When logging into this server through remote desktop, it will hang after supplying credentials and hitting "ok". Just a grey screen. The only way to get a remote session is to reboot the server. After logging in remotely the first time after rebooting, if you log out, you experience the same problem again until you reboot. There are no obvious system logs/app logs that are related to this. There are no error messages period. I've already tried deleting the RDP listener, and then re-creating. Any help would be appreciated. Perhaps there's something I'm missing on re-creating the RDP listener. Its a Dell PE 1950. 8 GB RAM, Plenty of Proc. power. The Dell Hardware logs shows no errors. Any insight would be great. Whatever the issue is, it is affecting other third party apps, mainly Symantec Backup Exec as it is timing out the Backup Exec GUI when trying to select the server backup selections on this troubled server. Chris

hi christopher stark,thank you for posting in windows server forums, i have read your post and here is what i would like to check is this happening on particluar server trying to perform mstc to destination ?is this issue happening on a server while perform mstsc to any destination ?i strongly feel that issue is with the server from where you are performing / running mstsc , so can you please run msconfig and disable all the 3rd party services and test the functionality ?, this test would tell us if there is any 3rd party intervension with RDP sainath !analyze

Hello Christopher, Thanks for posting in our forum. I agree with Sainath that you need some steps to narrow down the problems scope until find the root cause: 1. If you start the RDC from another client, does the issue still occurs? If the issue persists only in one client computer, we will troubleshoot the issue focusing on the client computer, and ignore the following steps. 2. If you start the RDC from the server to itself, does the issue still occurs? 3. If possible, clean boot the Windows Server 2003-based Terminal Server to exclude the effects from 3rd party applications or services. If the issue goes away after clean boot, please enable part of the startup services or applications until find the root cause:Perform a Clean Boot a. Click Start , and then click Run . b. Type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK . c. On the General tab, click Selective Startup . d. Under Selective Startup , click to clear the following check boxes: Process SYSTEM.INI File Process WIN.INI File Load Startup Items e. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All . f. Click OK . g. When you are prompted, click Restart . h. After the computer starts, start the game or program and check whether the problem is resolved. Thanks for your cooperation. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

hi there, any update on the issue.sainath !analyze

The machine that I'm trying to connect TO acts this way. When I tried to remot ein from several different machines, its still pingable, but now I can't even get a log in screen. I get the red X - Remote Desktop Disconnected - The client could not establish a connection to the remote computer. Probably won't get rid of that until i reboot the remote machine somehow.

Hello Christopher, Thanks for your feedback. From this response, I understand the update of the issue as below: It is confirmed that the Windows Server 2003 can be pinged from many other clients; The logon phase doesnt appear in latest tests, there is a error prompt on the client machine with the following information: "Remote Desktop Disconnected. The client could not establish a connection to the remote computer" In such a case, the Step 2 and Step 3 of my previous post is important, so please finish them and let me know the result: 1. From the problematic Windows Server 2003 SP2, Start a Remote Desktop Connection to itself:mstsc /v:localhost 2. Perform a clean boot to the problematic server using the Perform a Clean Boot steps from my previous post. Besides, if Clean Boot doesnt make any difference, go on with the following steps: 3. As the symptom you meet now is different from the original one, please reproduce it and check the Event Viewer again, can you find any error logged during the issue under System and Application category? 4. In the problematic server, find the following policy setting in Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc):Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options: System cryptography: Use FIPS compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signingis enabled, please disabled it. Then, test the issue again. Im pleased to be of assistance to go on troubleshooting this issue for you. Thanks for your cooperation and patience. Have a nice weekend. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

Hi Christopher,How are you? Please let us know if we can provide any further assistance on this issue.Thanks for your cooperation again. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com

Lionel,thanks for all your help. THe server we are supporting is a sensitive one since it is a clients' web server. Restarts are hard to come by since they have to be scheduled. Sorry for the delay. I did reboot it this morning and started on #2 with the "mstsc /v:localhost" and it failed. "Remote Desktop Disconnected""This computer can't connect to the remote computer""try connecting again. if the problem continues, contact the owner of the remote computer or your network administrator."Hmmmmm. Didn't even get to the clean boot. Does this help?

