Server 2012 R2 TS CAL's are installed but are not being issued

I have a very simple Server 2012 R2 set-up. Just want 5 users to log in on a per user basis.
The same server is the session host and licensing server.

The Users can log into the Terminal server.

The Open Licenses are installed but they will not issue.

RD Licensing Diagnoser has 2 warnings.
1. The licensing mode for the Remote Desktop Session Host server is not configured.
And
2. Set the licensing mode on the Remote Desktop Session Host server to either Per User or Per Device. Use RD Licensing Manager to install the corresponding licenses on the license server.

Have Googled and Bing'd this and seems like so many of us are having TS licensing problems, between this and Windows 8.x I have to ask, does Microsoft hate us all!?

June 30th, 2015 1:35am

Hi,

I'm assuming you did not create a RDS deployment using Server Manager -- Add Roles and Features -- Remote Desktop Services installation -- etc.  If my assumption is incorrect, please let me know.

Please set the licensing mode to Per User and Specify the name of your RD Licensing server using group policy.  For example, you may open gpedit.msc and configure the following settings:

Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Remote Desktop Services\ Remote Desktop Session Host\ Licensing\

Use the specified Remote Desktop license servers     Enabled

Set the Remote Desktop licensing mode     Enabled

Please note that if the server is not joined to a domain then Per User RDS CALs will not be tracked.

Thanks.

-TP

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June 30th, 2015 2:02am

Hi,

I'm assuming you did not create a RDS deployment using Server Manager -- Add Roles and Features -- Remote Desktop Services installation -- etc.  If my assumption is incorrect, please let me know.

Please set the licensing mode to Per User and Specify the name of your RD Licensing server using group policy.  For example, you may open gpedit.msc and configure the following settings:

Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Remote Desktop Services\ Remote Desktop Session Host\ Licensing\

Use the specified Remote Desktop license servers     Enabled

Set the Remote Desktop licensing mode     Enabled

Please note that if the server is not joined to a domain then Per User RDS CALs will not be tracked.

Thanks.

-TP

June 30th, 2015 5:56am

Hi,

Looks like you haven't set the licensing mode on your Remote Desktop Session Host server. Please set it to 'Per User' or 'Per Device' based on what is the license type installed on your RD License server.

To understand how to set up the licensing mode, please refer to this blog.

Thanks

Silvia Doomra

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June 30th, 2015 1:01pm

Thanks Silvia,

The method in the blog is the process I originally followed.
The Server has the RD Session Host and RD Licensing roles installed and the Licensing Manager shows the CAL's as Per User and Installed as per screen shots below. The server is joined to the domain but is not issuing any licenses. Users successfully login to the Terminal Server but I assume this will stop when the grace period ends.

The entire process from ordering TS CAL's right through to installing them, setting up RD could not be more disjointed if Microsoft tried. Even all the tools are scattered around the GUI, TASKS, using the charm, power shell, gpedit, its a nightmare and not just for me by the looks of all the posts on forums etc.


June 30th, 2015 9:33pm

Thanks for your suggestions TP

I did deploy RDS using server manager - add Roles.
Please see my reply to Silvia for which also answers other questions re deployment and configuration.

I have made the GP edits you suggested and now the RD Licensing diagnoser has 0 warning and also lists the license server correctly which is progress.

Have logged into RDS as two different users but the RD licensing manager still shows no licenses issued?

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June 30th, 2015 9:46pm

Hi,

1. Please check the log on the RD Licensing server (in your case same as RDSH) for 4105 warnings entries around the time you log on as a regular user.  They will likely be from Source: TerminalServices-Licensing

2. Did you create a Session collection in Server Manager -- RDS -- Collections?  If you used Quick Start this would have been done automatically.  For now having the group policy setting is fine, but normally you would make the RDSH part of a collection so that it will receive the licensing settings (mode and server name) from the RDS deployment properties.  Once you know the RDSH server is part of a collection then you can set the group policy settings back to Not Configured.

3. In Active Directory Users and Computers, please make sure that NETWORK SERVICE and the RD Licensing server's computer account are members of the Terminal Server License Servers group under Builtin.  After making this change please restart the Remote Desktop Licensing service on the RD Licensing server (again same as RDSH in your case).

After making changes please test by using Remote Desktop to connect as a regular user, then verify in RD Licensing Manager that the user was issued a Per User RDS CAL.

Thanks.

