Unable to RDP/RWW into the SBS server after applying SP2

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of David Copeland]

If you are unable to RDP/RWW (i.e. to connect using Terminal Services) into your SBS server after applying Windows Server 2003 SP2, then check to see if the server is even listening on TCP Port 3389 (default port).  To check to see if it is listening you can use the following commands:  

 

C:>netstat -aon | find ":3389"

  TCP    0.0.0.0:3389           0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       5620

C:>tasklist /svc | find "5620"

svchost.exe                   5620 TermService

where 5620 in this example is the Process ID

 

If it simply comes back to the command prompt after entering the netstat –aon | find “:3389”  then it would appear that the Terminal Services is not listening on its default port.  One issue we have seen a few cases on is that the TS related files didn’t appear to get completely updated to SP2.  When this happens the TS services appear to start and the listener appears to be up, but it’s not actually listening on the port.  We are still investigating this issue, however, one workaround is to simply log on to the console on the server itself and re-apply Windows Server 2003 SP2. 

We will provide more updated information when available.