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How to Setup Terminal Client Access License (CAL) in Windows Server?

By default, two users can connect to the Remote Windows server via Remote Desktop. In certain situations, you are required more than 2 users to connect and work simultaneously on the same server. For example, your server administrator team is working on your Remote Windows server, and at the same time, your developer team wants to access the server. That's when Remote Desktop CAL comes into the picture. RDP CALs enable the users to establish more than 2 Remote Desktop sessions on the same Windows server.

At AccuWeb Hosting, we offer a Device based CAL license for $40/month for an additional 5 Remote Desktop Connections. To avail of the additional Device based CALs, you just need to submit the support ticket from your Helpdesk.
 

Add Remote Desktop Services Role

1. Connect to your Windows VPS / Dedicated Server via Remote Desktop.

2. Click the Start button, then right-click on Computer and select the Manage option. This will launch the Server Manager window.

Manage Computer

3. At the Server Manager window, expand the Roles and select the Add Roles button from the right-hand pane.

Add Roles

4. At the welcome page of Add Roles Wizard, click the Next button.

Server Roles

5. From the Roles list, check the Remote Desktop Services checkbox and click Next.

Remote Desktop Services

6. Select the necessary services you wish to install on the next screen. For Remote Desktop CAL, only Remote Desktop Session Host and Remote Desktop Licensing services are required. Check respective checkboxes and click Next.

Add Services

7. Click the Next button at the Application Compatibility stage. At the Authentication Method stage, select the "Do not require Network Level Authentication" radio button and click the Next button.

Do not require authentication

8. At Licensing Mode stage, keep Configure Later radio button checked and click the Next button. Click Next at the User Groups stage.

User Groups

9. At the Client Experience stage, select the required Audio and Video playback options and click Next.

Client Experience

10. At the Confirmation stage, click the Install button. This will launch the installation of the Remote Desktop role with selected services.

Install

11. At the Progress stage, installation progress will be shown. On successfully installing the Remote Desktop role, close the wizard and reboot the server.

Restart Server

Activate the CAL license

If you noticed in step #8 (Licensing Mode stage), we selected the Configure Later option, which means the CAL license is yet to activate. If you do not activate the license within a certain time frame, then Remote Desktop services will be stopped automatically. In order to activate the CAL license, AccuWebHosting customers can submit the ticket from the client area. If you are not an AccuWeb Hosting customer, then you'll need to contact your license provider.

 

Add RDP users to verify multiple Remote Desktop sessions

So far, you've successfully installed the Remote Desktop role and activated the CAL license. Now, it's time to verify that you are able to establish more than 2 Remote Desktop sessions.

We deliver Windows VPS with two default Remote Desktop users, i.e., Administrator and AccuWebHosting_tech/Tech_support. To verify multiple remote desktop sessions (more than 2), you'll need to create one more Remote Desktop user and try to connect to your server using all three users at the same time. If you could connect with all three users concurrently, you've successfully installed the Remote Desktop services.

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