RDC Display Freeze
Only when I make a RDC connection from Windows 7 64-bit (Home Premium or Professional, two different machines) to Windows 7 64-bit Professional and then make a RDC connection on the remote connection to another machine the display freezes for approximately 60 seconds and then automatically refreshes. If I make a connection from Windows XP SP3 to the same remote Windows 7 64-bit Professional machine I never have the display freeze problem. I have tried all of the recommendations shown on all of the forums, including but not limited to updating display adapter drivers, networking changes, and even installing SP1 beta on all Windows 7 machines. Additionally it appears that the freezing can be caused by any process on the remote machine that might spike CPU usage, including but not limited to explorer access to directories or shares. It almost appears to be a resource sharing problem that only occurs on the remote Windows 7 64-bit Professional installation. Local Machines (Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium, and Windows XP SP3 on VM) Intel i5650 4GB Memory Windows 7 64-bit Professional and Home Premium, Windows XP 32-bit SP3 (VM) ATI 5770 RDC 6.1.7600 on all local machines, including Windows XP 32-bit SP3 (VM) Local Machine (Windows XP SP3) Intel Celeron 2.4GHz 1.5GB Memory Windows XP SP3 Professional ATI 9800 RDC 6.1.7600 Remote Machine Intel Q6600 4GB Memory Windows 7 64-bit Professional Nivida Quatro FX3700 RDC 6.1.7600 I plan on installing Windows 7 32-bit Professional and/or Ultimate in a VM, under Windows Virtual PC on the Windows 7 64-bit Professional as a test on both the local and remote machines. If that installation works I will attempt to resolve the problem using a clean boot on the remote machines and then the local machine. Does anyone have any recommendations?
August 5th, 2010 3:25pm

Hi, Thanks for posting in Technet. Please let us know more information. I assume that you are working with 3 computers. I suppose that computer a and b are Windows 7 computers and c is Windows XP computer. When you connect with RDC from a to b, then in the RDC session connect from b to c, the issue occurs. If you connect from c to a and then in the RDC session connect from a to b, the issue does not occur. Is that correct? Or you were trying to connect to other remote computers after connecting to the remote Windows 7 computer with RDC? If so, what is the system of the other remote computer? Additionally, what do you mean by “the display freeze”? Does the local display freeze or the Remote Desktop window freeze? The Remote Desktop version in Windows 7 is different than in Windows XP. It uses Network Level Authentication during connection. The following article introduces how to configure Remote Desktop Access in Windows 7. Configure Remote Desktop Access on Windows 7 Systems How does it work if you disable the antivirus and firewall on the remote Windows 7 computer? Arthur Xie TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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August 6th, 2010 9:40am

I hope the following helps. Please note that all RDC versions are 6.1.7600 (supporting RDP 7.0), including the version of RDC that is installed in Windows XP Pro, which it should be noted always works. Computers A through D are in a workgroup at home, Computer E is in a domain at work (with access to 23+ servers and 100+ desktop/laptops) and access is via a VPN connection using a local Cisco 871 and a remote AdTran 1335. The computers that Computer E is starting a connection to are as follows: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit, Machine & VM) Windows 7 Pro (32-bit, VM) Windows Server 2003 Std SP2 (32-bit, Machine & VM)) Windows Server 2003 R2 Std SP2 (32-bit, Machine & VM) Windows Server 2008 Std SP2 (32-bit, Machine & VM) Windows Server 2008 Std R2 (64-bit, Machine) Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 (64-bit, Machine) All Firewalls and Anti-Virus applications have been disabled for testing with no change in behavior. Computer A - Local Windows 7 Pro Computer B - Local Windows 7 Home Preimum Computer C - Local Windows XP SP3 Computer D - Local Windows XP SP3 (running as a guest (Windows Virtual PC) on Computer A) Computer E - Remote Windows 7 Pro A to E - RDC Window Freezes for 60 seconds when Computer E starts any RDC connection to any machine on the remote network B to E - RDC Window Freezes for 60 seconds when Computer E starts any RDC connection to any machine on the remote network C to E - RDC Window Never Freezes D to E - RDC Window Never Freezes You are right about the difference between the two versions; RDC 6.1.7600 installed in Windows XP Pro SP3 does not support NLA, which could be the key to the problem, maybe NLA support is the problem. I assumed that I disabled the use of NLA when I selected "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop". If that selection disabled the use of NLA, then maybe that is the problem. I'll change that selection and report back. I originally selected that option because I was connecting via Windows XP Pro SP3. UPDATE: I changed the setting and the RDC Window still freezes, so the NLA setting didn't change the behavior. So no joy!
August 7th, 2010 8:18am

Hi, Selecting “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop” does not force clients to use NLA when connecting. If the Remote Desktop client supports NLA, NLA may still be used during connection. Network Level Authentication us supported by Remote Desktop Client 6.1. However in Windows XP Network Level Authentication is not enabled by default. We can get more information from the following article. Description of the Remote Desktop Connection 6.1 client update for Terminal Services Therefore, I suspect that when NAL is processing the Remote Desktop windows will freeze. Since you have set the RDP server configuration of the remote Windows 7 to “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop”, NLA may not be used when you are using Windows XP client but will be used if you connect to the remote computer on a Windows 7 client. If you enable NAL in Windows XP client and the issue occurs with Windows XP client then, we can confirm that NAL is the root cause.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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August 9th, 2010 7:39am

I completed the following steps: Configured NLA on the Windows XP SP3 VM Changed the Windows 7 Pro 64-bit to only allow NLA RD connections Rebooted both machines Verified that RD client on the Windows XP SP3 VM supported NLA Made a RD connection from the Windows XP SP3 VM to the Windows 7 Pro 64-bit machine and I did NOT have the freeze problem Ended the previous connection and made a RD connection from the Windows 7 Pro 64-bit machine and the 60 second freeze problem was still there It appears that NLA is not the problem and the 60 second freeze problem still only happens when a remote connection is made from a local Windows 7 64-bit machine to the remote Windows 7 64-bit. I will attempt to do futher testing using fresh local and remote Windows 7 32-bit installs with no patches, using both the local Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit installs, using NLA. If you have any other ideas, I am open to suggestions, including other testing scenarios.
August 10th, 2010 3:46pm

Does the issue occur when you connect to the Windows 7 64bit computer with Remote Desktop from a computer in the same domain? If the issue does not occur, I suspect that this issue is related to the VPN connection. How does it work if you disable IPv6? How To Disable IPv6 In Windows 7 Important Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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August 11th, 2010 8:05am

I just verified that the VPN connection is not the problem. I opened a hole in the firewall for a straight shot via 3389 to the machine at work and bypassed the VPN connect, and the machine at work still has the same 60 second freeze problem. I had already unchecked IPv6 on the Windows 7 machine at work and on both Windows 7 machines at home almost three weeks ago and all connections are still unchecked, so it appears that IPv6 isn't the problem. (I am assuming that unchecking IPv6 in the GUI works to disable IPv6, and that a backdoor registry hack is not required to disable IPv6.) BTW, thanks for the ideas; I hadn't considered the DSL based Cisco 871 to AdTran 1335 VPN connection, which has been very solid, although we are going to replace the AdTran 1335 with a Cisco 2921, because in our rural QWEST environment the AdTran 1335 T1 connection is not reliable. I am open to suggestions, including other testing situations.
August 12th, 2010 7:47am

Sorry for delay. Auto-Tuning was involved since Windows Vista. The Cable Guy TCP Receive Window Auto-Tuning However auto tuning may encounter issues with some firewalls, including hardware and software firewalls. In some cases, the issue does not occur when disabling Auto-Tuning. Network connectivity fails when you try to use Windows Vista behind a firewall device In Windows 7, to disable Auto-Tuning, please follow the steps under “Let me fix it myself” in above KB article. Please let us know if it could resolve the issue. Arthur Xie TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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August 25th, 2010 10:54am

Sorry, but since my XP to Windows 7 connection always works perfect, I needed to get other work done (I am the only System Administrator for 23+ servers, 120+ clients, a couple of dozen smartphones, and various other devices, including 109 VoIP Phones), so time was limited on solving this problem. I disabled TCP Receive Windows Auto-Tuning on both Window 7 machines and nothing changed. Here is an interesting situation that tested this morning. When I open a Remote Desktop Connection on the remote Windows 7 machine and the windows freezes, if I disconnect and start a connection from the XP machine, the connection will not complete until the 60 second freeze window has been completed, which means to me that the remote Windows 7 machine is without a doubt the problem. And since the problem happens either through the VPN connection or directly in via 3389, that tells me that the VPN is not the problem and neither is a straight through connection. Like I stated in my first post, I had already tried almost all of the suggestions to fix a Windows 7 to Windows 7 RDC freeze problem and nothing worked, and previously I had disabled the TCP Receive Window Auto-Tuning on the Remote machine, so this attempt was to disable it on both machines. I haven't had time to setup other machines, but when I do and I have further results, I'll post the results of those connections. BTW, if you think of anything else to attempt, let me know. Thanks.
August 27th, 2010 3:42pm

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