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What is Remote Desktop Services?
Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is Microsoft's session-based computing role. It lets several users run applications and desktops on a single Windows Server at the same time, each in their own session, connecting over the network from a thin client or a regular PC. The role was called Terminal Services until Windows Server 2008 R2, when Microsoft renamed it Remote Desktop Services (RDS), so newer documentation calls it RDS. The older name still shows up everywhere in day-to-day admin work, and the per-user settings in Active Directory are still labeled Terminal Services.
Every domain user who logs on to an RDS host carries a set of RDS attributes: a profile path, a home folder, session time limits, remote control behavior, and remote access permissions. In large organizations, editing them one account at a time in Active Directory Users and Computers is slow, and PowerShell handles bulk changes only if you're comfortable scripting them. ADManager Plus, a script-free Active Directory management tool, manages RDS user properties in bulk instead. You select the users, set the values once, and apply them across the whole group.
Managing RDS in Active Directory
ADManager Plus lets you easily create home directories and profile paths with the access controls you want, then set or change the profile, environment, session, and remote control attributes for hundreds of accounts in a single operation.
RDS profile, home folder, and environment settings
Configure every per-user attribute on an account's Terminal tab in bulk with ADManager Plus.
Profile and home folder
Set, change, or clear the RDS home folder and profile path for users who have RDS access, including roaming profile path configuration so a user's environment follows them across session hosts. ADManager Plus can also move or delete existing home folders and profile paths, not just point the attribute somewhere new.
Startup program and environment
Specify the program that launches when a user logs on through RDS, along with the drives and printers they connect to at logon. You can push startup program configuration for many users at once from a CSV—the practical way to handle a department where everyone needs the same published app.
Dial-in and VPN access
Allow or deny dial-in or VPN access so users can log on remotely to the network, or configure a remote access policy to control it centrally. This sits alongside the RDS environment settings, controlling who reaches the network and how.
Session limits
Set active session, idle session, and disconnected session limits in bulk, and decide what happens when a limit is reached. You can also set how long a broken connection waits before the session ends, so a dropped link doesn't leave a session running indefinitely.
Remote control properties
Configure whether an admin can join another user's session, whether they need the user's permission first, and whether they can view only or fully interact. This is useful for a help desk shadowing a user to troubleshoot, and worth scoping so it doesn't become a standing surveillance capability.
RDP access management and security
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) enables RDS sessions and listens on TCP port 3389 by default. Secure RDP access depends on controlling remote logon rights, group membership, and related user account settings in Active Directory. Managing this natively can be time-consuming, as you'll often need to update group membership and permissions host by host or account by account.
ADManager Plus centralizes these tasks by provisioning users for Remote Desktop access in bulk, adding them to the required groups, assigning remote logon rights, and managing related RDS attributes. This helps you enforce consistent RDP access without configuring users or hosts individually.
Group Policy Object management for RDS
A Group Policy Object (GPO) is how you set RDS behavior across a whole Active Directory environment at once. GPOs govern session timeouts, environment settings, and access controls, and they apply to every user or computer in the scope you link them to. The setting lives in the GPO's Administrative Templates (under the Remote Desktop Services policies), not on the individual account.
ADManager Plus works on both sides of this. It manages GPOs in Active Directory directly. You can create, edit, and link GPOs to multiple OUs, domains, and sites in a single action, and edit their Administrative Template settings for user and computer configurations—the same place RDS policies live. Separately, it manages the per-user RDS attributes on the account object, such as profile path, home folder, and session limits.
RDS reporting
ADManager Plus' built-in reports turn RDS auditing into a point-and-click job, and can be scheduled to run on intervals and land in your inbox.
Users With Terminal Server Access report
Get a list of every user who has terminal server logon enabled, with the RDS settings that go with it: profile path, home directory, and session limits, plus general account details like logon names and sAMAccountNames.
Users' Terminal Service Properties report
Get the full picture for every account with RDS access. It shows the values set for the home drive, profile path, active and idle session limits, working directory, startup program, and the rest of the RDS user properties.
Benefits of using ADManager Plus for RDS management and reporting
- Bulk configuration: Set profiles, home folders, session limits, and remote access for hundreds of accounts in one operation.
- No scripting required: Everything runs from a point-and-click web console without complex PowerShell scripts and additional tools.
- Visibility that native tools lack: Prebuilt RDS reports show who has logon enabled and how sessions are configured, and you can schedule them to land in your inbox.
- Cleaner audits: Generate the access evidence auditors ask for on demand instead of reconstructing it by hand.
- Non-invasive delegation: Assign RDS management and reporting tasks to help desk staff without elevating native privileges.
Frequently asked questions
Active Directory is the Microsoft directory service for Windows domains. It stores accounts for users, computers, and groups, and handles authentication and authorization across the network, so a user logs on once and their access is checked against directory records wherever they go. RDS settings live on those user accounts, which is why you manage them in Active Directory.
Terminal Services, now called Remote Desktop Services (RDS), is a Windows Server role for session-based computing. It lets multiple users run applications and desktops on one server at the same time, each in a separate session reached over Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Its main jobs are delivering applications remotely, centralizing desktop management on the server instead of the endpoint, and controlling session-based access through Active Directory accounts and groups.
The Remote Desktop Users group is the gate for RDP logon: it grants the RDP-Listener permission a Remote Desktop session needs, so a domain user who isn't in it can't connect. Managing it natively means editing membership host by host. ADManager Plus instead adds users to the Remote Desktop Users group in bulk across your environment, manages the RDP-Listener permissions, assigns remote logon rights for large sets of users at once, and revokes them the same way when someone changes roles or leaves.
Other features
Active Directory Password Management
Reset password and set password propertied from a single web-based console, without compromising on the security of your AD! Delegate your password-reset powers to the helpdesk technicians too!
Active Directory Reports
A catalog of almost every report that you will need from your Active Directory! Comprehensive and Reliable reporting. Schedule reports to run periodically. Manage your AD right from within the reports.
Active Directory Logon Reports
Monitor logon activities of Active Directory users on your AD environment. Filter out Inactive Users. Reporting on hourly level. Generate reports for true last logon time & recently logged on users.
Microsoft 365 Reports
Pre-defined O365 user-specific reports: all users & inactive users, license based reports: licensed / unlicensed users, license details, and group-based reports: distribution lists, security groups, etc.
Microsoft Exchange Management
Create and manage Exchange mailboxes and configure mailbox rights using ADManager Plus's Exchange Management system. Now with support for Microsoft Exchange 2010!!
Active Directory Automation
A complete automation of AD critical tasks such as user provisioning, inactive-user clean up etc. Also lets you sequence and execute follow-up tasks and blends with workflow to offer a brilliant controlled-automation.
Need Features? Tell Us
If you want to see additional features implemented in ADManager Plus, we would love to hear. Click here to continue
