itgroove – Server Best Practice – If it ain’t an Application Terminal Server, turn off all the damned noise!

One of the things I often do, to avoid a whole bunch of noise (and extra ‘busy-ness’ on my servers) is turn off the automatic connection of printers, etc. in RDP. I mean, if I’m just managing the Server via an RDP connection, do I really need COM ports, printers, default printers and other crapola trying to connect (and in the case of printers, filling my logs full of noise as drivers can’t be found, etc.).

• So, one final reminder – if this is a real Terminal Server (Application Server, connecting with lots of users), you do NOT want to take these actions…

The Noise

What we do to rid ourselves of the Noise

Figure 1 : Open Up Terminal Services Configuration

Figure 2 : Open the Properties for the RDP-Tcp Connection

Figure 3 : One size doesn’t always fit all – but these are my typical choices. I leave the clipboard available…

Figure 4 : It will take effect the next time you connect with your RDP client