-TP

June 30th, 2015 10:23pm

Thanks Silvia,

The method in the blog is the process I originally followed.
The Server has the RD Session Host and RD Licensing roles installed and the Licensing Manager shows the CAL's as Per User and Installed as per screen shots below. The server is joined to the domain but is not issuing any licenses. Users successfully login to the Terminal Server but I assume this will stop when the grace period ends.

The entire process from ordering TS CAL's right through to installing them, setting up RD could not be more disjointed if Microsoft tried. Even all the tools are scattered around the GUI, TASKS, using the charm, power shell, gpedit, its a nightmare and not just for me by the looks of all the posts on forums etc.


  • Edited by pattersonnm Wednesday, July 01, 2015 1:35 AM
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July 1st, 2015 1:30am

Thanks Silvia,

The method in the blog is the process I originally followed.
The Server has the RD Session Host and RD Licensing roles installed and the Licensing Manager shows the CAL's as Per User and Installed as per screen shots below. The server is joined to the domain but is not issuing any licenses. Users successfully login to the Terminal Server but I assume this will stop when the grace period ends.

The entire process from ordering TS CAL's right through to installing them, setting up RD could not be more disjointed if Microsoft tried. Even all the tools are scattered around the GUI, TASKS, using the charm, power shell, gpedit, its a nightmare and not just for me by the looks of all the posts on forums etc.


  • Edited by pattersonnm Wednesday, July 01, 2015 1:35 AM
July 1st, 2015 1:30am

Hi,

1. Please check the log on the RD Licensing server (in your case same as RDSH) for 4105 warnings entries around the time you log on as a regular user.  They will likely be from Source: TerminalServices-Licensing

2. Did you create a Session collection in Server Manager -- RDS -- Collections?  If you used Quick Start this would have been done automatically.  For now having the group policy setting is fine, but normally you would make the RDSH part of a collection so that it will receive the licensing settings (mode and server name) from the RDS deployment properties.  Once you know the RDSH server is part of a collection then you can set the group policy settings back to Not Configured.

3. In Active Directory Users and Computers, please make sure that NETWORK SERVICE and the RD Licensing server's computer account are members of the Terminal Server License Servers group under Builtin.  After making this change please restart the Remote Desktop Licensing service on the RD Licensing server (again same as RDSH in your case).

After making changes please test by using Remote Desktop to connect as a regular user, then verify in RD Licensing Manager that the user was issued a Per User RDS CAL.

Thanks.

-TP

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July 1st, 2015 2:20am

Hi TP,

Thanks again for all your help much appreciated.

1. Couldn't find any 4105 warnings originally but tried adding the network service to the terminal servers license servers group and restarted the RD server I now have one after logging a user in.

The Remote Desktop license server cannot update the license attributes for user "USER" in the Active Directory Domain "Domain.local". Ensure that the computer account for the license server is a member of Terminal Server License Servers group in Active Directory domain "Domain.local".
If the license server is installed on a domain controller, the Network Service account also needs to be a member of the Terminal Server License Servers group.
If the license server is installed on a domain controller, after you have added the appropriate accounts to the Terminal Server License Servers group, you must restart the Remote Desktop Licensing service to track or report the usage of RDS Per User CALs.
Win32 error code: 0x80070005A fatal alert was received from the remote endpoint.

The strange thing is, the License server is not a domain controller so should not have needed the network service account added and also there is now one license issued to the administrator but not to the other user I logged in with. Not sure if that's progress or I am going backwards.

2. No session collections exist. I foolishly thought I could do it how I used to in 2003 and added users to the Local Remote Desktop Users Group.

3. The server was listed as a member of the builtin Terminal Server License Servers group but no the NETWORK SERVICE so i added that and that, restarted the RD server and now I have a 4105 error and a license issued to the administrator as previously mentioned.

Not sure what I should do next if anything to clean it up. Users can log in, a 4105 error is generated but it seems to work or will there likely be other issues ?

July 1st, 2015 4:00am

Hi,

You may follow this article below to add read\write permissions to update the terminal services licensing information for the user account.

TerminalServices-Licensing 4105 The Terminal Services license server cannot update the license attributes for user <UserName> in Active Directory Domain <DomainName>

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2030310

Best Regards,

Amy

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July 1st, 2015 11:23pm

How do I mark this as the answer?

I got an email from the moderator saying to mark one as an answer but the email doesn't say how.

No wonder apple is doing as well as they are, you need hours to even license MS products and try to navigate and relearn years of experience to use their useless windows 8..am over you MS!!

July 7th, 2015 12:27am

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