Remotely disconnecting a Terminal Services Session

As some of you know, I'm a DIY system administrator for my own network and internet server. This means that I'm far from any MCSE when it comes to all the tricks of the trade of managing Windows Servers.

Today, I finally found a solution to a problem which has been bugging me for ages: As most of you definitely know, Windows 2000 Server allows you to use 2 terminal services connections for administrative purposes. The problem starts when you are - as I am - a road warrior, usually connecting to the internet via some unreliable means like modems, GPRS, or WLAN at hotels. In this case, you will from time to time experience connection drops which can not be recovered so that the server still thinks that you are actually online. The problem now starts as soon as this happens twice in sequence without you being able to disconnect the session in the meantime: "You exceeded the allowed connection count". It's also unfortunately impossible to use the services MMC snapin to remotely stop/restart Terminal Services (even though it seems to be possible for nearly every other service).

That's the point in time when the console tools "qwinsta" (Query Window Station) and "rwinsta" (Reset Window Station) which are included even with Windows XP come into play. After authorizing at your server (f.e. by connecting to a share, etc.), you can run "qwinsta /SERVER:<server>" to enumerate all window stations and "rwinsta <id> /SERVER:<server>" to remotely disconnect a terminal services session.

Might come in handy at some point in time.

Comments

[John]

That's so neat. I've had this problem several times, and never knew about these tools. I know that even setting in terminal services config for idle sessions to disconnect automatically doesn't always work. Thanks.

[Toby]

Thanks very much for this tip. I've had these problems time and again. I've bookmarked this page yonks ago and returned on many occasions. I really should make a local note of the commands in case this site goes off-line for some reason!

[Joe]

You rock, Ingo! Thank you for sharing this tip. It will save me time.

[moncler jackets]

oh so funny!

[christian louboutin shoes]

*Perhaps you should go on a tour.

[Air Jordan Shoes]

*People enjoy the characters are not happy.

[UGG Bailey Button]

It's a Very helpful article for me. Actually, I am fond of reading online punjabi news. Thanks for writing such a complete ..And,I wantn't to miss them.
Thank you for sharing..

[Andreas]

Hi, I am using

ECHO OFF

rwinsta /SERVER:my server 3

EXIT

This close down id 3

IS there any command so it will close all id and not a specific one?

Thanks

[justin bieber shoes]

let's join our hands together to stop this kind of wrong doings. It may risk lives in the future if we just let them continue.

[manolo blahnik]

Christmas is probably the most special day of the year for children. One thing that makes it special is the popular tradition of Santa Claus.

[moncler jacket]

Thanks, I'm going to have nightmares tonight.