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Remote Desktop Connection stopped working after Windows 7 Pro updates on Jan 9 2019

Anonymous
2019-01-10T05:25:45+00:00

Earlier today (January 9, 2019) after a roll out of Windows 7 updates my Remote Desktop Connection app stopped working.  I have narrowed it down to one of the following 3 KBs:

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - January 2019 (KB890830)

2019-01 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB4480970)

2019-01 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2 for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 for x64 (KB4481480)

I know that it is one of those 3 because I prevented one of my computers from updating and RDC still works fine on that one.

I have tried rolling back but that does not fix the problem. 

I even tried a system restore back to a point several days ago before these updates and that did not fix the problem.

I have been using RDC for several years now and need it to work.  

When I try to make a connection I get the following error:

I have verified all remote settings on my computers and firewalls (I even tested it with my firewall turned off) to make sure that nothing got screwed up in the update.  I reset all passwords etc.  Still no joy.

In summary: 

I cannot use RDC on the computers with the Windows 7 updates listed above. 

I can use RDC on the computers that do not have the updates above.

Does anyone have a similar problem?  Better yet does anyone have a solution?  OR When will Microsoft fix this issue?

January 10 update:

Ok after much searching and reading and copious quantities of coffee I finally struck on a work around until M$ resolves this patch issue.  It appears that KB4480970 is the culprit.  Uninstalling that KB does not fix the problem.  Using System Restore and selecting a restore point before the update does not fix the problem.  I also tried modifying my registry but that didn't fix the problem.  These were suggested in some of the posts that I read.

As I am reading it occurs to me that the update somehow screws up Network Level Authentication.  

So here is the change I made to get Remote Desktop Connection to work.

  1. Go to "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System"  (open Control Panel and click on System)
  2. Click on "Remote Settings".  That will open the System Properties window at the "Remote" Tab.  Currently the selection is "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Authentication (more secure)"
  3. Select "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)"
  4. Do this on all your computers.
  5. Reboot all the computers
  6. RDC now works.

This is a workaround until M$ fixes that bad patch.  Once the fix is in place I will go back and again use the more secure connection method.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Apps

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-01-12T11:16:22+00:00

    But I did find a workaround.

    For the benefit of other posters with the same problem, would you care to post your workaround?

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-11T03:18:04+00:00

    Thanks for pointing me to Woody's page and gHacks but still no joy.  Martin states that "Removal of the updates resolve the issue as well"  but that is not true in my case.  I did that and still RDC did not work.  Modifying the registry did not work either.

    But I did find a workaround.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-10T05:57:31+00:00

    Read about this earlier today in this <THREAD> from AskWoody. 

    Follow the link within that thread to gHacks (Martin Brinkman), he provides a workaround in the Registry.

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