Benchmarking Terminal Server; RDP Client Hangs

[Editor's note: The following is a discussion of the most relevant or interesting additions to Microsoft Support Online that pertain to Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE). If an entry needs clarification, additional information, or is in error, please tell me—I'm always happy to get reader tips. However, it's important that you also use the form next to the text of each Microsoft Support Online article to tell Microsoft. I don't write the Microsoft Support Online articles, and I have no control over the article content.]

Microsoft Documents Some Terminal Server Error Messages
One big failing of Microsoft's terminal services has always been Microsoft's lack of support for the product. Microsoft Support Online article Q186541 indicates that Microsoft wants to rectify that failing. The article isn't as complete its title, "Terminal Server Error Messages: 2400 to 2499," implies—the list stops at 2484, and messages 2481 through 2484 don't have explanations—but it's worth reading and keeping around for reference.

The Role of Application-Compatibility Scripts
The biggest headache in terminal services is getting single-user applications to work in a multiuser environment. For people new to terminal services, the question isn't even how to do this, but why it's a problem. Microsoft Support Online article Q195950 describes how applications can misbehave in a terminal-server environment and explains how application-compatibility scripts can help applications run better in this environment.

Benchmarking TSE
Existing application benchmarking tools don't always work correctly under Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (TSE) because, as with most applications, the software vendors haven't designed the benchmarking tools to work in a multiuser environment. Microsoft Support Online article Q192234 describes a problem that exists with one benchmarking tool, Winstone 97, and explains how to edit the Registry to resolve the problem.

RDP Client Hangs if the Network is Unavailable
If your network goes down and you're running the Microsoft Terminal Server Client (MSTSC) utility, your computer might hang for approximately 2 minutes if you disconnect the utility. The MSTSC utility displays the Connect dialog box and makes the NetServerEnum call necessary to list the available terminal servers. Before the enumeration completes, the dialog box disappears if you click Cancel or hit the Esc key. But the MSTSC utility waits for the NetServerEnum call to complete before terminating its process, which can take as long as 2 minutes. If you wait for the NetServerEnum call to complete before pressing Esc, the process terminates immediately. According to Microsoft Support Online article Q187183, there's nothing you can do about the wait because NetServerEnum is a synchronous call.

Editing the RDP Listening Port
Microsoft Support Online article Q187623 explains how to edit the Registry to change an RDP client's connection file so that you can use a port other than the default port of 3389. The article is the same as an earlier Microsoft Support Online article that explains the same process, but this entry includes Windows 2000 (Win2K) in the list of OSs that the article applies to.