The following write-up discusses the management and technical location of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) licensing keys within the Windows Registry. This information is intended for educational purposes and for use by system administrators for legitimate device management. Using registry modifications to bypass licensing requirements or to use software without purchasing the required Client Access Licenses (CALs) is a violation of Microsoft’s Terms of Service and constitutes software piracy.
You will likely need to right-click the GracePeriod folder, go to Permissions , and grant "Full Control" to the Administrators group. rds cal license registry key free
If you need to manually configure your licensing mode or specify a server without using Group Policy (GPO), these are the primary registry subkeys to use: Conclusion Permissions: You will likely need to right-click
Configure licensing modes and servers via the registry, ideal for non-GPO environments. Microsoft Learn Licensing Mode: LicensingMode (DWORD) in ...\RCM\Licensing Core (Per Device) or (Per User). License Server: Add the server IP/name under ...\RCM\LicenseServers Workgroup Auth: DisableWorkgroupAuthEnforcement (DWORD) to ...\Services\TermServLicensing\Parameters Microsoft Learn 2. Resetting the 120-Day Grace Period To extend access, you can delete the "timebomb" key. Navigate to ...\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\GracePeriod License Server: Add the server IP/name under
) to Activate Server and Install Licenses using a valid agreement number.
how many CALs you actually need based on your team size.
This information is intended for troubleshooting, testing, or lab environments. Resetting the grace period is not a substitute for purchasing legitimate RDS CALs and may violate Microsoft licensing compliance terms. 1. Resetting the RDS 120-Day Grace Period (Registry Hack)