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I've got users using RDP to connect to a Windows 2008 with Windows Server 2008's Terminal Server Application mode. (Users RDP in and get an app that looks like it's running locally.)

It works great. But our guys need to be able to run multiple instances of the app locally. I can manage to seperate the users and handle everything on the Windows 2008 Terminal Server side - but I've got one major issue.

On the Windows clients (that are running RDP to connect) - I can't run more than one session of tsclient (the Remote Desktop sofware.) I've tried duplicating the shortcuts that the users use to launch the session, I've tried renaming the server (using hostname in one shortcut and IP address in another), but no matter what I do, it keeps focusing the already existing RDP session rather than creating a new one. However, if I don't use a shortcut, I can have two RDP sessions going at once (haven't tried connecting to the same server yet.)

How can I tell Remote Desktop to open a new session rather than reusing the old one?

Thanks.

Rizwan Kassim
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  • asked here, too - http://superuser.com/questions/62178/multiple-rdp-sessions-on-a-single-computer – warren Nov 03 '09 at 15:55
  • Does the program support multiple instances when loaded on a local desktop and not TS? – Joseph Nov 04 '09 at 05:59

5 Answers5

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RDP allows only one connection per account: each user has ONE desktop, and it can't be shared among multiple connections.

If he needs to launch several applications, you should delete the "launch application" from the shortcut's properties: that will allow him to see the desktop. There he can launch multiple applications as if he's using his desktop computer.

Cheers!

kolypto
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Do you have your TS server(s) set to restrict users to a single session, either on the TS itself or via GPO?

joeqwerty
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  • Not that I know of. – Rizwan Kassim Oct 30 '09 at 06:05
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    I would double check to make sure. – joeqwerty Oct 30 '09 at 11:07
  • Given that that setting is server side and the launch of the application is client-side , I don't believe that it's relevant. – Rizwan Kassim Nov 02 '09 at 21:57
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    Not true. A remote app is spawned in a TS session just like a full desktop would, it's just not apparent to the user because the app runs "windowed" on the client machine. If you launch a remote app and look in TS Manager on the server you'll see a user session for the user running the remote app. – joeqwerty Nov 02 '09 at 23:47
  • My apologies. After doing some testing it appears that only a single TS session is spawned per user regardless of how many Remote Apps are launched. – joeqwerty Nov 04 '09 at 01:21
  • You may want to double-check this, and then triple-check to make sure the GPO containing that setting, if applicable in this case, is actually being applied to the terminal server. In one of my prior environments we had a major LOB app being deployed for use via a terminal server and were able to easily control whether or not users could run multiple TS sessions (in fact, due to the specific app, their ability to do so was an initial problem, and we had to limit them to one session). – Brian Cline Nov 08 '09 at 02:21
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I ran into a similar problem when I tried to start two RemoteApp sessions on the same server. The RDP client just started a new instance of the application within the same sessions. To force the RDP client to ask for the login credentials the second time I had to add this to the .rdp file:

prompt for credentials:i:1

richk
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Did you try to 'runas' tsclient with different credentials? Trick works with some apps which allow single instance only...

Did you try 'remote desktops' plugin of mmc? There should be a slight difference...

alexm
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I take it that Citrix XenApp is not an option?

Sim
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  • This does not appear to answer the question. First, it's a question, itself (not an answer), and second, it doesn't address OP's need, which is achieving a particular workflow using the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol. – TylerH Mar 08 '23 at 14:47