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Archive for February, 2010


Slow log-off when printing from 32bit app on x64 Windows Server 2008 R2

If you define 32bit app startup environment for the users, these users might experience a problem with slow log-off. This problem does not affect Full desktop and it does not happen if a user has not printed something from an application.

In case you have Terminal Services Log installed on your server you can check processes being run for each user session. All 32bit sessions will have a process splwow64.exe running. By further investigation we found out that the session will not end until this process does not end (in few minutes). This process is converting between 32 bit and 64 bit applications. The process remains in memory in order to increase system performance and unloads from memory after the last print job.

Adjusting Process TimeOuts

You can define how long the process stays in memory. Open regedit and find the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\
Create new 32bit DWORD SplWOW64TimeOut and set it to one minute (decimal 1). This will add one minute delay to unloading the process from the memory.

If you want to unload the process immediately and log off instantly after the print job is finished we need to add one more registry value.
In regedit open:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\SysProcs
and add new 32bit DWORD called splwow64.exe and set it to decimal 0.

Now the session with startup environment setup will log off immediately after the print job is finished if that is requested by the user.

Additional Reports with Terminal Services Log

You can use Terminal Services Log to closely monitor processes on a Remote Desktop Server. Click here for more details about application reports in Terminal Services Log.

Application Report - Terminal Services Log

Application Report - Terminal Services Log


Client disconnects due to error in the protocol stream (Source TermDD, Event ID 56)

Problem

Sometimes you might receive the following error when remote controlling another client:
The Terminal Server security layer detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client. Client IP: …

Cause

Error occurs when a client with RDP client below RDP 7 build 6100 connects to any other client for remote control, or even when RDP 7 client remote controls anything under RDP 7. client.

Solution

While searching for a solution I noticed that people suggested to set the network card to auto sense. But what should you do in case you are running Terminal Server as virtual machine in Hyper-V :) . The simple solution, you must upgrade all Remote clients to latest available, as of this text RDP 7 client build 6100. (link).

You can also use Terminal Services Log 3.0 to detect which users are using older RDP Client Versions as shown on figure below. Click here to download trial.

Report showing RDP Client Versions being used