{"id":4781,"date":"2009-01-09T11:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T11:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/powershell\/2009\/01\/09\/managing-remote-desktop-services-aka-terminal-services-using-windows-powershell\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T13:12:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:12:56","slug":"managing-remote-desktop-services-aka-terminal-services-using-windows-powershell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/managing-remote-desktop-services-aka-terminal-services-using-windows-powershell\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Remote Desktop services (aka Terminal services) using Windows PowerShell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone,<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

We are pleased to announce that the Beta release of Windows server 2008 R2 supports managing <\/font>Remote Desktop services<\/font><\/a> using <\/font><\/a>PowerShell.  <\/span>You can now configure and manage all RDS role services and components using PowerShell.  <\/span>For example, below are few management tasks that you can now do with PowerShell<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

1.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>View and edit configuration settings of Remote Desktop server <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Publish RemoteApp applications<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Configure License Server<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Create and configure a Remote Desktop server farm<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

5.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Configure and assign virtual IP addresses to either sessions or applications<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

6.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Create and manage RDV (VDI) pools<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

7.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>Create and manage Gateway Resource Access & Client Access policies<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course there is a lot more that you can do with Windows PowerShell. Install the beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2 and give this feature a try. As always, we are eager to hear what you think and it is important that you let us know what you like and don\u2019t like as early as possible.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Read further to understand RDS PowerShell in detail.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Remote desktop services PowerShell<\/font><\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you install the Remote Desktop services role, a PowerShell provider gets installed. This Provider <\/b>(we\u2019ll call it RDS provider in the rest of this post) allows you to view and manage the configuration of all role services and components of Remote Desktop Services.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Think of RDS Provider as something similar to file system provider and registry provider, <\/font><\/font>IIS Provider<\/font><\/a>. You view, navigate and work with RDS provider as you would with any of the other providers. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span><\/a>Working with <\/font><\/b>RDS PowerShell<\/font><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

To get started, first install the Remote Desktop services role and then launch RDS PowerShell. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Step 1: Install Remote Desktop services role<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

RDS PowerShell is installed when you install the Remote Desktop services role. You can install the Remote Desktop services role using Server Manager.  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Step 2: Launch RDS PowerShell<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Right click on Start Menu -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Remote desktop services -> \u2018Remote Desktop Services PowerShell\u2019 and select \u2018Run as Administrator\u2019.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Once you click on this link, you\u2019ll see a PowerShellPowerShell window with the prompt set to RDS drive. There it is \u2013 the RDS provider for you. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/a>You\u2019d notice that once you issue the dir command, you see a view that has the following six columns. <\/font><\/p>\n

Name<\/b>: Name of the Container\/Setting<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Type<\/b>: Type of Item. There are three possible values for Type \u2013 Container (Node), Integer, or String. Container (Node) denotes a Container Item, and Integer and String denote Settings. You can only CD into container items. Containers represent a setting group or a logical entity whereas Settings represent configuration settings. For example, roles such as RDS andConnection broker, and entities such as Connection Objects and RemoteApps are represented as Containers, while server drain mode is represented as a setting<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

CurrentValue<\/b>: Value set to the Item (applicable only toItems of \u2018Integer\u2019 or \u2018String\u2019 Type)<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

GP<\/b>: Indicates whether an Item is controlled by group policy or not <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PermissibleValues<\/b>: Possible values that a Setting Item can have<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PermissibleOperations<\/b>:  <\/span>Operations (cmdlets) that can be performed on the Item<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Users can select which columns are displayed by using the Format-table cmdlet. For example  <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/font>Get-Item * | format-table -Property Name, CurrentValue<\/span><\/b> <\/span>displays only Name and CurrentValue columns. Alternatively you can use <\/font>dir * | ft -Property N*,C*<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/b>to achieve the same result.  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/a>You can also customize the default view. More on this in a later post.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

How to get help?<\/font><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

One of the salient features of PowerShell is that it makes it easy to get information and help on a particular aspect. That advantage is retained in RDS Provider as well. There is a property called Description associated with every Item which succinctly describes what a particular setting does. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

