Have a Windows VM that allows one user to connect but not another. They both have same privileges and account types.

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Have a Windows VM that allows one user to connect but not another. They both have same privileges and account types.

Matthew Davidson 20

I have a VM set up and one user has been using it for a while, but a different user also needs to access to it, not at the same time just to be able to connect to it. However, the new user has been given the same roles and has the same account type, but it says login failed each time that person tries to connect. While the user who has been using it previously has no trouble connecting at all and can also do so from the other user's laptop, so it is not a laptop connection error but a user account problem. Any help on figuring out why the second person cannot connect would be very helpful. The VM has the AAD for windows extension installed and the user is signing in using their domain account.

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Michael Taylor 58,376

Does the user having the issue have Remote Desktop access? If it is a VM then I assume they are using RD to connect. For that you either need to ensure that you've added all domain users to the RD permissions or at least the group that both users share.

You can confirm who has RD rights by opening the Remote Desktop Settings on the VM and then looking at the users who have access. Administrators already have this right but non-admins do not by default.

Matthew Davidson 20 Reputation points

2025-04-03T21:02:21.9533333+00:00

Yes the user is having issues with remote desktop access. The user is under the role "VM Administrator Login" so they should have access to the VM.
Michael Taylor 58,376 Reputation points

2025-04-04T13:38:01.1+00:00

That role only works if the machine is using MS Entra to log in. And then I believe you also have to use Azure Portal to download the RDP file that you can then use to remote into the machine normally. I've never used that feature so I cannot confirm.

So I would recommend you confirm you're using MS Entra to log in and not standard Windows authentication. Then ensure the user has downloaded the RDP from Azure Portal.

If you're not using MS Entra then check the users who have RD access on the VM directly and ensure the user is in that list.
Matthew Davidson 20 Reputation points

2025-04-04T20:32:56.17+00:00

I added the user manually to the groups which allows the person to login, but even after adding their AzureAD\name into the group it did not allow them to use their domain account. Really not sure why this is happening, used the same method on one account it works and another it does not. Would like to know for the future if needing to add more users and don't want to make new logins for every user.
Michael Taylor 58,376 Reputation points

2025-04-04T20:39:41.46+00:00

You shouldn't need to create local accounts for users to use the machine if it is part of a domain/AAD. You might take a look at the GPO applied to the machine to ensure domain users have the log in rights (security settings) and that domain users are in the standard security groups and not explicitly removed.
Matthew Davidson 20 Reputation points

2025-04-10T17:50:02.4133333+00:00

Figured out it was due to the user having MFA enforced. Once the MFA was not enforced the user was able to use RDC using their AD credentials with no issue.

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Have a Windows VM that allows one user to connect but not another. They both have same privileges and account types.

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