If you use Remote Desktop (aka Terminal Services) to connect to Windows servers, you probably know that by default ony two people can be connected via RDC at a time. So it sucks when you need to get onto a machine but you get the dreaded messages:

The terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of connections

or

The system can not log you on. The system has reached its licensed logon limit.

Especially when it’s late at night and no one else is in the office. 🙂 So, there are two solutions to get you past the blockade:

1. Log onto a different server (one with free RDC connections) on the same network and domain as the blocked server. Open up Terminal Services Manager, navigate to the blocked server, open up the list of connected users, right-click a victim (preferably a long-idle one) and Log Out and Disconnect them. Wait up to 30 seconds, and they should drop off. Now you can connect to that server and fix that bug you accidentally migrated. 🙂
2. If the above solution doesn’t work, you can actually RDC to the console session (i.e. as if you were sitting at the PC’s keyboard), which can act as a third RDC connection independent of the two main RDC connections. To do this:
   • Open on a command prompt (Start->Run->”cmd”).
   • Enter “mstsc /v:<servername> /console” and hit Enter. <servername> should be replaced by the machine name of the server you’re connecting to.
   • You should see a familiar RDC console window come up & be able to log in. Note that if someone else is logged in at the console, either
     • If you’re an Administrator, you’ll have the opportunity to kick them off.
     • If you’re not an Administrator, you’re out of luck on the console session. But at least you tried.

Hopefully the above will help provide a workaround for the 2-connection RDC limit on busy boxes.