First, breakdown of the environment:
- Windows Server 2012 Standard,
- Not domain joined,
- Setup RDS and installed (1) single device RDS CAL per this article: https://support.managed.com/kb/a2328/adding-remote-desktop-cals-to-a-dedicated-server.aspx
- Switched to Device CAL mode per this article:http://www.tbngconsulting.com/blog/bid/404182/Licensing-mode-for-the-Remote-Desktop-Session-Host-is-not-configured
Set this up Tuesday (1-Nov-2016) night and confirmed that I could have three different users log in simultaneously. Worked fine until about 10:00am this morning when RDP connections started receiving the following error:
the hardware id does not match the one designated on the software license
and no one can RDP into the machine without reaching this error. I finally am able to RDP with the local administrator account using mstsc /admin. Remote Desktop Diagnoser returns the error:
"The Remote Desktop Session Host server is in Per Device licensing mode and No Redirector Mode, but license server <MyServerNameisHere> does not have any installed licenses with the following attributes". I google this error, and manually confirmed that Diagnoser is still pointing at the local machine to manage licenses and that my registry still is set to Per Device licensing (Dword value 2) on the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\Licensing Core\LicensingMode. Regardless, I run these PowerShell lines again per this MS article (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2833839?sd=rss&spid=16526&wa=wsignin1.0,wsignin1.0) I found Googling:
$obj = gwmi -namespace "Root/CIMV2/TerminalServices" Win32_TerminalServiceSetting
$obj.ChangeMode(2)
$obj.SetSpecifiedLicenseServerList("MyServerNamewasHere")
$obj.GetSpecifiedLicenseServerList()
I run these and Diagnoser's error clear up. Try to test with RDP from client machines again and same errors crop up re: Hardware ID not matching. I restart RDS services on the server. Does not fix. I backup my registry and delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing key, and sub keys, per this article (http://www.thewindowsclub.com/remote-session-disconnected-no-remote-desktop-client-access-licenses) but it does not rebuild itself as suggested upon new mstsc /admin RDP Connection. I found a few more articles discussing this same registry key deletion trick, plus deleting another key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Store, but this key does not exist on my client machine.
I have been reading and testing for hours, revoked the Device CAL from another registered users on the server, created test accounts, but nothing I have done has fixed this. Between Tuesday night and today, there have been no server reboots, no updates, nothing in the Event Logs, nor server reconfigurations that were performed that would suggest why this suddenly stopped working. I am at a complete loss. What am I missing?