Cause:  The license server might not have any remaining Per Device CALs to issue.

Solution:  Use Terminal Server Licensing to determine the number of CALs remaining on the license server. To open Terminal Server Licensing, click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then point to Terminal Server Licensing. If the license server does not have any remaining CALs to issue to clients, purchase and install additional CALs as required.

Cause:  The Terminal Server licensing mode on the terminal server might be set to Per Device, while the license server might have only Per User CALs. If this is the case, the license server issues only temporary licenses that cannot be upgraded. When the temporary licenses are within several days of expiring, "Event ID 26, Source: Application Pop-up" appears in the application event log on the client. The event message indicates the number of days remaining before the temporary license expires. Similarly, "Event ID 1011, Source TermService" appears in the application event log on the terminal server.

Solution:  Change the Terminal Server Licensing mode from Per Device to Per User.

Important

Per User CALs are not monitored by Terminal Server. This means that even though there is a Per User CAL in the license server database, the Per User CAL is not decremented when it is used. This does not remove administrators from End User License Agreement (EULA) requirements to have a valid terminal server CAL for each user. Failure to have a Per User CAL for each user, if Per Device CALs are not being used, is a violation of the EULA.

The following text is from the EULA for Windows Server 2003:

"Two different TS CALs are available to you: 'Device' and 'User.' Each TS Device CAL permits one Device (used by any User) to conduct Windows Sessions on any of your Servers. Each TS User CAL permits one User (using any Device) to conduct Windows Sessions on any of your Servers. You may use a mix of TS Device CALs and TS User CALs simultaneously with the Server Software in your environment. You can have a Terminal Server request Per User licenses or Per Device (default) but not both simultaneously."

Cause:  The terminal server might not be able to locate the license server.

Solution:  Perform the following steps:

1.	Verify that the license server is correctly installed.
2.	Verify that the Terminal Server Licensing service is running on the license server.
3.	Verify that the client, the terminal server, and the license server can communicate by ensuring that Domain Name System (DNS) is configured correctly on each computer. To do this, run the ping command from each computer to each computer using the IP address, FQDN, and the NetBIOS name. If any of the ping commands fail, verify the DNS configuration on the network.
4.	On the terminal server, set a preferred licensing server to connect to. You can do this by using the registry, a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) script, or, in Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, you can use Group Policy settings or Terminal Server Configuration.

 

Solution:  If the previous solution does not resolve this problem, create a backup of the MSLicensing registry key and its subkeys on the client, and then remove the original key and subkeys by doing the following:

1.	On the client, navigate to the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing.
2.	Click MSLicensing.
3.	On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
4.	In the File name box, type mslicensingbackup, and then click Save. If you need to restore this registry key in the future, double-click mslicensingbackup.reg.
5.	On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion of the MSLicensing registry subkey.
6.	Close Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

When the client is restarted, the missing registry key is rebuilt.

Caution

Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.