Otdfbt

I have an application that I'd like to continue to run after disconnecting. This is in a Windows server 2012 environment that I access via remote desktop connection. Currently, it shuts down my applications after some specified time elapses after disconnecting. I haven't figured out exactly how long that period is, but if I wait long enough and reconnect, the application has closed. How can I prevent this? My server manager doesn't seem to have the collections (see: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1936940/server-2012-rdp-auto-disconnect.html) or remote desktop services icons (another potential solution here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2012/10/30/windows-8-windows-server-2012-remote-desktop-management-server.aspx), so I cannot get to those properties. My IT team is perplexed as well.

EDIT (additional information requested):
This software is SRCware v 0.2 (I don't have a high enough reputation to post the link). It launches via an exe file. I've run this app in several environments with no problem: RDP, Citrix XenApp, and VMware vShpere web client, all Windows server 2008 environments. It's been quite a while, but very quickly one day, my IT team checked off a setting that prevented all of my apps from closing on disconnect. I believe this was in Citrix. No changes were necessary in the other environments. Something is different about Server 2012, however. Disconnecting leads to the app closing after an undetermined period of time. My IT team suggested that I X out instead of disconnecting. Here, I get a message that my programs will continue to run, and I can log in later and they will still be there, but that's not the case if I wait long enough.

You have a couple of options based on the "type" of applications you are trying to keep running. None of them will come without some knowledge of how Windows Server runs.

Due to the lack of info about "what", the following is a general guideline that you can use to further investigate:

OPTION 1:

Setup the applications to run as a Windows Service. This can be achieved by opening up a CMD prompt using Elevated Permissions and using the following Syntax (Replace "CAPS" with your info:

sc create YOURSERVICEDISPLAYNAME binpath= C:YOURSERVICE-EXECUTIBLE.EXE-OR-CMD-etc start= delayed-auto obj= DOMAIN-ACCOUNT-FOR-SERVICE-PERMISSIONS password= ACCOUNT-PASSWORD

NOTE: This will not work to just launch an EXE for something like "Photoshop" as an example. There is usually a script that is run with this that give the Executible, Command, or whatever the file is instructions on what to do.

OPTION 2:

Use the Windows Task Scheduler. This is a bit easier than a service, in that you can setup some schedules to ensure that the software continually runs, or you can invoke it based on some "triggers" that you can customize.

Ultimately, it will be up to you to figure out what is best for your environment. Without all the info, and knowing "what" you need, this is probably the best you will get. Let me know if you have any additional info, and I can edit/add to this. But for what you are asking, these are 2 viable options.

The answer from JimCJulsonJr describes better solutions than RDP for running applications in the background. What's left without answer is how to prevent these applications left in disconnected RDP session from shutting down after a certain amount of time.

If the Remote Desktop Services role is not installed, you can't change the settings as described in the Windows Server 2012: Remote Desktop Management Server article. Still, you can access your server through RDP for administrative purposes.

The timeout limits can be set via Group Policy. Both Computer Configuration and User Configuration has Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Session Time Limits with these settings:

• Set time limit for disconnected sessions


• Set time limit for active but idle Remote Desktop Services sessions


• Set time limit for active Remote Desktop Services sessions


• End session when time limit are reached

Just change these to disabled in the skope you want them to affect. Note that default for all these is disabled meaning there are no time limits, so they have been probably enabled somewhere else.