File and Terminal Server Sessions

Hyena's Sessions displays shows network users connected to the computer, either through standard file server sessions or Terminal Server sessions.  The session information is displayed in Hyena's list window only.  

File Server Sessions

File Server sessions show users connected to the server for accessing server resources (files, printers, etc.).  Users remotely connected to a server that are performing system management duties through RPC interfaces will also be shown.  To display file server sessions, either double-click on the Sessions object, or right click on the Sessions object and select File Server Sessions.  Another method is to right click on a computer in either the left or right window and select Sessions->File Server Sessions.

Supported operations on sessions include:

Disconnecting Sessions - One or more sessions can be disconnected at the same time by using the Disconnect Session(s) option.

Sending Messages - Hyena can send messages to either the computer or user that the session is associated with.

Shell Functions - The shell functions (Windows Explorer) for the computer that is associated with the session can be accessed from the sessions view.

The Sessions option can also be selected when more than one computer is selected from the list window, enabling sessions to be displayed for more than one computer at the same time.  To display sessions for multiple computers, first display the computers in Hyena's right list window.  The computer list can be generated in any number of ways, including through an Active Directory OU or other system query.  Then, multi-select the computers in the list window, right click, select Sessions->File Server Sessions.

Terminal Server Sessions

Terminal Server functions in Hyena require the Microsoft wtsapi32.dll library. To find out how to get Terminal Server integration configured, review the Terminal Server topic. Alternately, view a user's properties and check to see if a 'Terminal' tab is shown; if so, then the Terminal Server environment is already configured.  Finally, Terminal Server functions must be enabled by turning on the option 'Show user thin client (Terminal Server) information' under Tools->Settings->User. This option is enabled (ON) by default.

Terminal Server sessions show users connected to the server through a terminal server or remote desktop connection.  Windows will usually also create two terminal server sessions to represent the active interactive logged on user.

Viewing All Terminal Server Sessions

To view all Terminal Server sessions:

Right click on a computer in Hyena's left window, select Sessions->Terminal Server Sessions.

Select one or more computers in Hyena's right window, right click and select Sessions->Terminal Server Sessions.

The columns displayed for Terminal Server sessions are user-customizable. To add, remove, or change the order of displayed Terminal Server session information, select Tools->Settings->Display and change the Display Mode to 'Terminal Server Sessions'.

Note: Viewing all Terminal Server sessions is only available on the Enterprise Edition of Hyena.  The Standard Edition will only display the first three (3) sessions on a computer.  This allows users of the Standard Edition to fully see the session information and other management functionality, including session process viewing and termination.

Viewing Console Sessions

One of the many relatively unknown features in all versions of Windows is the internal inclusion of Terminal Services. Even if Terminal Services is not used or enabled, some capabilities are still present. All Windows versions have what is called a 'console session' which represents the active session that is attached to the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Hyena can display only the console sessions for a computer, using either of these methods:

Right click on a computer, select Sessions->Console Sessions.

Expand a computer in the left window, select Sessions->Console Sessions.

To display the console sessions for multiple computers, select the computers in the right window.

Once the console sessions are displayed, messages can be sent to them by selecting them from the right window, and selecting Send Message. This method of sending messages does NOT require the messenger service, which is now essentially removed from modern Windows versions.

Note: Although Terminal Services support is only available in the Enterprise Edition, this feature is present in the Standard Edition of Hyena as well as the Enterprise Edition.

Terminal Server Session Functions

In addition to viewing the sessions, the following functions can be performed on one or more selected Terminal Server sessions. These functions are selectable by selecting one or more sessions from Hyena's right window, and right clicking to display the context menu:

Logoff / Disconnect

Hyena will require verification before allowing a session to be logged off or disconnected.

Send Message

The Terminal Server 'Send Message' function has more capabilities than the standard Windows user messaging function. In particular, the icon used for the message dialog box can be customized, and an optional response can be captured from the user.

Keep in mind that when requesting a response from the user, that each session message request is processed sequentially. Therefore the maximum time to process all sessions will be the number of sessions multiplied by the timeout value. As responses are received or timed out, Hyena will update the Send Message dialog; this information can be copied to the clipboard if desired.

Viewing Terminal Server Session Processes

To view the processes associated with a Terminal Server session, select one or more sessions, right click, and select View Processes... One or more processes can be selected for termination.  Since terminal server sessions can be displayed from multiple computers, displaying and terminating processes from multiple sessions on more than one computer is also supported.

Remote Control

The 'Remote Control' feature found in the Microsoft Terminal Services Manager utility (TsAdmin.exe) is also available in Hyena. To remotely control another session, you must first be running Hyena in a remote session. Then, display the Terminal Server sessions for a computer, select the session to remote control, and select 'Remote Control' from the context menu.

The behavior and functionality of this feature should be the same as using TsAdmin.exe; the user associated with the remote session will be prompted by Windows to grant permission to the remote control request.