RDS Server – Remove the Shutdown Command

KB ID 0000499 

Problem

I’m surprised that when you make a server a Terminal Services Server / Remote Desktop Services Server, that this does not get applied from an administrative template anyway, but it does not.

Why would you want to do this? Well users are used to hitting Start > Shutdown, when they are finished working, which is fine, unless they are in a terminal session with 500 other users and they’ve just issued a shutdown command to the server!

Solution

The simplest way to do this is run gpedit.msc on the server itself and remove shutdown through local group policy, but a far more elegant solution is create a domain group policy for the TS Server(s).

1. On a domain controller,  launch the “Group Policy Management Console”. Create a policy, and link it to the OU that contains the Terminal Servers, you want to enforce the policy on, (Or edit an existing policy linked toy them).

2. Now remove the shutdown is a USER policy, and this is a COMPUTER policy we are writing, so it wont work unless we turn on “Loopback processing”. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy > User Group Policy loopback processing. (Note: On 2016 It will be called, ‘Configure user Group Policy loopback processing mode’.)

3. In most cases you will already have user policies applied to your users, if so you will want to “Merge” this with them rather than replace them > Apply > OK.

4. Now to remove the Shutdown command. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar > Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate Commands.

5. Enable > Apply > OK.

6. Then either reboot the TS Server(s), wait a couple of hours or run “gpupdate /force” on them.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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