Tools for the Control Freak

If you choose the View the user's session option, the person remotely controlling the session won't actually control the session but will be able to see what the original user is doing. The person who set up remote control can't use the mouse or keyboard in this type of remotely controlled session. This option is a helpful troubleshooting tool if you want to help a user correct a problem but you don't want to manually interfere. However, I find that the Interact with the session option is typically more useful than the View the user's session option.

Remote Control Capabilities
Because you can take remote control of a terminal server session only from another terminal server session, you need to log on to a terminal server on the network. The remote control option in the Terminal Services Manager and the Shadow command-line utility won't work from the console. (Additionally, you can't shadow the console from a terminal session. If you need to use the console, just log on with the appropriate privileges.) After you're in the session, you can remotely control a user's session in two ways: from the Terminal Services Manager or from the command line.

To use the GUI, start a terminal server session and log on using an account with administrative privileges. From within the session, start the Terminal Services Manager in the Adminstrative Tools folder. In the window that opens, select a terminal server in the left pane and switch to the Users tab to display user sessions, as Screen 4 shows. (The green icons indicate the server that you're working from.) Find the session you want to shadow, and choose Remote Control from the Actions menu. (Alternatively, you can choose this option from the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click on the connection or from the toolbar button that resembles a monitor.) A dialog box prompts you for the hot-key combination you want to use to end remote control of your own session (so that you can return to the original session). If the Remote Control option isn't visible, you're probably trying to take control either of a console session or from a console session. Again, shadowing works only from an RDP session, even if you must make an RDP session to the server at which you're sitting.

If you've configured the user session to require user permission for control, a dialog box will appear on the user's screen, stating that user X in domain Y has requested permission to control the session. If the user permits the control, you're in charge of the session—your session will take over the user's session. If the user doesn't permit the control or waits longer than about 30 seconds to accept it, an error message informs you that you didn't receive permission to control the session. The degree of remote control you have over a user's session depends on the user account settings you've already set.

The command-line utility that lets you take remote control of a user session is called Shadow, after the name that WinFrame and MetaFrame use for remote control. The utility's syntax is as follows:

shadow {<session name> | <session ID>} [/SERVER:<server name>] [/v]

To use Shadow, start a Terminal Services session with administrative privileges. To find the session ID or session name of the user whose session you want to shadow, open a command prompt and type

query user <username>

or

query session <username>

in which username is the name of the person whose session you want to control. You can't shadow based on username; therefore, even if you know the logon name of the person whose session you're shadowing, you'll need the session ID or session name.

If you're shadowing a session on the terminal server to which you're logged on, the command syntax for shadowing Session ID 1 is

shadow 1

If that session requires user permission for remote control, you'll see the following message while your session waits for permission to take over the remote one:

Your session may appear frozen while the remote control approval is being negotiated.
Please wait...

After you have permission, you're in the remote session, just as if you had used Terminal Services Manager.

I recommend using Terminal Services Manager at least once before trying the command-line utility. The Shadow command doesn't prompt you for a hot-key combination to end remote control and return to your session. (The default hot key is Ctrl+*.) Shadow uses the hot key that you defined for the GUI; you need to create and memorize that hot-key combination before you can use it with Shadow. Make sure you know the key combination you'll need to return to your own session from the shadowed one.

Added Functionality
If you're interested in trying out multiuser Windows, Win2K's Terminal Services is for you. But Terminal Services means more than just getting a free copy of WTS to play with. Win2K brings some needed functionality to the tool—including remote control support—and also introduces a mode that lets you manage your Win2K servers remotely, even from a computer that doesn't have Win2K or even NT installed. If you haven't yet experimented with this Win2K feature, now's the time to do so.