For example <\/font><\/a>PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration> get-item .\\DrainMode| fl<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/span>displays information about the DrainMode item. You can also change the default view to always display the Description column. <\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s look at few examples. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/a>Example<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/a>1: Set RDP encryption level<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

Step 1: View current encryption level<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\Connections\\RDP-Tcp\\SecuritySettings> dir .\\EncryptionLevel | fl<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Step 2: Set value of EncryptionLevel item to desired value<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\Connections\\RDP-Tcp\\SecuritySettings> Set-Item .\\EncryptionLevel 2<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a>Example 2: Specify License servers that a Remote Desktop server will use<\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Step 1: View the current list of License Servers in use <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\LicensingSettings\\SpecifiedLicenseServers> dir<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Step2: View the list of license servers registered with the domain controller.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\LicensingSettings\\RegisteredLicenseServers> dir<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Step 3: add a License server to SpecifiedLicenseServers list <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

The simplest way to add a license server is to use new-item and specify the name of the license server that you want to add. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\LicensingSettings\\SpecifiedLicenseServers> New-Item -name ls.contoso.com<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

You can use the below command to add all license servers from the registered license server list to specified license server list. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\LicensingSettings\\SpecifiedLicenseServers> dir ..\\RegisteredLicenseServers | new-item \u2013force<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Example 3: <\/font><\/a>Join a Remote Desktop server to a Session Broker farm<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\ConnectionBrokerSettings> Set-Item MemberOfFarm 1 -FarmName testFarm -sessionbroker contoso-sb-test  <\/span>-CurrentRedirectableAddresses 65.52.65.53<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Example 4: Add a RemoteApp<\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS RDS:\\RemoteApps\\PublishedApplications> New-Item -Name “IExplore” -ApplicationPath “c:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe” -ApplicationName “Internet Explorer” -ShowInPortal 1<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a>These are just few examples that demonstrate the various possibilities.  <\/span>Almost all configuration tasks related to RD server configuration, RemoteApp, Gateway, License server, and RDV can now be performed using the RDS provider. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Also, the true potential of RDS Provider is realized when writing a script to<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>chain multiple configuration activities together <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/font>       <\/span><\/span><\/span>perform configuration on multiple servers<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

One scenario that best demonstrates the above is the creation of RD server farms. The script shown as a example at the end of this post takes a list of servers and applications as input and creates a RD server farm and creates RemoteApp on all of the servers.  <\/span>Create two text files, one with a list of servers and another with a list of app paths (you can use paths with shell variables such as %windir%) and pass the names of these files as input to this script.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Since this script makes use of PowerShell remoting, before you execute the script make sure you have enabled PowerShell remoting (run Enable-PSRemoting from an elevated PowerShell Windows to enable remoting.).  <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course this is a very rudimentary script \u2013 you can augment it easily with advanced and specific functionality to suit your needs.  <\/span>Also, in our opinion, one of the important advantages of RDS provider is that one doesn\u2019t need to be a programmer to be able write such scripts as CreateRDFarm. All one needs to know is basic PowerShellPowerShell scripting. <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you are as excited as we are about the possibilities that this opens up. Do let us know what you think. Also, keep watching this space for more scripts that you can put to use. <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Appendix: Sample script<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

#Windows PowerShell script to create a RD Server farm.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

if ($args[0] -eq $null -or $args[1] -eq $null -or $args[2] -eq $null ){<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “Insuffecient parameters.`nUsage: CreateRDFarm.ps1 SessionBroker Farmname <File containing list of RDS servers> <File containing Applications to publish>”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>exit<\/span><\/p>\n

}else{<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>$sb = $args[0]<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>$farmname = $args[1]<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

$rdsarr = get-content<\/b> $args[2]<\/span><\/p>\n

if ($rdsarr -eq $null){<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “$args[2] cannot be read or is empty.`nUsage: CreateRDFarm.ps1 SessionBroker Farmname <File containing TS servers> <File containing Applications to publish>”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>exit<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

if ($args[3] -eq $null){<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “No file containing Apps Servers specifed. TS Remote Apps will not be published.`nUsage: CreateFarm.ps1 SessionBroker Farmname <File containing TS servers> <txt file containing Applications to publish>.`n Farm creation will continue” -ForegroundColor<\/i> yellow<\/span><\/p>\n

