Remote Desktop client on Windows 8 drop connection

I've already posted the question at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/remote-desktop-keeps-dropping-connection/ca049248-20fa-473b-9f42-4239824374f4 but was told this would be a better forum to ask my question.

I've just upgraded to Windows 8 from Windows 7. The main issue I have with Windows 8 is that the remote desktop client is somehow broken for me. Whenever I use it, it blocks (i.e. I cannot interact with the remote computer) and then I get the pseudo-dialog box stating reconnecting and it will reconnect and I get back the remote access. It does this all the time (about every few minutes). It looks like the client is dropping the connection and automatically re-establishing it.

Note that when I cannot interact with the remote computer, I can still ping it just fine. So clearly it is not a connection problem. I even have on the same machine a virtual machine machine running Windows XP Pro and in there the remote desktop client from XP never drops the connection, nor blocks.

Anyone having similar issue or tips on how I could debug this?

Thanks,

Manu

PS: March 23rd 2013: Something that looks to have an impact but which does not solve the problem is that if you have a networked printer, turning it off causes this problem to occur all the time. When that printer is on, the problem still occurs but less frequently. So hopefully it will give some insight to what could be broken in the Windows 8 version of mstsc.exe.
November 6th, 2012 7:11am

Same issue here with windows 8 pro/ie10 and Juniper.  Connection establishes, quits after a few seconds, reconnects......repeat.  We need help here please!
  • Edited by Carbonara77 Wednesday, January 09, 2013 2:33 AM
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January 7th, 2013 6:32am

i have the same problem. W7 x86 worked fine -> W8 Pro X64 installation from scratch, now VPN/RDP connection recycles every minute.

1) To verify Hardware and Internet access, i installed W7 again (with dual boot) and it works perfect.

2) I also reinstalled W8 pro without any update, VPN/RDP worked fine, one day later all updates are installed and the VPN/RDP problem started.

3) I removed both updates KB2777294 and KB2764462 but doesnt solve the problem

I only use the latest driver from AMD, and Realteak (LAN and sound).

Recreation Test: --------------------------------------------------------------------

A) Windows 8 X64 installation from DVD wihtout Updates !!!!   -> No Problem with RDP

B) Add Realtek and AMD Driver for LAN, Sound. Grafik ->  No Problem with RDP   

c) now i started with win Update 5 Updates and than PC restart and Test

c1) after 20 Updates i installed my canon printer using the canon CD. The printer is Wifi attached.

d) After the next 5 updates the RDP problem exists !!!!!!!

e) i removed each update and tested again, but the problem doesnt go away. (all updates removed)

f) To verify that the printer/scanner driver is the source of this problem. I started from scratch but bypassed step c1

g) All updates installed RDP works perfect.

conclution: Problem with Canon printer driver from canon CD   (action c1)

--------------------Test End -----------------------------------

Now its time to move back to my original "production" installation

I REMOVED "CANON IJ NETWORK TOOL" "CANON IJ 'SCAN UTILITY" and NOW all my problems are solved !!!!

RDP WORKS FINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Update:

The problem was that every 32sec my PC send broadcats for scanner discovery.



  • Edited by Killy62 Thursday, January 24, 2013 7:14 AM
  • Proposed as answer by Dan Warfield Thursday, October 24, 2013 12:08 PM
January 21st, 2013 4:04pm

In continuing to try several different things today I clicked on settings, change PC settings, general, and refresh your PC while maintaining data.  It went through several steps, a few reboots, and when it gave me the login screen I tried connecting through the VPN.  The issue mysteriously went away - no more lock-ups.

Very odd.  Not sure what it did or why it fixed the problem but I am glad it is gone.

  • Proposed as answer by JMF39 Tuesday, January 22, 2013 2:40 PM
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January 22nd, 2013 12:57am

I wanted to note that even though the refresh claims to leave all applications and data in tact, that was not the case for me.  It did fix my issue with VPN / RDP but I had to reinstall all applications including things like Virus scanning and Windows essential / Windows Live. 

