How to FIX the Windows Server 2012 RDS deployment “The server has reboots pending and needs to be restarted.”
If you have tried to Deploy Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services) on a Windows Server 2012 machine, more than likely you have run into this issue.
When using the wizard you run into this screen:
There are a few things you can do to fix this issue:
Solution #1
Reboot the server
Open Command Prompt then type “shutdown /r” and wait for the server to reboot.
Retry deployment, if the deployment fails, move to Solution #2
Solution #2
This solution requires editing the registry of the Windows 2012 Server.
Run “regedit” to open the Registry Editor
Navigate to: “HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
If PendingFileRenameOperations exists, DELETE the key and reboot the server.
After reboot, you will be able to finish the deployment.
Daniel Z. Stinson 
Nice – Thanks for solution #2, that fixed me up.
Many thanks
2 nd option is working fine
Thanks for this info. But on my setup on following solution #2. Reg Key keeps getting re-created after restart. So just delete key, don’t restart, then do your RDS stuff.
Cheers,
So if PendingFileRenameOperations is deleted but not restarted it will fix until you restart server? then you have to delete the key again? as for me the key keeps getting recreated after restart, , like you said.
Hi, thanks for this. That Pending Reboot registry key is useful, but hard to remember.