Configure Session Directory settings

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To configure Session Directory settings

Open Group Policy.
In Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Terminal Services, Session Directory, enable the Join Session Directory setting.
Enable the Session Directory Server setting and, in Session Directory Server, type the name of the server where the Terminal Services Session Directory service is running.
Enable the Session Directory Cluster Name setting and, in Session Directory Cluster Name, type the name of the cluster to which the Terminal Server belongs. See the policy explain text for more information.
Optionally, enable the Terminal Server IP Address Redirection setting. See the policy explain text for more information.

Important
- You should thoroughly test any changes you make to Group Policy settings before applying them to users or computers. For more information on testing policy settings, see Resultant Set of Policy.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.
Use the above procedure to configure the local Group Policy object. To change a policy for a domain or an organizational unit, you must log on to the primary domain controller as an Administrator. Then, you must invoke Group Policy through the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

Open Terminal Services Configuration.
In the console tree, click Server Settings.
In the details pane, right-click Session Directory, and then click Properties.
Select the Join session directory check box.
In Cluster name:, type the name of the Terminal Server cluster for this terminal server.
In Session directory server name:, type the DNS name or IP address of the domain server where the Terminal Services Session Directory service is running.

The server name must be a valid server name, and it cannot be left blank.
Select an IP address and network adapter from the Network adapter and IP address session directory should redirect users to: list.
Optionally, uncheck the IP address redirection (uncheck for routing token redirection) check box to have client devices reconnect to disconnected sessions by using the virtual IP address of the terminal server cluster. You should uncheck this check box if clients have visibility only to the virtual IP address of the cluster and cannot connect to the IP address of an individual terminal server. This option is checked by default, which enables clients to reconnect by using the individual IP addresses of the terminal servers in the Session Directory.

Note
- To open Terminal Services Configuration, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Terminal Services Configuration.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.
Group Policy overrides the configuration set with the Terminal Services Configuration tool.

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