Adding the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or IP address of your license server into this key forces immediate targeted discovery. 3. Resetting the RDS Grace Period via Registry
If you are managing the itself:
Search for the application in the Windows Start menu, right-click it, and select Run as administrator .
Doing so will completely break Remote Desktop Services, requiring a repair installation or full server rebuild. rds cal license registry key
the RDS Session Host to trigger a fresh 120-day countdown. 4. Best Practices for RDS Registry Modification
If your licensing server is not ready but your 120-day evaluation period has expired, you can reset the clock back to 120 days by removing the grace period registry key. Step-by-Step Reset Procedure:
For large deployments, leverage PowerShell to manage registry settings programmatically. Here are useful commands: Adding the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or
Or using WMI (older systems):
When a device receives a CAL, it stores a registry key as a "token" to prove it holds a license during subsequent connections.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services Value: LicensingMode (DWORD) 2 = Per Device 4 = Per User Doing so will completely break Remote Desktop Services,
To explicitly point a Session Host to a specific RDS License Server, use this path:
October 26, 2023 Subject: Analysis of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client Access License (CAL) Registry Keys
To help me tailor any specific troubleshooting steps, tell me:
When a Windows client machine connects to an RD Session Host using Per-Device mode, the host issues a hardware ID token. The client stores this local license token in the registry: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing Use code with caution.