OK, here’s one that belongs squarely in the unexplained weirdness category. A customer is running Terminal Server and recently had a remote user with a Mac start logging in. The remote user is using the latest Remote Desktop Connection client for Mac, which happens to be listed as a beta version (RDC 2.0 Beta).

Now if you know anything about RDC, you know that remote users can enable an option that connects their local disk drives when they remote into the TS, and they need to do that if they plan to do any file transfers between host server and remote computer so they can work offline. When that feature is enabled, TS shows the client drives at the bottom of a My Computer window and lists them as “C on RemotePCName” where “RemotePCName” is the actual name of the computer the user is logging in from. That is, if I’m using a computer called “Home Machine,” my local harddrive should be listed as “C on Home Machine.”

Other users logged into the Terminal Server at the same time would see their local drives listed with the names of their own home computers. At least, that’s how it should work.

However, when the Mac user logs into the TS with his Mac, his Mac’s computer name hijacks the system so that everyone’s local drives are listed as “C on MacMachine” where “MacMachine” is the name of the Mac user’s home computer. The system still correctly maps to each user’s local drives; it’s just the name that’s wrong. So the error isn’t a big deal, but it is confusing to remote users (many of whom aren’t particularly saavy about file management anyway).

The only “fix” I’ve found is simply to reboot the Terminal Server, which works fine until the Mac user logs in again. I also can’t tell if the problem occurs only when he Disconnects from RDC instead of Logging Off his session (the recommended procedure).

Even though the problem is being caused by a Mac, the client is provided by Microsoft, so it’s their issue. I’ve Googled the problem, but haven’t found anything, partly because it’s a difficult issue to describe. But if you’ve run across this and especially if you’ve found a permanent fix, please comment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Unsolved Mysteries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.