Hacker’s Diary

Problem:

Often after upgrading client machines to XP Service Pack 3, I get problem while connecting to Terminal Server. The connection is refused with following error: “The remote session was disconnected because the terminal server client access licence stored on this computer has been modified.”

Solution:

1. Click Start, click Run, type Regedit.exe, and then click OK.
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing\Store\
3. Delete the TS CAL key, probably LICENSE001.

NOTE: Typically, LICENSE000 is the license for the operating system and LICENSE001 is the TS CAL. To verify this information, check to see whether the ProductID value is present; this value indicates the license for the operating system.
4. When the client attempts to reconnect to the Terminal server, it will request a new TS CAL.

If deleting the LICENSE000 or LICENSE00x key to troubleshoot connection failures does not let a client connect to a Terminal server, back up the whole MSLICENSING key, and then delete the whole key. Try to connect to a Terminal server. This causes the generation of a new hardware ID. This enables the client to request a new license, and to successfully connect. The MSLICENSING key and all subkeys are recreated.