I was able to successfully restore the administrative console on my Windows 2012 R2 servers by following the "hairy" registry technique posted by E6Sistemes and Rl08761. As far as I can tell, 9 developers from Microsoft up-voted Freek Berson's reply (which should be reported as abuse also, in my opinion) and then a Microsoft forum administrator came along and marked it as the answer. Points should have been given to E6Sistemes and Rl08761 for actually solving the user's problem (and not telling them to get over it).
For the record, in addition to TSADMIN.DLL, TSADMIN.MSC, TSCONFIG.DLL, and TSCONFIG.MSC, I also had to copy over WTS.DLL.
SPMSDN's attempt to scare users away from the real answer (just because it involves a registry script) should also be marked as abuse. The configuration console *needs* to be restored so you can examine and adjust the security configuration of
Remote Desktop for Administration. Right??? Freek (?) is over here tell us that we need to have Session Collections now?!? Anyone got a license for that?!? Anyone running out to buy one because of this?!?
I just need to securely configure a way (that will pass a Nessus scan) to remote to my server as an administrator. I think Microsoft has their head in the cloud on this one.
The combined registry file looks something like this:
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Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{80aaa290-abd9-9239-7a2d-cf4f67e42128}]
"ApplicationBase"=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,\
73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,00,00
"About"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"VersionStringIndirect"="@C:\\Windows\\System32\\umcRes.dll,-107"
"ProviderStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,\
00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\
5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,\
00,31,00,30,00,32,00,00,00
"SmallFolderBitmapIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,\
64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,\
00,5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,31,00,32,00,30,00,00,00
"NameString"="Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration"
"HelpTopic"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,5c,00,74,00,73,00,63,00,63,00,2e,\
00,63,00,68,00,6d,00,00,00
"AssemblyName"="tsconfig"
"RuntimeVersion"="v2.0.50215"
"Description"="Configure Remote Desktop Session Host settings"
"DescriptionStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,\
64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,\
00,5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,00,00
"LinkedHelpTopics"="%systemroot%\\help\\tscc.chm"
"NameStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,\
00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,\
00,30,00,30,00,00,00
"IconIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,\
00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,75,00,\
6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,31,\
00,30,00,00,00
"FxVersion"="2.0.1.7"
"Type"="Microsoft.TerminalServices.Configuration.SnapIn.TSConfigSnapIn, tsconfig, Version=6.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
"FolderBitmapsColorMask"=dword:00000000
"ModuleName"="tsconfig.dll"
"Provider"="Microsoft Corporation"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{80aaa290-abd9-9239-7a2d-cf4f67e42128}\NodeTypes]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{80aaa290-abd9-9239-7a2d-cf4f67e42128}\NodeTypes\{f86e6446-aaff-11d0-b944-00c04fd8d5b9}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{80aaa290-abd9-9239-7a2d-cf4f67e42128}\Standalone]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}]
"ApplicationBase"=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,\
73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,00,00
"About"="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}"
"VersionStringIndirect"="@C:\\Windows\\System32\\umcRes.dll,-106"
"ProviderStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,\
00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,\
5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,\
00,31,00,30,00,32,00,00,00
"NameString"="Remote Desktop Services Manager"
"HelpTopic"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,5c,00,74,00,73,00,5f,00,6d,00,61,\
00,6e,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,63,00,68,00,6d,00,00,00
"AssemblyName"="tsadmin"
"RuntimeVersion"="v2.0.50215"
"Description"="Manage Remote Desktop Services sessions"
"DescriptionStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,\
64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,\
00,5c,00,75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,31,00,30,00,34,00,00,00
"LinkedHelpTopics"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,\
00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,5c,00,74,00,73,00,5f,00,\
6d,00,61,00,6e,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,63,00,68,00,6d,00,00,00
"NameStringIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,\
00,77,00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
75,00,6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,\
00,30,00,33,00,00,00
"IconIndirect"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,\
00,73,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,75,00,\
6d,00,63,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,31,\
00,31,00,00,00
"FxVersion"="2.0.1.7"
"Type"="Microsoft.TerminalServices.Monitor.SnapIn.TSManagerSnapIn, tsadmin, Version=6.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
"FolderBitmapsColorMask"=dword:00000000
"ModuleName"="tsadmin.dll"
"Provider"="Microsoft Corporation"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}\NodeTypes]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\FX:{3FCE72B6-A31B-43ac-ADDA-120E1E56EB0F}\Standalone]
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