So I keep getting this error but I'm not sure why. Both machines are running Win 7 Ultimate using the Network Authentication Layer option for added security. I have exceptions in the firewall for remote desktop and yet it will not work. Does someone know why? Is there something I need to do in local security to get this enabled?

I'm having the same problem. I'm trying to connect to my Vista machine from my Win7 machine. If I log into the Vista machine once locally, then I'm able to connect from the Win7 Machine.

I had the same issue connecting to a machine that was part of a domain. The password of the domain account I was trying to connect was not expired. What worked for me eventually was removing the computer from the domain logged in as a local admin (by changing it back to a workgroup), and then re-join the domain. [I did the join workgroup, re-join domain without a restart, and only did a restart at the end]. After that I was able to login via RDP using the domain account again. ;)

That may work for one pc but I have many that are having this problem as I rollout Windows 7. Has anyone actually found a fix for this problem?

I'm having this problem as well. Or at least one related. I have a single physical server (not on domain), about 8 virtual servers all on a domain (including the domain controller), about 8 physical client machines (all on domain) and another 4 or so virtual machines (running "client OS" over remote desktop). Everything is Server2KR2 or Win7Ultimate. One of my physical Win7 machines and one of my virtual Win7 machines are somehow "different" in that if one attempts from either of them to connect via remote desktop to any of the other Win7 machines in the house (the second machine can be P or V) using an account that is not an administrator on the second machine I get the "Local security authority cannot be contacted" error. The account with which I've logged onto the first machine (admin or not on first machine, admin or not on second machine) doesn't appear to make a difference.

I also have the "An authentication error has occurred. The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted" issue. I'm not very technical and I could not follow the info at the link in the above post marked "Answer." In looking at the other possible remedies, I don't think a password is required on my account - if a password were required, would that mean I would have to use password every time I start Windows? And how do I know if my PC is part of a domain? As a non-technical person, I hesitated to infiltrate a technical forum, but I have been trying everywhere to find a remedy for this issue so I would be very grateful for anyone's help.

Hello everybody! Yesterday I spent my time on solving this issue. Thankfully I solved it. Now with great pleasure I would like to share with you. First: Go to System - Remote setting (in the left pane of the window) - under Remote Desktop select Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure) and click OK. Then you will set a password for you account, this is a required procedure. To set password go to: Start - type User Accounts select Create a password . I recommend to make a strong password because your computer now allow remote connections. Next, unblock the Remote Desktop in your Firewall. Open your firewall (depending which security software is installed on your computer) find Remote Desktop and set it to By application rule or Allow . OK, first preparation step is ready. Now, let's go to second final step. Run Remote Desktop Connection . In the Experience tab select your connection speed. Go back to General tab, in the Computer: type the full name of a remote computer to which you going connect, and then click Connect button. (You can view a computer full name in System properties under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings. ) Then the new window will pop-up (Windows Security) here you must enter you credentials. Please READ further instructions carefully. In the new (Windows Security) window select Use another account , then type the User name and Password OF your remote computer and click OK button. Probably then you will receive the Warning message select OK or Allow. Wait a little bit and then you will see you Remote Desktop. That's it. I hope this instructions will help you to solve Your problems of Remote Desktop setup. So, Good Luck to You! Best regards, Osman.

I was getting the "The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted" when connecting from XP to a Windows 7 machine. I had updated the Remote Desktop client software through KB 969084. Don't make this update if you need to access win2000 systems as they are not supported. I have the firewall turned off for testing purposes, so that wasnt the issue. I applied the CSSP Fix under XP(listed in the KB) and rebooted the XP system, though that may not have been necessary. It turns out I had almost everything correct. After reading Osman's solution above, I connected to the remote system though an alternate remote connection method, and added a password to the account. There should be a note added that the destination account must have a password for RDP to work under Windows 7. Once the password was added I was able to connect using the Enhanced Security with no errors.

Are you on a domain network? If so, I had this error. Found out someone else had changed the DNS servers to OpenDNS and not the IP of the AD/DNS server. Problem fixed!

Are you on a domain network? If so, I had this error. Found out someone else had changed the DNS servers to OpenDNS and not the IP of the AD/DNS server. Problem fixed!

hi im having same issues, i have 2 pc local both windows 7 ultimate. pc1 is not on domain, pc2 was on the domain, uses password which is saved in the rdp. from pc1 trying to rdp pc2, was able to do for long time but not recently. tried all kind of tricks, i ve installed teamviewer so i can check if really i can connect,so with teamviewr (tv as short) from pc1 to pc2 i can logon. as soon i connect with tv from pc1, then i try rdp from pc1 to pc2 and Bingo! it works. i close tv, rdp connection stays. i can rdp again and again AS LONGER I dont switch off pc2!!! if i do,im unable to connect via rdp! looks like security issues, but establishing a connection with tv, it removes these issues and then rdp works! (tried every time!) need a permanent solution though... thanks.

Sounds to me like Group Policy might be the issue. Team Viewer perhaps changes a security setting in order to work and when you reboot Group Policy resets the security. Try gpupdate /force on the machine once you have it working using your teamviewer workaround to confirm.

I ran into this issue when i had "do not connect if authentication fails" enabled, which from what i've read tries to connect through TLS, which if you dont have a compatible certificate installed on both ends, gets automatically rejected. This can also be set in group policy settings, which i believe overrides the RDP setting.

I encountered this trying to RDP into a new Windows 7 install. The destination computer is a laptop. It turns out that I just have to do the initial log in from the laptop itself, then subsequent attempts to RDP into it work fine. It's a minor inconvenience now and I can deal with it since the laptop is always a few feet away.

Just remove the machine from Domain and remove the system name from AD computer list after all you just restart the system then add the system again in the domain.

Hi AndyD77, Please go to AD and check the particular computer account is enabled or disabled. Most probably it is disabled, so please enable that computer account.

Here is another solution, looks like this issue is caused by different scenarios, in my case I was still able to logon with my Domain Admin account to a locked down machine(with very tight Domain Security Policies), the issue started happening on another account that was a local admin on the machine but I had flagged that account on the domain to prompt for a password change on the next logon, my guess is due to the security policies applied to this specific machine, the Security Authority was being blocked from properly communicating with the Domain Controller and it could not initiate the password change procedure and it was returning that error. All I had to do was uncheck the "User must change password on next logon" checkbox in the domain account and then it allowed me to logon with it. Again this might be in my case, but in other cases it could be due to different configurations, I personally believe that for the most part this issue is due to security policies being applied to the machine, if you are not sure if that is the case and have tried all these solutions, you can always try to restore the machine security policies to the default state. Hope this helps.

For what it is worth I was having this issue with a Windows 7 SP1 x64 machine RDPing to a Window Server 2008 R2 SP1 Datacentre. I could logon locally, but not with a domain account. The domain account was not locked, RDP was set to use Network Level Authentication, routing was set correctly, etc. The issue was related to the cached account on the server. As soon as I deleted the cached credentials I could login without issue.

Exactly. Thanks a bunch! In my case I used Core Configurator 2.0 on Server Core 2008 R2. I did not intend to change any DNS settings, maybe it's a bug in Core Configurator. Anyways: if you try to log on to a domain joined machine and get this error, make sure the DNS settings on that machine point to an Active Directory server.

We just needed to set "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)"... instead of the NLA option.

That is a workaround, but NLA is normally fine until this problem pops up.

Well, the solution for my issue was to reset the user account password eventhough it is not expiring. This seems to be the work around so far./* Server Support Specialist */