In this article, we will discuss how to install a terminal server or Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012, 2016, and 2019.
Initial settings of terminals in Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019
To start the installation, we will launch the Server Manager. This can be done with the command servermanager.exe in the "Run" window.
Press the key combination Win+R and in the appeared "Run" window, type servermanager.exe and press Ok.
Now, in the menu, select Manage and click on Add Roles and Features.
Installing roles and components.
Next, after launching the role addition manager, Add Roles and Features Wizard, click Next.
Select/leave on Role-based or features-based installation and click Next.
Check the box if it is not checked, Select a server from the server pool and in the Server pool window, select the desired server, and click Next.
In the Server Roles section, check the box for Remote Desktop Services and click Next.
In the Features section, do not check anything, and click Next and again Next.
In the Role Services section, check the role services that you want to install. Remote Desktop Licensing and in the additional window, click Add Features.
Also check Remote Desktop Session Host click Add Features and then click Next.
Check the box, Restart the destination server automatically if required if you need to restart immediately after installing the features. And click Install.
After the server restarts, we can see a message about the successful installation.
To check the licenses, we will launch the diagnostic tool Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser. To do this, select Tools => Remote Desktop => Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser.
As we can see, currently, no licenses are installed.
At this stage, you can proceed to purchase a license or move on to the next step, installing the license.
Adding Licenses
Now it is necessary to enable the licensing server. To do this, go to Tools => Terminal Services => Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
As we can see, the server status is Not Activated. To activate, right-click and select Activate Server.
In the activation wizard, click Next, Connection method leave Automatic connection. Fill in the required fields about the organization and click Next.
In the next window, entering data is optional, click Next. And start the license installation.
On the start page of the installation wizard, click Next.
In the new window, select the license Enterprise Agreement. And click Next.
Enter the agreement number and click Next.
Specify the version,Windows Server 2019, license type RDS Per Device CAL or another that corresponds to the license you purchased. And install the required number of licenses, and click Next.
And after that, wait for the installation to complete.
Now, to check the licenses, we will launch the diagnostic tool Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser. To do this, select Tools => Remote Desktop => Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser.
As we can see, everything is installed.
After this, you can create the necessary number of users, according to the performance of your server.