To ensure the proper functioning of the Remote Desktop Services role in Windows Server, it is necessary to install the appropriate CAL licenses, but a 120-day trial period for the licenses is provided starting from the moment the role is installed. During this trial period, Remote Desktop Services operates without any installed CAL licenses. This allows an organization to set up and test their Remote Desktop Services environment to ensure everything works as expected before purchasing and installing CAL licenses.
It is possible to reset this trial period, but please note that resetting the trial period does not replace the purchase and installation of the required Remote Desktop CAL licenses. The following steps should not be performed on a production server.
To reset the trial period for Remote Desktop Services licenses, follow these steps:
You can verify the success of this procedure by using the Remote Desktop Licensing Diagnoser tool from the Tools menu in Server Manager. Clients should now be able to connect to this session host without the applicable CAL licenses. We reiterate that this procedure should not replace the purchase and installation of Remote Desktop CAL licenses and should only be performed in a non-production environment (i.e., test/lab).
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