Hello Christopher, From your feedback, I understand that you’ve restarted the problematic server and start a RDC from itself, which is failed with the error message “Remote Desktop Disconnected”. As this error is the same with the ones in scenarios from other clients, this result can exclude the possibilities related to network connections between the remote server and the clients. To investigate further in this case, we need to finish the troubleshooting process as below. Some of them are already included in the previous responses and I include them because they’re important for our issue resolving: 1. Do you have the Terminal Server role installed on the server or is this a RDC for administrations? Check if the Enable Remote Desktop on this computer in the System Properties is enabled. Then, go to services.msc and check if the services Remote Access Connection Manager, Remote Procedure Call and Remote Registry are in Started status. 2. From the server side, use telnet command to check the 3389 port’s availability(or the RDP port you specified later) of the server:telnet localhost 3389Note: a. If you doesn’t have Telnet client installed, please enable it from appwiz.cpl. b. Blank screen with a cursor blinking usually means the success of the test. For more information about Telnet client, please refer to the KB187628. 3. On the server side, run "netstat -abn >c:\netstat.txt" command when this problem happens. After that, please send the c:\netstat.txt file to me. With this output, we can check whether the terminal service is listening on the 3389 port. 4. Use the tstst.exe tool to check and gather Terminal Services configuration information:a. Click Start -> Run, type "cmd" in the text box, and click OK.b. Type the following command to run the tool: tstst.exe > c:\tstst.txtPlease send the tstst.txt file to me. Note: The tstst.exe tool is included in Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools which can be downloaded from the following link:http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en 5. On the server side, find the following policy setting in Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc):Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options: System cryptography: Use FIPS compliant algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signingis enabled, please disabled it. Then, test the issue again. 6. Start a RDC from the server itself again, after the issue occurs, run eventvwr.msc to enter the Event Viewer, check the System and Application logs, the events from related source (for example TermService) could tell more information about the error. Please note that the logs are NOT necessarily errors. 7. Collect the MPSReport of the problematic server using the following tool:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=00ad0eac-720f-4441-9ef6-ea9f657b5c2f&DisplayLang=en For your convenience, I have created a workspace for you. You can upload the information files to the following link. (Please choose "Send Files to Microsoft") Workspace URL: (https://sftasia.one.microsoft.com/choosetransfer.aspx?key=e6e73154-0763-4bec-a8c8-9a954af0627e) Password: pz_Djp*MzUK Note: Due to differences in text formatting with various email clients, the workspace link above may appear to be broken. Please be sure to include all text between '(' and ')' when typing or copying the workspace link into your browser. Thanks for your cooperation again. Have a nice day. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfd @ microsoft.com

Hi Christopher,How's going with the case now? Please let me know if I can provide any helps.Thanks and wish you a good day. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfd @ microsoft.com

2 .telnet localhost 3389C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools>telnet localhost 3389Connecting To localhost...Could not open connection to the host, on port 3389: Connect failed 3. requires me to be physically local at the box, which I am not. I'll do this the next opportunity i have.4. RETURNED: "The client does not have a license" in the output file.5. the gp policy is set to disabled already.6. Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:TermServDevicesEvent Category:NoneEvent ID:1111Date:10/13/2009Time:8:00:15 AMUser:N/AComputer:CET-JLS-010Description:Driver WebEx Document Loader required for printer WebEx Document Loader is unknown. Contact the administrator to install the driver before you log in again. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.Data:0000: 00 00 00 00 12 0d 00 00 ........ ALSO Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:TermServDevicesEvent Category:NoneEvent ID:1111Date:10/13/2009Time:8:00:15 AMUser:N/AComputer:CET-JLS-010Description:Driver Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 Document Writer Driver required for printer Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 Document Writer is unknown. Contact the administrator to install the driver before you log in again. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.Data:0000: 00 00 00 00 12 0d 00 00 ........ ALSO Event Type:ErrorEvent Source:TermServDevicesEvent Category:NoneEvent ID:1111Date:10/13/2009Time:8:00:14 AMUser:N/AComputer:CET-JLS-010Description:Driver Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver required for printer Microsoft Office Document Image Writer is unknown. Contact the administrator to install the driver before you log in again. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.Data:0000: 00 00 00 00 12 0d 00 00 ........ 7. uploaded mpsreports.Thank you,Chris.

