Auto reconnect RDP Remote Desktop Connection to Terminal Server from Thin Client

[rjm85]

Hi there,

We are currently setting up several thin client PCs to connect to a new terminal server farm. To automatically connect to the farm, I have created a Remote Desktop Connection and dropped it into Startup on each thin client. Therefore when the thin client is booted up, it automatically connects to the Terminal server farm. However, if a user closes their remote sessions or logs off, it then takes them back to the thin client desktop.

My question is, if the remote desktop connection is closed/logged off, is there a way to automatically re-establish the remote desktop connection so the thin client then reconnects to the logon page on the ts farm?

Any pointers would be a great help!

Cheers Rich

[Bezwick]

Simple answer is yes replace the explorer shell with a vb script which is looped.

You havent said whnat OS you have on the thin clients, this will work for any version of xp, but wont work for Windows Thin PC.

Create an rdp client file and with all the settings you need for accessing your terminal server and save it to

c:\windows\system32\school.rdp

then create a vb script like this one

Option Explicit
'On Error Resume Next

Dim objShell

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

Do
If (objShell.AppActivate("Remote Desktop") = False) Then
objShell.Run "mstsc.exe C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\school.rdp"
WScript.Sleep 4000
Else
WScript.Sleep 2000
End If
Loop

and call it say remote.vbs and also save it to your windows\system32 folder.

Now open the registry in

HKCU\Software\microsoft\windows nt\current version\winlogon

and create a string called "Shell"
and set its value to "remote.vbs"

Now when the system boots it should autostart your rdp connecting and reconnect when its closed.

good luck

[FN-GM]

This VBS script will work on Thin PC. You need to change the shell to this file. Make sure you put Wscript in front of it wont work

for example wscript.exe C:\script.vbs

On Error Resume Next
Set fs = CreateObject ("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.Shell")

'Get the username and profile directory
MUser = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings ("%USERNAME%")
MUserProfile = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%USERPROFILE%")

'Delete icons
fs.DeleteFolder MUserProfile & "\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories",True
fs.DeleteFile  MUserProfile & "\Start Menu\Programs\*.lnk"

'Run the app

wshShell.Run "c:\myapp\app.exe"

' Connect to wmi
set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:root\cimv2")
Do
  found = false
' List the processes
strQuery = "Select * from win32_process where name='app.exe'"
set colProcesses = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery)

for each proc in colProcesses

   ' Get the reference class linking processes to sessions to get the session object path
   strQuery = "References of {win32_process.handle='" & proc.handle & "'} where ResultClass=Win32_SessionProcess"
   set colSessionReferences = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery)

   for each oSessionReference in colSessionReferences
      'Get associators of the session object that are user accounts (linked by win32_loggedonuser)
      strQuery = "Associators of {" & oSessionReference.antecedent & "} where AssocClass=win32_LoggedOnUser"
      set colUsers = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery,,48)
        for each user in colUsers
         if user.name = MUser then found = true
      next
   next
next
Loop While found = true

'Run the Windows 2003 logoff utility
wshShell.Run "c:\windows\system32\logoff.exe"

[TheScarfedOne]

Shameless plug! The info you need is over on my blog. Thats exactly how it is set up with us.

[rjm85]

Shameless plug! The info you need is over on my blog. Thats exactly how it is set up with us.

Hi mate, can you send me a link to the blog entry?

Cheers

[rjm85]

Hi mate, then thin clients are running Windows XP Embedded.

Cheers