RDP session is stuck when making a Disconnect from MacOS Windows App

Question

We discovered that since the Windows 11 24H2 update, we have encountered an issue on computers running an RDP server with this build.

When someone tries to connect with a MacOS to these desktop PCs with the latest version of Windows App, the first try goes well, but if the session is Disconnected (either by pressing the X button to close the RDP session window or even by making a proper Disconnect in the power button), then we cannot reconnect with the same user to the desktop PC again. The screen is only showing the blue background and nothing happens.

Steps to reproduce:

1, Log into a Windows 11 24H2 build computer with Windows App using MacOS

2, Disconnect the session with the X to close the window, or disconnect using the power options

3, Try to log into the same computer with the same credentials again via the RDP session

4, You get a frozen login screen or only the background of the login screen

To resolve the issue usually we need to reboot the computer to reset the user's session entirely. Seems like the user session is somehow still there in the system, but cannot be terminated or even initiated after these actions.

Logging in with other users is possible meanwhile.

Steps we tried to resolve the issue:

Checked logs for errors, but they show a successful user login

Reset certificates regarding the RDP service

Reinstall Windows - We could even see that when we reinstalled that in build 23H2, it worked perfectly, but after updating to the latest 24H2 build, we got the error again

Workaround we found so far:

Users MUST Sign off their account every time they close the RDP session - It is not always a viable workaround as some users would like to continue their previous work, and this makes them unavailable to do this.

Based on the proofs we have, I highly think this is a bug in the new 24H2 build, I just hope to get this issue on Microsoft's radar to repair this in the near future, but if anyone has another workaround for this please let me know.

***Move from Windows / Windows 11 / Connect Phone and PC***

Answer 1

Rolling out the Group Policy company-wide probably solves this issue until it gets fixed by Microsoft:

Local Computer Policy> Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Remote Session Environment > Enforce Removal of Remote Desktop Wallpaper - set to Enabled

Answer 2

I have a system I routinely RDP to that ever since I upgraded it to 24H2 from 23H2, it freezes the picture at the login background while connecting back into a disconnected session. I can click Ok to our login legal statement but then it freezes. Same result using MSTSC as Remote Desktop Connection Manager. With RDCM, I will use the log off server option while it is in this state to allow the next connection to connect properly.

Sounds like the same symptom (reconnecting to a session) and common denominator is the remote device is running 24H2.

FWIW, we have SCCM remote control which can still reestablish a disconnected session successfully on 24H2 even through RDP can't.

Answer 3

We discovered a workaround. In the RDP window after clicking the Advanced options and the Experience tab, you will need to turn off the Desktop background option to make it work. We tested this, and so far so good.

Answer 4

Hello,

I've also faced this issue when connecting to an Azure VM using the Windows Remote Desktop client. Specifically, with version 23H2, I encounter a black screen upon reconnection. However, this problem only occurs if the time between disconnection and reconnection exceeds a certain period, such as 3 minutes. If the reconnection happens quickly, the issue doesn't arise. This has been ongoing for about a month.

To resolve the issue, I need to terminate the RDP process in Task Manager, which allows me to reconnect without signing me off.

I apologize, but I don’t have a definitive solution at the moment. It's puzzling that this issue affects only a few users in my organization.

If you're connecting to an on-premises PC, you might find the following event logs helpful:

1. Winlogon Terminating: Look for Error Event ID 4005 in the "Application" event log (source: Microsoft-Windows-Winlogon).
2. Explorer Crashing: Look for Error Event ID 1000 in the "Application" event log

If you're also connecting to Azure VM, you may post this issue on Ask a question - Microsoft Q&A, there're more dedicated engineers familiar with Azure-related topics, and can provide valuable insights.

You can also provide feedback through the Feedback Hub or directly within the app to bring this issue to the attention of the development team.

I hope this information helps.

Best regards,

Karlie Weng

Answer 5

Thank you for your answer, Karlie. It seems like the RDP session also had some flaws in the version 23H2. Maybe this has been resolved in the version 24H2, but it raised other issues for example the one we encountered with Windows App on Mac machines. Unfortunately, the issue you outlined does not seem the same at first glance as we do not see this with Azure VM machines, more likely with PCs with Windows 11 24H2 build which acts as a RDP server sometimes.

What we can see is that the issue also happens when reconnecting within 3 minutes, so if we Disconnect a session, we are unable to reconnect with the same user even within a few seconds.

From the event logs, we could see the following error with EventID 1104 when checking the logs regarding the RDP session on the client machine: "The client failed to establish the multi-transport connection."