Hello Christopher, Its nice to hear from you again and thanks for your tests. Based on the MPS logs and the test results from you, as the telnet localhost 3389 is failed while the remote server is still pinged successfully, the issue is caused by one of the following two possibilities: The Port 3389 is blocked The TS related system drivers are corrupted. In such a situation, I recommend you to do the following steps: 1. Remove all the local resource redirections from the mstsc.exe (mstsc - Local Resource tab). 2. Disable all the firewall and anti-virus software on the TS server side. 3. Perform a clean boot for the terminal server. This will disable the pre-run 3rd party applications and services that may block the Port 3389. The steps to perform clean boot has be cited in my previous post. 4. Test the issue again. If the steps above dont resolve the issue, the cause could be related to the corrupt kernel drivers. Please reinstall the Terminal Services role on the problematic server. Please give it a try and let us know the result. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfd@microsoft.com

Thank you for your help.On the last-ditch option at the bottom, what is meant by :"If the steps above dont resolve the issue, the cause could be related to the corrupt kernel drivers. Please reinstall the Terminal Services role on the problematic server. "We do not have "terminal services" installed as an option under "add/remove" programs. We only have it installed as remote desktop enabled under system. How would I uninstall and reinstall the simple, built-in version of TS?Thanks

Hello Christopher, Thanks for your feedback. Even though the Terminal Services role is not installed on the server, the corrupted kernel drivers related to the remote desktop can still cause the issue you encountered. Before troubleshooting by fixing the system files, please confirm that you have done the following steps: 1. Start a remote desktop connection to the server from itself: mstsc /v:localhost, see if the issue occurs in such a situation. 2. Disable all the firewall and anti-virus software on the server side. 3. Perform a clean boot for the server side. As most of similar issues are caused by 3rd party software or services that blocked Port 3389 or leaded to instabilities, we highly recommend you to finish the steps above before going forwards. If the steps above didnt make any difference on this issue, please try fix the system drivers using SFC: SFC.EXE /SCANNOW. For more information, please refer to the following KB articles: (KB310747) Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker (Sfc.exe) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310747 Please let us know the result. Thanks for your patience and cooperation. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfd@microsoft.com

Hello Christopher,How's going with the case? Please let me know it and I can provide further assistance for you. Lionel Chen TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfd@microsoft.com

Dear Christopher i have same problem with HP ML 370 G3 server with 4 GB RAM with RAID 5. no error logs in event log in proliant event viewer. specially it hangs when i do MSTSC to Domain controller. I am also trying to find solution. but i got this fixes as specified by MICROSOFT . http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822820/ please follow this try it in testing environment because MICROSOFT is funny instead of applying directly in production environment. i may try this in testing environment server after taking image of that DC server. And get back to me because the result will not come immediately as i have been facing this problem nearly 6-8 months time , some days server works fine continuously 2-3 weeks time and suddenly stops with grey color no login prompt as you specified. regards Krish Iyer

Hello, I'd just like to chime in that I'm having the same problem with 3 DC's in my environment as well. In all 3 cases, if I go into TS Manager I can see that the listener is not up at all. If I go into TS Config and disable the listener and then re-enable it, it will work fine for awhile then eventually drop again. In my case, I think the issues somehow related directly to the server being a DC. One of the servers experiencing this issue for me was fine for weeks during it's burn-in, was promoted to a DC this morning, and then immediately started experiencing the issue.