Progressive Perl for Windows: Managing Windows Terminal Services Sessions

One of the most useful technologies that Microsoft has incorporated into the Windows OS is Windows terminal services, which lets you remotely log on to a machine. After logging on, you can interact with the remote machine as if you were physically logged on to it. The remote machine sends all video output over the network to you, and your mouse and keyboard input is sent to the remote machine.

Systems administrators use terminal services because it lets them remotely perform work that they formerly had to sit at the machine to perform. Terminal services lets administrators defragment hard disks, install drivers, apply service packs, and perform other routine tasks from outside the computer room. Administrators and end users also use terminal services to access their machines from home. Regardless of the reason people use terminal services, tracking who is logged on to a particular machine is difficult. Thus, I've written a couple of scripts—WTSListUsers.pl and WTSLogoff.pl—that can ease terminal services administration. . . .