Have RDP connectivity issues with azure vm

Question

-OS version: Windows server 2016 datacenter
-Unable to rdp to vm and getting internal error occurred message
-We cannot connect via our RMM solution (and it shows as offline) or via RDP in Azure
-Rebooting again does not resolve the issue
-The only fix is to restore the VM from a backup
-Diagnostics on the restored VM show no issues

2years back we had an issue like:
the issue happened when the client removed the RC4 cyphers by changing the order of the cyphers as per this link:
https://www.howtogeek.com/221080/how-to-update-your-windows-server-cipher-suite-for-better-security/
This was then fixed by changing a registry setting: HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Cryptography\Configuration\SSL\00010002

What is happening now is, as before, is that when the server is rebooted we lose remote access to it and IIS does not work, even though the server is online. The only way back is has been a disk restore, if we subsequently reboot the VM then the issues start again, no one can connect / IIS not working etc.

Please help in resolving my issue.

Answer 1

@nimi

Issue: You are unable to RDP to Azure VM and seeing this error : An internal error has occurred

Cause: This issue might occur for the following reasons:

• The virtual machine might have been attacked.
• The local RSA encryption keys can't be accessed.
• TLS protocol is disabled.
• The certificate is corrupted or expired.

Solution: To troubleshoot this issue, complete the steps in the following sections. Before you begin, take a snapshot of the OS disk of the affected VM as a backup. For more information, see Snapshot a disk.

I. Check RDP security
First, check to see whether the network security group for RDP port 3389 is unsecured (open). If it's unsecured and it shows * as the source IP address for inbound, restrict the RDP port to a specifc user's IP address, and then test RDP access. If this fails, complete the steps in the next section.

II. Use Serial control
Use the Serial Console (or repair the VM offline by attaching the OS disk of the VM to a recovery VM.)
To begin, connect to the Serial Console and open a PowerShell instance. (If the Serial Console is not enabled on your VM, go to the repair the VM offline section.)
After that, follow the steps provided in detail here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/troubleshoot-rdp-internal-error#use-serial-control

III. Repair the VM Offline by attaching the OS disk to a recovery VM
Follow the steps here : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/troubleshoot-rdp-internal-error#repair-the-vm-offline

If you are still seeing this issue after trying the steps above, please let me know in the comments.
At that point, I would need your Subscription details to check the issue from the backend.