Windows MultiPoint Server is an operating system based on

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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 Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 was the final release as an independent SKU and has been superseded by the MultiPoint Services role in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 Windows Server 2016 is the eighth release of the Windows Server Server (computing), server operating system developed by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was developed concurrently with Windows 10 and is the su ...

Versions

Windows MultiPoint Server 2010

This version was planned in January 2010 but was released in February 2010 and is based on

Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2 is the fifth version of the Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft and released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generall ...

. It's 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 that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

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 monitors, televisions, and projectors, in order to increase the area available for computer programs running on a single computer sy ...

video card, mouse, keyboard and monitor that is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2 can be used to build a station. Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 is available for purchase via either OEMs or Academic

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. 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 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 10 March 2011. It's 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 clients * Support for

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capable thin clients * A shared management console extensibility with Windows Small Business Server 2011 and

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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/or 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 has 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. It's mainstream support ended on October 9, 2018 and extended support will end on 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 sixth version of the Windows Server operating system by Microsoft, as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It is the server version of Windows based on Windows 8 and succe ...

, 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 Premium - Not available on the Standard version. * Disk protection, a server feature that discards changes made to the server during user sessions similar to

Windows SteadyState Windows SteadyState (formerly ''Shared Computer Toolkit'') is a discontinued freeware tool developed by Microsoft that gives administrators enhanced options for configuring shared computers, such as hard drive protection and advanced user manag ...

* Windows 8 desktop experience for users, including access to the

Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...

* Monitoring client computers running Windows 7 or 8 with the MultiPoint Server Connector

Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2016 now includes MultiPoint Services as a role. This includes the ability to deploy a server in a multipoint role. This version was released on 26 September 2016.

Windows Server, version 1803

In Windows Server, version 1803, Microsoft is no longer developing the MultiPoint Services role as part of Windows Server. Only the MultiPoint Connector services are available through Feature on Demand for both Windows Server and Windows 10.

References

External links

* {{Microsoft Windows family Windows Server 2010 software Proprietary software