  • Proposed as answer by JMF39 Tuesday, January 22, 2013 6:01 PM
January 22nd, 2013 5:41pm

My problem was the Canon Wifi Printer/Scanner

Maybe you have similar Printer problems

I REMOVED "CANON IJ NETWORK TOOL" "CANON IJ 'SCAN UTILITY" and NOW all my problems are solved !!!!

RDP WORKS FINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It takes one week testing to find this issue

The problem was that every 32sec my PC send broadcats for scanner discovery.

  • Edited by Killy62 Thursday, January 24, 2013 7:14 AM
  • Proposed as answer by J0shC Tuesday, June 04, 2013 5:04 PM
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January 22nd, 2013 10:21pm

Do you have other Printer installed (like HP or other from there CD or homepage)

Question is do you use printer driver from external provider (HP, Canon ...)

Try, remove this driver and test RDP

MS introduced printer model V4 with Windows 8 (universal model)

If you use old driver most use printer model V3.

I have Feedback from an HP installation with the same problem.

The problem was that every 32sec my PC send broadcats for scanner discovery.

  • Edited by Killy62 Thursday, January 24, 2013 7:13 AM
January 22nd, 2013 11:02pm

Lots of people in this thread have speculated that its Juno, something to do with their VPN software, Something to do with Canon printers/software, but I dont think so. I am experiencing disconnects every couple minutes, sometimes back to back. I Dont have a canon device, I'm not using any type of VPN connection. I am using the same old Win 7 Pro laptop to connect wirelessly to my same old computer that I recently did a clean install of Win 8 Pro (which is connected via ethernet cable). I am going across my home network from the living room (watching the super dark bowl) to my office ~30ft. A little discourging seeing that this thread on Microsofts own forum has been active since Nov 6th with no real input from Microsoft....Anyone...anybody....?

  • Edited by Greg.Baker Monday, February 04, 2013 2:43 AM
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February 4th, 2013 5:32am

It's been very frustrating. I think Microsoft is no longer the company it once was... It is a shadow of its former self. I wonder how MSFT employees haven't run into this issue. I have heard reports at my work that windows 8 running on parallels didn't have this issue. Another colleague used windows xp vm on windows 8 to connect and no issues. I really would like MSFT to acknowledge this issue and promise a patch by a certain date. I didn't buy the surface pro tablet for this very reason... It would be useless if I can't reliably remote into my work computer.
  • Edited by Pradipe Monday, February 18, 2013 11:18 PM
February 19th, 2013 2:17am

I think I have found the answer at http://kevinmarquette.blogspot.com/2012/10/windows-8-and-juniper-rdp-vpn.html.

Here is what Greg Wood says. 

I've found that the Juniper simply doesn't like UDP that is part of RDP 8. Disable it.

 

Group Policy:

Local Computer Policy

Computer Configuration

Administrative Templates

Windows Components

Remote Desktop Services

Remote Desktop Connection Client

Turn Off UDP On Client --> Enabled

 

Regedit:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client\

Create a dword and assign a value of 1 to:  tofClientDisableUDP dword:00000001

 

  • Proposed as answer by TomForan Monday, March 11, 2013 8:11 PM
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March 6th, 2013 5:13am

I have been having this same problem (RDP disconnecting / reconnecting every 30-60 seconds) since upgrading my laptop from Vista to Windows 8.  The Greg Woods, Group Policy / Regedit solution to disable  UDP seems promising - although perhaps it is not the complete solution.  I made the change on my laptop and have been using RDP for about 15 Minutes.  So far, during that time, I have lost my connection once (after about 6 minutes of working without a problem.)  
  • Edited by Lifterguy Thursday, March 07, 2013 4:14 PM spelling error
March 7th, 2013 7:14pm

I tried the group policy changes and then removed my network printer and the disconnections stopped. So I changed back the group policy changes and rebooted. Still good. Then I re-added my network printer but told it to reinstall the driver. Still good.

So I rebooted and tried again and the disconnections started again. BUT..... my printer was turned off. When I turned on the printer, the disconnections stopped.

Maybe it's because of some type of "keepalive" or heartbeat that is being used with networked printers. Maybe the need to be on otherwise all remote connections get restarted. 

Thanks.

  • Marked as answer by manus_eiffel Wednesday, March 20, 2013 4:57 AM
  • Unmarked as answer by manus_eiffel Tuesday, April 23, 2013 2:31 AM
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March 12th, 2013 2:50pm

Same issue here after moving from Win7 to Win8 (fresh install)

I can remote in fine using another workstation (on the same network) using Win7.

Tried disabling IPv6, UDP in RDP through GP and Registry

I don't have a Canon printer...

Are others still having this issue or did one of the above resolve it?

Edit!: (Solution found "for me at least")

I checked and my networked HP printer was turned off.

After turning it on, my RDP connection was stable without any disconnects.

This leads me to believe (my issue at least) was due to the Network Printer "polling" issue mentioned earlier.

I disabled all my previous changes, re-enabling IPv6, UDP in RDP through GP and the Registry and can confirm my issue is still resolved. (Again further supporting the issue is related to how network printers are handled in Win8).

  • Edited by Faetyl Sunday, March 17, 2013 4:36 PM
  • Marked as answer by manus_eiffel Wednesday, March 20, 2013 4:46 AM
  • Unmarked as answer by manus_eiffel Tuesday, April 23, 2013 2:31 AM
March 17th, 2013 7:17pm

Just wanted to add my experience. I found the same issue after installing a video sharing software for my iPad. After reading this thread I disinstalled "Bonjour" that came along with that software, and the RDP (again juniper) connection is not dropping anymore! However I think Microsoft must fix this. Cig

Sorry after further testing it still doesn't work.

  • Edited by Ciglione Monday, April 08, 2013 7:53 PM
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March 30th, 2013 6:09pm

I am having this same problem, I was able to use Juniper Terminal Client on my Win7 machine to remote into work, as soon as I upgraded to Win8 I experienced this issue. 

I tried disabling IPv6 per a recommendation, but that did not help.

Hi - we have experienced this issue for sometime now...

Here is a solution that I came up with: 


Go to Control Panel/Programs/"Turn Windows features on or off" and uncheck:

  • Windows Location Provider

 

Now reboot and you should not experience drops.

For best performance, always keep your LAN/WiFi drivers updated straight from the manufacturer's site.

 

We tested this on 3 different Ultrabooks and all 3 did not drop after implementing the fix.

You will lose location support for apps, but that is not nearly as important as RDP for me.

All other settings are default such as IPv6 enabled, UDP for RDP 8 Client, Remote Differential Compression, etc.

Of note - For VPN access, we are using the Juniper SA 6500 on 7.4_R1 and also on 7.1_r5 with the same results.











  • Proposed as answer by TechNetz Monday, April 08, 2013 11:27 AM
  • Edited by TechNetz Monday, April 08, 2013 11:38 AM
April 7th, 2013 10:50pm

I uninstalled McAfee anti-virus from my machine, and was able to work remotely without an issue.

  • Proposed as answer by D_Ganju Monday, April 08, 2013 3:06 AM
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April 8th, 2013 6:05am

Hi,

I encountered the same problem, and solved it by disabling (unchecking) both the Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver & Responder, in the respective Network Adapter (wired and/or wireless) Properties.

  • Proposed as answer by ewieder1 Tuesday, April 23, 2013 10:43 AM
April 23rd, 2013 1:43pm

Open issue since last year! Still no help from Microsoft..... Whats up with that? 
  • Edited by ZackinMA Wednesday, June 26, 2013 12:45 PM cuz I want to
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June 25th, 2013 11:59pm

I have been playing around with the windows services.

I stopped the IIS services and the RDP services and the print spooler service. I have not had a problem with disconnection from Juniper VPN. I will play with it some more to see which service will break it and report back.

Update: I reactivated the print spooler service on windows 8 and it looks like that is causing my problem with keeping a connection with Juniper VPN RDP.
  • Edited by jeremypetz Tuesday, July 09, 2013 2:34 AM update
July 9th, 2013 3:16am

Thank you for your suggestion, however, it does not work for me. So far I've tried-

1. changing the compatibility mode to W7 and XP

2. regedit'ing HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client
fClientDisableUDP dword:00000001

3. uninstalling printer drivers

4. uninstalling cannon scanners

5. turning off the printer spooler

NONE OF THE ABOVE HAS WORKED.  My Juniper / RDP connection drops after about 20 seconds.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?


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July 24th, 2013 3:25pm

Thank you for your suggestion, however, it does not work for me. So far I've tried-

1. changing the compatibility mode to W7 and XP

2. regedit'ing HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client
fClientDisableUDP dword:00000001

3. uninstalling printer drivers

4. uninstalling cannon scanners

5. turning off the printer spooler

NONE OF THE ABOVE HAS WORKED.  My Juniper / RDP connection drops after about 20 seconds.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?



Same here, none of the suggestions have worked for me so far. I need to do home office on my old Windows XP laptop, that's ridiculous..
  • Proposed as answer by Spud63 Sunday, September 15, 2013 7:16 PM
August 3rd, 2013 1:50pm

For me I noticed this happening within the last couple of days.  I bought a new NETGEAR router this past weekend and that router came with software called NETGEAR GENIE.  I manually closed that program and I now have a consistent VPN connection.  I would check to see if any extra fluff software running with your router is causing this issue and see if you can close it down.  After closing the router software (and keep it closed), try your vpn connection again.  Good Luck.  
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September 13th, 2013 2:57am

I have struggled with this problem for months ,but after reading the posts I decided to look at my printers. I have 2 networked printers connected to the windows 8 machine, one of them is nearly always off. I tried to connect the rdp and the connection kept dropping. I then switched both network printers on and it now doesn't drop at all. If I turn one of the printers off again , the connection drops after about 30 seconds. Hope this helps.
September 15th, 2013 10:13pm

Have you tried turning on any networked printers?
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September 15th, 2013 10:17pm

Have you tried turning. The networked printers on? It seem to work for me.
September 15th, 2013 10:18pm

I am having this same problem, I was able to use Juniper Terminal Client on my Win7 machine to remote into work, as soon as I upgraded to Win8 I experienced this issue. 

I tried disabling IPv6 per a recommendation, but that did not help.

Hi - we have experienced this issue for sometime now...

Here is a solution that I came up with: 


Go to Control Panel/Programs/"Turn Windows features on or off" and uncheck:

  • Windows Location Provider

 

Now reboot and you should not experience drops.

For best performance, always keep your LAN/WiFi drivers updated straight from the manufacturer's site.

 

We tested this on 3 different Ultrabooks and all 3 did not drop after implementing the fix.

You will lose location support for apps, but that is not nearly as important as RDP for me.

All other settings are default such as IPv6 enabled, UDP for RDP 8 Client, Remote Differential Compression, etc.

Of note - For VPN access, we are using the Juniper SA 6500 on 7.4_R1 and also on 7.1_r5 with the same results.











Just wanted to post a thumbs up on this one.  I tried most of the other fixes posted here (changing compatibility mode of Juniper exe, disabling UDP, various printer suggestions), which all had no effect for me. But disabling location services finally made my connection stable.  Was getting disconnects every 15-20 secs or so connecting my Win8 Pro desktop machine to a Win7 box over juniper sam.  Thanks TechNetz.
  • Edited by Schuffer Sunday, September 15, 2013 10:13 PM
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September 16th, 2013 1:12am

I had this same problem and solved it another way.  I contacted my IT person at work and they told me the Remote Connection is VERY sensitive to "latency" and that might be why it is disconnecting so frequently.  I was having the disconnect and reconnection 1 of 20 issue.  It would always reconnect but made it very frustrating to work. 

I am using the 5Ghz band on my Linksys (Cisco) router.  It was using the dual channel 40Mhz bandwidth.  He suggested I change it to single channel which is the 20Mhz bandwidth.  I did that and never had a problem or a disconnect again.  For the Linksys router you go to the router settings using 192.168.1.1 and then go to WiFi properties.  I'm sure every brand of router has this.  Might be something to try if you are still having this problem and are using the 5Ghz band on your wireless router.

September 20th, 2013 4:53am

This worked for me.. Using Juniper Client on Windows 8 Pro to connect to remote Win7 PC 
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October 24th, 2013 3:07pm

I found the "UDP Checksum Offload" feature in the Advanced settings of my Local Area Connection (a Realtek adapter) was set to "Rx & Tx Enabled". By switching this to "Disabled", my RDP sessions from my Windows 8 client to Windows Server 2012 stopped experiencing the connection drops, black screens, and lack of screen updates.
October 24th, 2013 6:46pm

Just want to see that after more than one year and the Windows 8.1 release, this issue hasn't been solved :-(

Like everyone here I've tried many things and none solve the problem.

Clearly having a networked printer is at play for many but even though in my case I have one, when I take my laptop to my office, then I experienced no drops whatsoever. The difference between the two sitations:

1) At home: Printer is on/off (doesn't matter) and I connect to my office computer via a SSH tunnel

2) At work: Printer is obviously not present and I connect to my office computer directly as I'm on the same network

Hopefully someone from Microsoft will finally read that post and contact a few people here that have the problem to figure out what could be wrong in this new release of the Remote Desktop Client. It is really too bad that it is impossible to try the Windows 7 or earlier version of the client to compare things.

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November 2nd, 2013 9:28am

Here is what I have discovered:

I have done the items above

1. turn off "Remote Differential Compression API Support"

2. turn off "Windows Location Provider"

3. Edit the registry to disable UDP as above.

None worked. Downloaded Netmon and traced the network traffic. AH-HA!

Seems my Windows 8.1 PC would send out an ARP request for my network printer (that was off) it took about 6 seconds to complete (or time out?) before any more network traffic would go.

Is the ARP request something that is single threaded somehow allowing the RDP session to time out?

I AM NOT a network professional (I just play one on TV).
November 11th, 2013 11:53pm

Here is what I have discovered:

I have done the items above

1. turn off "Remote Differential Compression API Support"

2. turn off "Windows Location Provider"

3. Edit the registry to disable UDP as above.

None worked. Downloaded Netmon and traced the network traffic. AH-HA!

Seems my Windows 8.1 PC would send out an ARP request for my network printer (that was off) it took about 6 seconds to complete (or time out?) before any more network traffic would go.

Is the ARP request something that is single threaded somehow allowing the RDP session to time out?

I AM NOT a network professional (I just play one on TV).
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November 12th, 2013 7:50am

A hotfix came out on 11/13 that appears to fix this issue for me. The KB number is 2897602.


November 19th, 2013 7:11pm

Thanks for finding this out. I'm putting the link to make it easy: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2897602

I'll test this in the next couple of days and if I have no drops whatsover I'll mark this as the answer.

Update 12/3/2013: It has been more than 10 days and not a single disconnect. I'll mark this as the solution for my particular setup.

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November 19th, 2013 8:45pm

Wow... I just happened to come back to this thread today on the oft chance I thought maybe someone has found a fix... weird. Will reply with results from this hotfix.
November 19th, 2013 9:32pm

Still getting dropped in my situation after hotfix.
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November 19th, 2013 11:03pm

After lots of frustration I was so happy to find this thread!  I ran the Hotfix and no more issues with my connection dropping.  However - now my Canon wireless printer doesn't work.  Has anyone had success getting both to work at the same time?
January 2nd, 2014 2:45am

I too have applied the Hotfix and it seems to have fixed the issue with my system.

My HP printer still works while using Juniper/RDP.

I'm good.

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January 3rd, 2014 11:20pm

Thank you, 

Following the steps above resolved the problem for me.

January 14th, 2014 10:15pm

I also applied the fix and it hasn't resolved the issue. The issues started when I had to switch to a different NIC, rdp to server 2012 drops every 40-60 seconds. Sigh.
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