tsadmin command change in Windows Server 2008

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I use Remote Desktop all the time to manage servers remotely, and often I join other people's sessions to troubleshoot something with them, or walk through something or other.

In Windows Server 2003 (and Windows 2000 Server), the easy way to start up Terminal Services Manager is Start -> Run -> 'tsadmin' -> [Enter]. This calls us Terminal Services Manager where I can right-click on a user and click 'Remote Control', and if they approve, I can join their session.

This doesn't work in Windows Server 2008 anymore. The change is ever so slight. In Windows Server 2003 the tool was tsadmin.exe, so typing 'tsadmin' was all that was required to start the tool. Now, in Windows Server 2008, this has been moved to a MMC snap-in and is called tsadmin.msc (plus tsadmin.dll is used silently).

So, to spin up Terminal Services Manager in Windows Server 2003, you can click on Start and your cursor focus will already be in the search box. Type 'tsadmin.msc' and press [Enter] and you'll be in Terminal Services Manager.

If you really don't want to type the '.msc' each time, you could create a batch file to do it for you. Create a file in c:\windows\system32 (which is in the system path already), call it tsadmin.bat and type 'tsadmin.msc' (without the quotes) in the body of the file. Save it and you'll be set. The disadvantage of doing this though is that you won't be practiced up on typing tsadmin.msc on fresh servers, so personally I prefer to just remember the extra .msc now on Windows Server 2008.

Note: If you don't type this often enough to remember 'tsadmin.msc', this has always been available from the Administrative Tools folder. In Windows Server 2003/2000 it's directly under Administrative Tools. In Windows Server 2008 it's one folder deeper under 'Terminal Services'.

12 Comments

Cheers that's what I needed

Brett - Tuesday, February 1, 2011 8:13:16 PM

Thanks from France

balun - Thursday, March 24, 2011 6:06:05 AM

Great info, thanks a lot :)

Dan - Monday, May 16, 2011 5:51:21 PM

Hi, it seems one has to connect each individual TS manually, rather than all the saved TSs connecting on app start. I have 50+ terminal servers, so that really bites

phill - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 5:50:23 AM

Hi Phill,

I don't quite understand your configuration, but have you considered any of the RDP Tools out there? Do a google search for "RDP tools" and give some of them a try. There are good options for managing a lot of servers. Another option (one that I use) is to generate RDP files for each server and then add the folder to your Windows taskbar.

OWScott - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:47:23 AM

Is there a way to run this program as another user? I am logged in as a basic user and want to run this program as a Domain Admin so I can kick users off their session. Do you know of a way to do that?

Brian - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:49:23 PM

Brian, you could log into the server as the admin user (the obvious solution), and you can also consider using runas from the command line, to run as a different user. Also, using sysinternal's psexec, it's possible to run it under another account.

OWScott - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:59:03 PM

thanks this article helped.

Sam - Friday, September 2, 2011 11:11:50 AM

Thanks much. I was after this info.

Ronu - Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:41:19 AM

3.5 years later and this article is still relevant and handy. Just what I was looking for. Thanks Scott.

Zephan - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 3:39:43 PM

Thanks for the tip.

Sean - Monday, November 21, 2011 10:36:38 AM

I have a cuestion?
who's the comamd that I can in WINDOWS 7 but comunicate between a pc and other PC.thanks...... for tu answer
I'm PERÚ-LIMA

NOTE:I use tsadmin but not funtion in my computer.what's the problem,who's the diferent?

ZANDRA - Friday, June 1, 2012 9:19:43 AM

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