Remote Desktop Service Certificate

Hello Joshua,

Thank you for your question and for reaching out with your question today.

To create a certificate for your RDS cluster that includes the names of the two servers and eliminate the certificate warning for your users, you can follow these general steps:

1. Request a certificate from your domain controller:
   • Open the Certification Authority console on your domain controller.
   • Right-click on "Certificate Templates" and select "Manage."
   • Duplicate an existing certificate template (e.g., "Computer") to create a new template.
   • Configure the new template to include the names of your RDS servers as Subject Alternative Names (SANs).
   • Publish the new certificate template.
2. Issue the certificate for the RDS cluster:
   • Open the Certification Authority console on your domain controller.
   • Right-click on "Certificate Templates" and select "New" and then "Certificate Template to Issue."
   • Select the certificate template you created in the previous step.
   • Provide the necessary information, such as the certificate validity period.
   • Issue the certificate.
3. Install the issued certificate on each RDS server:
   • On each RDS server, open the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and add the "Certificates" snap-in for the local computer account.
   • Navigate to "Personal" -> "Certificates."
   • Right-click on "Certificates" and select "All Tasks" -> "Import."
   • Follow the import wizard to import the issued certificate.
4. Configure the RDS deployment to use the new certificate:
   • Open the "Server Manager" on one of the RDS servers.
   • Navigate to "Remote Desktop Services" -> "Deployment Overview."
   • In the "Deployment Properties" section, click on "Edit Deployment Properties" on the right-hand side.
   • Go to the "Certificates" tab.
   • Select the newly imported certificate from the list of available certificates.
   • Click "OK" to save the changes.

After completing these steps, the RDS cluster should be using the newly created certificate, which includes the names of both servers as SANs. This should prevent your users from receiving certificate warnings when connecting to the RDS cluster.

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