The terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of allowed connections. The system cannot log you on (1B8E). Please try again or consult your system administrator.
Yes! This is a solution to the dreaded problem “The
terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of allowed connections.”
Every system administrator knows what it means, and yes –
it gives us shivers, especially when we don’t have physical acess to the
machine, and we can’t log in.
There are (at least) two ways to solve the problem, the
easy one and the hard one, as usual.
The easy one – applies if TS runs on a Windows 2003
machine, and Console session is logged off but two active (or disconnected)
sessions block further access.
From the client machine, go to Start -> Run and
type
mstsc
-v:0.0.0.0 /f –console
Replace 0.0.0.0 with TS server’s IP.
After you log in, go to Terminal Server Management and
disconnect active, idle and other remote sessions. Logg of and then log on as
you would normally do.
The hard way – applies in cases when the easy way
fails (Windows 2000 runs as a TS server, Console session logged in, etc.)
Conditions to be met for the hard way to succeed:
- telnet service must not be disabled on the TS machine, it must be set
to either automatic or manual
startup.
- you must have the “netsvc.exe” tool from the windows 2000
resource kit if you need to start telnet on the terminal services machine
if it is not running. If you don’t have it, you can download
it here.
Authenticate to the terminal server from the remote
machine with the “net use” command:
Start->Run->cmd
C:\>net use \\<ip
address>\admin$ /user:<admin username>
Example:
C:\>net use
\\192.168.1.1\admin$ /user:paja
Use regedt32 to modify the registry entry to allow telnet
without NTLM.
Start->Run->regedt32
connect to the remote machine:
Registry->Select
Computer
in the “Computer” field, enter “\\<ip
address”
Set the following key
to 0:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
on <ipaddress>\SOFTWARE\Microsoft \TelnetServer\1.0\NTLM
Use netsvc.exe to start telnet service (tlntsvr):
c:\>netsvc
tlntsvr \\<ip address> /start
From the telnet session, use the “logoff”
command with session IDs of “1″ and “2″ to end the
disconnected but active sessions:
C:\>logoff 1
C:\>logoff 2
C:\>exit
(Be patient. Logoff takes some time.)
Use netsvc.exe to stop the telnet service if you want:
C:\netsvc tlntsvr \\<ip address> /stop
notes from Vladimir Milovanovic’s blog
