Product: Windows Server 2003 Company: Microsoft Website: http://www.microsoft.com MSRP: See Pricing Review By: Stewart Saathoff

Terminal Services

Terminal Services in Windows 2003 has a lot of significant enhancements as well.  The client now has many more functional options that were not available in 2000.  If you used Windows XP’s Remote Desktop, you would see some of the same features in the new Client for Terminal Services for Windows 2003 Server, now renamed to the Remote Desktop Client. (RDC)

Do you remember the limited number of resources that you could access from your local machine with Windows 2000’s implementation of Terminal Services?  In 2003, you can access many more.  Here is a list:

1. File System
2. Ports
3. Printers
4. Audio
5. Smart Card Sign In
6. Windows Keys
7. Time Zone
8. Virtual Channels

The Remote Desktop Web Control is another feature that is new, kind of, in Windows 2003.  If you have Windows 2000 with IIS, you can go to Microsoft.com and download the Terminal Services Advanced Client, which is almost the same thing.  The Remote Desktop Web Control is an improved ActiveX® control/COM object that allows one to log into Terminal Services using a URL with no client application installed on the client machine.

From the Servers perspective, there are also many modifications that have been made.  If you remember in Windows 2000, you could choose to install Terminal Services in either Remote Administration or application mode.  In 2003, each component is separately configurable.  They are also named differently, one is Remote Desktop for Administration and the other is simply Terminal Services.  Remote Desktop for Administration is authorized by accessing the System icon in Control Panel.  Terminal Services can be installed through the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel.

To allow a user access to the Terminal Server, you must add that user, or a group that the user belongs to, to the Remote Desktop Users Group.  Connections to Terminal Server are now 128-bit encrypted.