Linux SuperUser command, but for Windows

[sahmeepee]

There is a /console switch that claims to connect to the console session of a server but when I tried it I never seemed to get the syntax right as I always ended up with a GUI.

The console command is for connecting to the session which is displayed on the physical monitor, as opposed to a terminal server session. If you try connecting with "mstsc /console /v:your2003server" you'll get the screen you'd see if you plugged a monitor into the server rather than a ctl+alt+del login prompt. I'm crap at explaining it, hope that makes sense!

UPDATE: BTW, you're allowed that console rdp connection in addition to the 2 normal terminal services connections on a standard server, which can come in handy on occasion.

[DMcCoy]

There is a /console switch that claims to connect to the console session of a server but when I tried it I never seemed to get the syntax right as I always ended up with a GUI.

The console in this case is the *primary* windows login afaik. For example is you are logged in to the server locally and connect with mstsc you will start a new session, with /console it will take control of the local session.

[DMcCoy]

I'm too slow it seems

[ChrisH]

I getchya

[Ric_]

Getting back to the su equivalent... you can also do

> runas /noprofile /user:MACHINENAME\administerator cmd

You could also use switches with 'cmd' so that you can easily identify the admin console.

[NetworkGeezer]

So you allow access to the command prompt for your students?

[MrLudwig]

So, the mstsc with the /console switch essentially has the same end result as using VNC, remote control of a machine as if you were sat in front of it.

But if I connected to a machine with a restricted user already logged in, wouldn't I simply be remotely controlling their session, and so still have restricted access to the system?

Oh, and we do disable right-click context menus and access to the command prompt for student accounts, so the RunAs option gets a bit tricky.



MrLudwig.

[ajbritton]

You cannot use MSTSC to remote control a limited user for the following reason;

When you use /console to log into the remote machine, you must log on as the same user that is logged on at the remote machine. By default, limited users cannot do this (for good reason!)

AFAIK the /console switch works with 2003 server and XP only. In fact, with XP it is implicit. It's not possible to connect to any session other than the console.

UltraVNC is the way to go.

[NetworkGeezer]

This link from AppDeploy may be useful to someone: http://www.appdeploy.com/tips/detail.asp?id=45

[ajbritton]

There's also Superior SU, which looks very impressive. It does not appear to work on my ageing Win2K Dell however.

[sahmeepee]

Which settings in particular are you trying to access as an admin? If you give examples it'll make it a lot easier.

For access to files you can run iexplore.exe under a different account as mentioned earlier.