Remote Desktop Frequently Asked Questions

Complete FAQ for the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

Force a single session or allow multiple Remote Desktop sessions per user

Remote Desktop/Terminal Services has two settings for multiple sessions. You can either allow multiple sessions per user (in which case if you log in twice, you'll get two sessions), or force a single session per user (in which case you can only log in once and subsequent sessions will be redirected to the original session.

To change this setting, you'll need to perform a registry change. The following steps describe the process:

  1. Start Registry Editor (by default, this is located at c:\windows\regedit.exe).
  2. Go to the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
        System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer

  3. If the fSingleSessionPerUser value doesn't exist, create a new DWORD value named fSingleSessionPerUser
  4. Open the fSingleSessionPerUser value. The possible values for this setting are as follows:
    0x0
    Allow multiple sessions per user
    0x1
    Force each user to a single session
  5. Enter the new setting, and then click OK.