Stuck Print Jobs Can Cause Failed Connections

I have a Windows XP machine. I usually create a Remote Desktop Connection to the terminal server. When I tried to create this connection recently, I received the following error message: The terminal server has exceeded the maximum number of allowed connections.

I found this strange because no one else was supposed to create a Remote Desktop Connection to that server. So, I opened the Computer Management console and navigated to System Tools, Shared Folders, Open Files to see what sessions were active, as Figure 1 shows. Only then did I realize that users' print jobs were stuck, which prevented any Remote Desktop Connections. So, I stopped the Print Spooler services and deleted the stuck jobs. Afterward, I was able to create a Remote Desktop Connection to the terminal server.

James Lim

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