The messages indicate that Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) licensing on the server is not working correctly. Even though licenses exist, the server is treating the connections as having “license issues” and is enforcing a time limit, then disconnecting sessions.
From the provided context, this behavior matches scenarios where the Remote Desktop/Terminal Services license certificate or licensing configuration is corrupted or the RD Session Host cannot correctly use the license server.
Recommended checks and fixes on the Remote Desktop (RD Session Host) and license server side:
- Verify licensing-related events
- On the RD Session Host server, check Event Viewer under:
- Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → RemoteApp and Desktop Connections
- Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager
- Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → TerminalServices-RemoteSessionManager
- On the RD License Server, check:
- Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → TerminalServices-Licensing
- Look for events such as:
-
Event ID 1088from TermService indicating the licensing grace period has expired and the server has not registered with a license server. -
Event ID 1004,1010, or28indicating the terminal server cannot issue a client license or cannot locate a license server.
-
- On the RD Session Host server, check Event Viewer under:
- Confirm that the RD License Server is reachable and running
- Ensure the Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Licensing service is running on the license server.
- Confirm the license server is correctly registered in DNS/WINS and accepting network requests.
- Make sure the RD Session Host is configured to use this license server and the correct licensing mode (Per User / Per Device) in Remote Desktop Services configuration.
- Repair possible license certificate corruption on the RD Session Host
- Back up the registry on the RD Session Host.
- In Registry Editor, export the key:
-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermService\
-
- Under the Parameters subkey, delete these values if present:
-
Certificate -
X509 Certificate -
X509 Certificate ID
-
- Restart the RD Session Host server.
- After restart, reactivate the Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Licensing server (for older versions, use the Licensing Wizard and the telephone method as described in the documentation).
- Check the license database and temporary files on the license server
- Licenses are stored in
%systemroot%\system32\lserver\hydra.mdb. - Terminal Server License Manager may leave multiple
JETx.TMPfiles inSystem32if the server was shut down abruptly. If there are many leftoverJET*.TMPfiles and they are not in use, they can be deleted; only closed files will be removed. This can help if licensing operations are failing due to stale temporary files.
- Licenses are stored in
After these steps, new RDS CALs should be issued correctly and sessions should no longer be limited or disconnected due to licensing.
References: