Terminal Services Sessions
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8/28/2008
When a user logs on to a computer that runs Terminal Services, a session is started for that user.
Multiple Sessions
It is possible for the user to be logged on to multiple servers at the same time.
From a Remote Desktop client, a user can log on to different servers multiple times, creating a separate session identifier for each session. Each session is identified by a unique session identifier. As a result, a user might have multiple, interactive windows on the desktop of a client computer. Each window represents a separate session with a different server.
The Interactive User
The interactive user is the user who is interacting with the computer through the interactive window for a session. In a Terminal Services environment, the interactive user can be either the user who is physically at the server, or a user who is connected to the server through a remote Terminal Services client.
From Remote Desktop clients, there can be multiple interactive users logged on to the server, in addition to the interactive user who is physically at the Terminal Services console. When a user logs off from a Remote Desktop client, the user session on the server is deleted, and the window stations and desktops associated with that session are also removed. However, because the Terminal Services console session is never deleted, the window stations associated with the console session are not deleted.
This affects how applications operate in a Terminal Services environment when they are configured to run in the security context of the interactive user. For example, when an Office application is started from a user context that does not have interactive privileges, a user must be logged on to and physically at the server, otherwise an error occurs and the application does not start.
Multiple User Connections
Applies to Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 Update KB945975
It is possible for multiple users to create connections to the same remote server from a single Windows Embedded CE powered device.
With Credential User Interface (CredUI) in Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2, user credentials are no longer saved in the .rdp file or registry. Instead, they are stored by the Credential Manager (CredMan). By default, when user credentials are saved by CredMan, only one set of user credentials could be saved for connecting to a single remote server. Therefore, only one user per server could save their credentials.
With the multiple saved user connections feature in Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 Update KB945975, Windows Embedded CE can support saving multiple sets of user credentials associated with a single remote server. The user credentials are saved by CredMan based on a unique target name made up of the combination of the configuration name and the target server name.
By default, this feature is enabled, and no additional configuration steps are required by the OEM or the user. This feature is available in the Standard Shell and also in the Windows Thin Client Shell.
Credential String Length Requirements
For both the Standard Shell and the Windows Thin Client Shell, the limitations for the credentials string lengths are as follows:
Configuration name + Target Server name length = maximum of 252 wide characters (wchars)
Note
For the Standard Shell, the Configuration name includes both the file name and the fully qualified file path. For the Windows Thin Client Shell, the Configuration name is the connection name.
Note
When the total string length of the Configuration name + Target Server name is greater than 252 wchars, the Remote Desktop connection cannot be established, the system will display an error message to the user, and no credentials will be saved.