Windows MultiPoint Server is an operating system based on
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
Windows Server
Windows Server (formerly Windows NT Server) is a brand name for Server (computing), server-oriented releases of the Windows NT operating system (OS) that have been developed by Microsoft since 1993. The first release under this brand name i ...
using
Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop Services (RDS), known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allow a user to initiate and control an interactive session on a remote computer or virtual machine ...
technology to host multiple simultaneous independent computing stations or terminals connected to a single computer (
multiseat computing). Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 was the final release as an independent SKU and has been superseded by the MultiPoint Services role in
Windows Server 2016.
Versions
Windows MultiPoint Server 2010
This version was planned in January 2010 but was released in February 2010 a month later and is based on
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008 R2, codenamed "Windows Server 7" or "Windows Server 2008 Release 2", is the eighth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was release ...
. Its mainstream support ended on July 14, 2015, and extended support ended on July 14, 2020. Multiple stations can be added to a WMS 2010 host computer by connecting a single monitor,
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
2.0 hub, keyboard and mouse for each station. Hardware requirements for MultiPoint stations are non-proprietary, and virtually any
multi-monitor
Multi-monitor, also called multi-display and multi-head, is the use of multiple physical display devices, such as Computer monitor, monitors, Television set, televisions, and Video projector, projectors, in order to increase the area available fo ...
video card, mouse, keyboard, monitor and some desktop Computers that is supported on all Windows and its Server "2008 R2" can be used to build a station.
Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is available for purchase via either OEMs or academic
volume licensing. The Academic version, acquired via Academic Volume Licensing, supports domain join and no licensing restrictions on station count (however, hardware limits still apply), but requires a Windows Server 2008 R2
client access license (CAL) and a Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 CAL per station, while the non-Academic version that is acquired via OEMs is limited to 10 stations maximum and does not support
domain join, but only requires a Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 CAL per station and no Windows Server 2008 R2 CALs.
Windows MultiPoint Server 2011
Windows MultiPoint Server 2011, based on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, was released to manufacturing on March 10, 2011. Its mainstream support ended on July 12, 2016 and extended support ended on July 13, 2021. New features in Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 include:
*The ability to add connect stations and thin clients over the LAN via traditional
RDP
RDP may refer to:
Computing
* Ramer–Douglas–Peucker algorithm, an algorithm for polygonal simplification
* Recombination detection program, for analysing genetic recombination
* Recursive descent parser, a type of top-down parser
* Remote Desk ...
clients
*Support for
RemoteFX capable thin clients
*A shared management console extensibility with
Windows Small Business Server 2011 and
Windows Home Server 2011
*The ability to be backed up by Windows Small Business Server Essentials 2011 (the only server SKU that allows and supports this)
*Features that allow administrators to view and interact with thumbnails of station desktops, including
**Projecting a single station's desktop to one or all stations
**Locking the keyboard and mouse of station and displaying a message
**Remotely opening and closing applications
**Restricting internet browsing to a specific list of sites or blocking browsing to a specific list of sites
*Management of multiple WMS servers and stations from within a single administration console
*Support for running within a virtual machine
*Distribution through a wider variety of distribution channels for both editions
In addition, unlike Windows MultiPoint Server 2010, Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 is available in the Standard and Premium editions. The following table compares the two editions' differences; they share all other features equally.
Windows MultiPoint Server 2012
On 27 November 2012, Microsoft released Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 to manufacturing.
Its mainstream support ended on October 9, 2018, and extended support ended October 10, 2023. This is the first version of MultiPoint to be based on
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012, codenamed "Windows Server 8", is the ninth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It is the server version of Windows based on Windows ...
, and contains several new features and upgrades from previous versions:
*The addition of the MultiPoint Dashboard, an application that allows specific non-administrator users to monitor and interact with user desktops
*The ability to create stations from virtual machines running on the WMS server (a feature only present on the Premium version).
*Disk protection, a server feature that discards changes made to the server during user sessions similar to
Windows SteadyState
*Windows 8 desktop experience for users, including access to the
Windows Store
The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With ...
*Monitoring client computers running Windows 7 or 8 with the MultiPoint Server Connector
MultiPoint Server role
With the release of
Windows Server 2016, MultiPoint Server was added as a role, which allows it to be easily installed using tools like Server Manager. The MultiPoint Connector Services feature (which is also available in Server 2016) cannot be installed alongside the MultiPoint Services role.
See also
*
Multiseat configuration
A multiseat, multi-station or multiterminal system is a single computer which supports multiple independent local user (computing), users at the same time.
A "seat" consists of all hardware devices assigned to a specific workplace at which one u ...
*
Microsoft Servers
Microsoft Servers (previously called Windows Server System) is a discontinued brand that encompasses Microsoft software products for Server (computing), server computers. This includes the Windows Server editions of the Microsoft Windows operati ...
*
Windows Server
Windows Server (formerly Windows NT Server) is a brand name for Server (computing), server-oriented releases of the Windows NT operating system (OS) that have been developed by Microsoft since 1993. The first release under this brand name i ...
References
External links
*
{{Microsoft Windows family
2010 software
Discontinued Microsoft operating systems
Proprietary software
Windows Server
MultiPointServer