though there is a User CAL in the license server database, the User CAL will not be decremented when it is used. This does not remove administrators from End User License Agreement (EULA) requirements to have a valid terminal server (TS) CAL for each user. Failure to have a User CAL for each user, if Device CALs are not being used, is a violation of the EULA.
FYI — CAL = Client Access License