Windows 2008 TS in a Win2003 Domain, in the Terminal Services forum on BrianMadden.com

I am in the process of testing Win2008 terminal server in a win2003 domain that currently has two production Win2003 terminal servers. I have supported our win2003 Terminal Servers for about 3 years now and I'm familiar with group policy, loopback, redirected desktop and start menu folders, etc. as it pertains to our current environment.

Does Microsoft support adding Win2008 Terminal Servers to a Win2003 Domain? I have found some documentation on the web dealing with running adprep using the Windows 2008 Install files to update a 2003 schema but these documents all appear to be in preparation for updating the domain controllers to 2008. I would like to know if I can keep my domain at Win2003 and still be able to deploy Win2008 Terminal Servers with 2008 Group Policy and Preference enhancements. If so, could you point me to any resources or links supporting this configureation?

Yes, you can keep all your DC's and AD info on 2003 and install 2008 TS server on the domain with no problem. if you want to use the new GPPE you can manage them from a vista machine with sp1, using the new vista admin pak.

here is the link for the admin pak for vista.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960&displaylang=en

if you want to manage exchange as well here is the vista exchange system manager.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3403d74e-8942-421b-8738-b3664559e46f&displaylang=en

i could be wrong on this one but i think you can only manage the new policies (GPPE) with either vista SP1 or Windows 2008. and since i doubt you want to use the TS server to manage your policies vista is probably the best idea.


Sam