Licensing IDL For Windows After A "Terminal Server Remote Client Not Allowed" Error

Help Article Update 2

The above-mentioned error has become more and more common as the Windows O.S. has evolved. It is the result of an incompatibility between IDL's Student Edition licensing algorithm (also the default method for encrypting other IDL licenses) and a Windows administrative service called "Terminal Services".

This Help Article focuses on the steps required to start IDL Student Edition on a Windows XP host. The steps could be followed by users of other types of licensed IDL running locally, but users of other IDL editions have another option cited below.

RSI's third-party licensing vendor, Macrovision/FLEXlm, has implemented many licensing management algorithms to prevent users from abusing licensing privileges through remote logons. One of these involves disabling licensing when a running 'Terminal Services' service process is detected. This service is used by other Windows administrative services like "Fast User Switching" and "Remote Desktop" and is a popular service with computer owners who are sharing their computer with other remote users or with different local logons.

FLEXlm's test for Windows Terminal Server is deficient, and gives a false positive in the case of "Fast User Switching" or "Remote Desktop", which are actually single user cases built on top of Windows Terminal Services. A work-around exists that allows Terminal Services to work with Node-Locked, Personal-Use and Floating IDL licenses. However, no such work-around is available for IDL Student Edition at this time. Users of that edition have no choice but to turn off the 'Terminal Services' service on a Windows XP host. The steps below show one set of procedures for turning this off:

1) Access the Windows O.S. 'Services' dialog. On XP this is found at 'Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services'. Some XP editions may not show the control panel's 'Administrative Tools' option by default. If yours does not, you may need to change your file system view to a 'Classic View' mode (see Windows documentation). Alternatively, the following command:

C:\Windows\system32\services.msc /s

could be pasted into an XP host's 'Start->Run...' dialog.

2) Turn off 'Fast User Switching'. Highlight this option in the 'Services' dialog, right-click, and hit 'Stop'. Then hit 'Properties' on the right-click context menu. Make sure that the 'Startup type' on the Properties dialog is set to "Manual" or "Disabled", not "Automatic". If this is set for "Automatic" turn-on at boot-time, then it will automatically trigger turning on 'Terminal Services', the event we are trying to avoid.

3) Turn off the 'Remote Desktop' service, if you have such. Its 'Startup type' properties must also be set for "Manual" or "Disabled". 'Remote Desktop' appears to not be automatically included in all XP editions, so you may not have to execute this step.

4) Turn off 'Terminal Services'. There is only one way to do this, and it necessitates rebooting. You must double-click on the highlighted service. On the subsequent 'General' tab page you must set the 'Startup Type' to "Disabled". Then reboot. (You will note that once a 'Terminal Services' service is 'Start'ed, the right-click context menu enables no option to "Stop".)

IDL Student Edition should now start without any licensing error. When you later want to reinitialize your 'Terminal Services', you can go bring up the Windows 'Services' dialog again, double-click on the 'Terminal Services' option, change its 'Startup type' back to 'Manual', then right-click on the option again to select the now enabled 'Start' option. You will not need to reboot to start using 'Terminal Services' services. However, after restarting 'Terminal Services', you will have to reboot following the steps above, if you want to start a new IDL session.

Users of IDL editions other than the Student Edition, who have SERVER-free licenses or what we call "uncounted" INCREMENT/FEATUREs, may also encounter the error named in the Title of this Help Article. However, these users have the option to make their IDL compatible with a running 'Terminal Services' service by using a slightly modified license. RSI has the option to encrypt Windows licenses with an attribute called "TS_OK" embedded in the license INCREMENT lines. If you are encountering the above-mentioned error on an Exelis VIS product other than the Student Edition, contact support@exelisvis.com about modifying your license with this "TS_OK" attribute.