Terminal Services Manager

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Manager (the old tsadmin.msc) manages one server at a time, and Microsoft removed it from Windows Server after 2008 R2. Terminal Services Manager is an alternative that works on all current versions of Windows and manages many hosts together.

From a single window it shows the sessions, users, and processes of every server in your list at once, with live CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics. It keeps the familiar actions - disconnect, log off, shadow, send message, reset - and adds session history, failed logon auditing, filtering, and graphs. For an overview of what it does, see LizardSystems Terminal Services Manager: a powerful tool for Remote Desktop management.

No. Terminal Services Manager is agentless. It connects to each Remote Desktop Services host using the Windows interfaces already built into the operating system: the WTS (Terminal Services) API for sessions, users, and processes; performance counters for CPU and memory; and the event log for session history. Nothing is installed or left running on the machines you manage.

You install the program only on your own workstation or a management server. The hosts you manage need to be reachable over the network, and you need administrator rights on them. To get started, see How to add your RDS servers and connect with the right account and System requirements.

The latest version of Terminal Services Manager supports the following Windows platforms: Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows 11, Windows Server 2025.

It runs on any Windows version that ships Remote Desktop Services and the supporting WMI and RPC interfaces, on both workstations and servers. For the full list and the rights you need, see System requirements.

There are no feature limitations in an unregistered copy. During the evaluation period you can use every feature of Terminal Services Manager on a single computer, exactly as in a registered copy. Unregistered copies show a reminder screen at startup, and use is limited to one machine on the network.

To remove the reminder and run the program on more machines, register your license. See also how to order and using it on more than one computer.

Each installation on a separate machine needs its own license. If you plan to run Terminal Services Manager on several computers, order the matching number of licenses on the purchase page.

To activate a license once you have it, see Registering your license.

Terminal Services Manager uses standard Windows management protocols, so the same ports you would open for any remote administration are enough. On each managed host, allow access from your workstation to:

• TCP 445 (SMB) - session, user, and process lists through the Terminal Services (WTS) API, and performance counters
• TCP 135 and the dynamic RPC range - performance counters and the event log used for session history and failed logons
• TCP 3389 (RDP) - only if you connect to or shadow a session
• ICMP and TCP 135 - the checks that tell whether a host is up

On a domain network the built-in Remote Administration and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) firewall rule groups already open these. To get hosts into the program in the first place, see How to add your RDS servers and connect with the right account.