}else{<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>$apparr = get-content<\/b> $args[3]<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>if ($apparr -eq $null){<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “$args[3] cannot be read or is empty.`nUsage: CreateRDFarm.ps1 SessionBroker Farmname <File containing TS servers> <File containing Applications to publish>”<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

# Check whether session broker service is running on the remote machine<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

$sbservice = Get-Service<\/b> -ComputerName<\/i> $sb -Name<\/i> Tssdis<\/span><\/p>\n

if( $sbservice.status -ne “Running”){<\/span><\/p>\n

Write-host<\/span><\/b> “Session Broker service is not running on $sb. Exiting farm creation”<\/span><\/p>\n

exit<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

if ($rdsarr[0] -eq $null){<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “No TS Server specified. Atleast one TS Server need to be specified.`nUsage: CreateFarm.ps1 SessionBroker Farmname TS1 TS2 …”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>exit<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

#create a run space to run remote commands on the Session Broker server<\/span><\/p>\n

$sb_remotesession = New-PSSession<\/b> -ComputerName<\/i> $sb<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

foreach ($rds in $rdsarr){<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>#add ts server to Session Broker Computers group on SB server<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>$tst = $rds+”$”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>invoke-command<\/b> $sb_remotesession -ScriptBlock<\/i> {<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>net localgroup ‘Session Broker Computers’  <\/span>\/add $args[0] 2>$null;`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>} -ArgumentList<\/i> $tst<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>#join each ts server to sb farm. <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> “Joining RD server $rds to $farmname farm” -ForegroundColor<\/i> magenta<\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>$rds_remotesession = New-PSSession<\/b> -ComputerName<\/i> $rds<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>invoke-command<\/b> $rds_remotesession -ScriptBlock<\/i> { `<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>import-module<\/b> RemoteDesktopServices ;`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>$cipaddr = dir<\/b> RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\ConnectionBrokerSettings\\RedirectableAddresses ;`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>Set-Item<\/b> RDS:\\RDSConfiguration\\ConnectionBrokerSettings\\MemberOfFarm 1 -FarmName $args[0] -sessionbroker $args[1] -IPAddressRedirection 0 -CurrentRedirectableAddresses $cipaddr[0].Name ;`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>}`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>            <\/span>-ArgumentList<\/i> $farmname,$sb<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>#create ts remote apps<\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>if ($args[3] -ne $null){<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>foreach ($app in $apparr){<\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>Write-Host<\/b> Publishing $app on $rds -ForegroundColor<\/i> magenta<\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>$ind = $app.LastIndexof(“\\”)<\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>$alias = $app.SubString($ind+1,$app.LastIndexOf(“.”)-$ind-1)<\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>invoke-command<\/b> $rds_remotesession -ScriptBlock<\/i> { `<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>new-item<\/b> -Path<\/i> RDS:\\RemoteApps\\PublishedApplications -Name<\/i> $args[0] -ApplicationPath $args[1]`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>}`<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

                        <\/span>-ArgumentList<\/i> $alias,$app<\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>}<\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>#close the remote session<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>Remove-PSSession<\/b> $rds_remotesession<\/span><\/p>\n

}<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

#close the sb runspace<\/span><\/p>\n

Remove-PSSession<\/span><\/b> $sb_remotesession<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

Shanmugam Kulandaivel
Remote Desktop Virtualization Services Team<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, We are pleased to announce that the Beta release of Windows server 2008 R2 supports managing Remote Desktop services using PowerShell.  You can now configure and manage all RDS role services and components using PowerShell.  For example, below are few management tasks that you can now do with PowerShell 1.       View and edit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":13641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-powershell"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

Hello everyone, We are pleased to announce that the Beta release of Windows server 2008 R2 supports managing Remote Desktop services using PowerShell.  You can now configure and manage all RDS role services and components using PowerShell.  For example, below are few management tasks that you can now do with PowerShell 1.       View and edit […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/powershell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}