Activate a TS Licensing Server and Install Licenses

To issue licenses, a TS Licensing server must be activated and have a set of licenses installed. This is accomplished through the TS Licensing Manager's Activate Server Wizard using one of three means:

• Automatic Connection by the licensing server directly connecting to the Microsoft Clearinghouse over the Internet, meaning that the licensing server must have an Internet connection.
• Web Browser by an administrator manually entering the needed information into a browser on any computer connecting over the Internet to the Microsoft TS web site using a URL provided by the Activate Server Wizard.
• Telephone by an administrator calling the local Microsoft Customer Support Center using a phone number provided by the Activate Server Wizard.

With a decision in mind on how the Microsoft Clearinghouse will be contacted, open the TS Licensing Manager and start the Activate Server Wizard:

1. Click Start | Administrative Tools | Terminal Services | TS Licensing Manager. The TS Licensing Manager window will open showing the server you installed in the preceding series of steps with a Not Activated status.
2. Click All Servers so that you can see your new server in the left pane console tree, right-click the new server in either the left or right pane, and click Activate Server. The Terminal Server License Server Activate Server Wizard will open. Click Next.
3. Select the connection method you want to use (Automatic Connection, Web Browser, or Telephone) and click Next. Assuming the Automatic Connection method, enter your name, company, and country or region and click Next. Enter your e-mail address, organizational unit, and street address and click Next.
4. You are told your license server has been successfully activated. Leave the check box checked and click Next to install client licenses (assumed here). Alternatively, uncheck the check box and click Finish to delay installing client licenses. Assuming you clicked Next, the Install Licenses Wizard will open.
5. Click Next. Select the type of license program that you or your organization has purchased. After you select a program, the dialog box will display information about that program and display a sample license code. If the information and sample code match what you have, click Next.
6. Enter the license code(s), click Add for each, and when you are done, click Next. Click Finish when you are told the licenses were successfully installed.

Set Up and Enable Users

Once licensing has been handled, you need to set up and enable users. For you to do that, the server or the domain must have user accounts that are established for that purpose (meaning that the users are members of the Remote Desktop Users or Administrators groups on the server or domain), the user account must have a password, and the accounts must be enabled for TS or remote connections. Here is how this is done with an Active Directory domain (with a workgroup you would do this with the server's Local Users and Groups-Start | Administrative Tools | Computer Management, open System Tools and Local Users And Groups, and use steps very similar to those shown below for a domain):

1. Click Start | Administrative Tools | Active Directory Users And Computers. Open the local domain, right-click Users, and click New | User. The New Object-User dialog box will open.
2. Enter the full name and the logon name and click Next. Enter and confirm the password to be used, decide how that password can be changed, click Next, and then click Finish. Use these steps to enter as many new users as desired.
3. In the right pane of Active Directory Users And Computers, double-click one of the new users you just created to open the user's Properties dialog box.
4. Click the Member Of tab and click Add. In the Select Groups dialog box, click Advanced and then click Find Now to search for groups. Scroll down and click Remote Desktop-Users, and click OK three times. Repeat this process for all the users who will use TS or Remote Desktop.
5. Close Active Directory Users And Computers, click Start | Control Panel, and double-click System. Click Remote Settings. In the Remote Desktop portion of the dialog box, click Allow Connections From Computers Running Any Version Of Remote Desktop, as shown earlier in this tutorial under "Prepare for Terminal Services," and then click OK and close the System window.