Azure Virtual Desktop
A Microsoft desktop and app virtualization service that runs on Azure. Previously known as Windows Virtual Desktop.
1,835 questions
AVD Start on connect issue - User connection times out with RDBroker errors
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Zack Shaffer
40
Reputation points
We have a host pool set up with a multi-session desktop, and have Start On Connect configured. So the VM will shut down if nobody has used it for a while, and when a user tries to connect, it will start back up, then connect them.
A lot of the time this works as intended. But occasionally, users will experience a longer than usual wait when connecting, and ultimately it will give them an error that the connection timed out. In the Monitoring insights in portal.azure.com it will show the following connection errors from Source RDBroker:
ConnectionFailedUserHasValidSessionButRdshIsUnhealthy
Or
ConnectionFailedOrchestrationVMStartedButUnhealthy
And when this happens, the user sometimes can't connect for an hour or longer, then eventually it just starts working again. While it is happening for one user, others can connect just fine. I have tried searching around the internet for these errors but cannot find much of anything on them, so I have no idea where to start for troubleshooting.
The subscription has the Desktop Virtualization Power On Contributor role assigned. It works most of the time, and it has occurred for several different users at different times so it does not seem to be a user-specific problem. All users are connecting via the Windows App.
Azure Virtual Desktop
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Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator2025-06-17T06:42:46.4566667+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
I understand your concern—users sometimes experience connection issues for an hour or longer. To troubleshoot, please follow these steps:
Inspect Event Logs
- On the session host VM, go to Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application.
- Look for events from relevant sources, especially any errors related to agents.
Check Remote Desktop Agent Status
- If the Remote Desktop Agent is misconfigured or stopped, it can cause connectivity problems.
- Verify the status of Remote Desktop services to ensure proper functionality.
Ensure Agents Are Running
- Open Services and confirm that Remote Desktop Agent Loader and RDAgentBootLoader are running.
- If they are stopped, try starting them.
- If they stop again, there may be a registration issue that needs further investigation.
If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and "Upvote it" as it can be helpful to others in the community.
Thank You.
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Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-06-18T01:15:02.6766667+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see my response to your question in resolving the issue.
If it was helpful, please click "Upvote" on this post to let us know.
Thank You.
-
Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-06-19T01:15:28.7366667+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see my response to your question in resolving the issue.
If it was helpful, please click "Upvote" on this post to let us know.
Thank You.
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Barry Winstanley 0 Reputation points2025-06-19T10:06:16.8533333+00:00 Hi, I have the exact same issue.
If I use the Windows App, I get a spinning wheel showing 'Connecting' and then eventually a message stating 'Connection attempt timed out. Please try again.'
Monitoring the host and I get the message "ConnectionFailedUserHasValidSessionButRdshIsUnhealthy (-2146233088)"
When I use the web client, I have no issues.
Thanks
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Zack Shaffer 40 Reputation points
2025-06-20T12:31:38.5+00:00 I don't see anything in the event logs that would point to a problem. There are no errors or warnings on the VM itself that correspond with this issue.
It can't be an issue of the services being stopped, as the same VM will allow other users from the same office to connect while it is timing out for another user. Whenever I look at it, the services are running just fine.
Does anyone at Microsoft know what these errors in the azure portal actually signify? It's kind of wild that I've been googling them for weeks and haven't found any useful information to solve the problem.
ConnectionFailedUserHasValidSessionButRdshIsUnhealthy
ConnectionFailedOrchestrationVMStartedButUnhealthy
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Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-06-23T06:02:32.9033333+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
The error
ConnectionFailedUserHasValidSessionButRdshIsUnhealthyin Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) indicates that a user has a valid session, but the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) is not healthy and cannot accept connections. This is typically caused by the session host failing one or more critical health checks, making it unavailable for new or existing user sessions
please check and provide the session host helth checkin you AVD nad hostpool section and select the specified hostpool under see the Review Health Checks
Please refer the document related session host helth issue:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/session-host-status-health-checksIf you have any further queries, let me know. If the information is helpful, please click on Upvote.
Thank you.
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Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-06-24T02:07:58.6966667+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see my response to your question in resolving the issue.
If it was helpful, please click "Upvote" on this post to let us know.
Thank You.
-
Siva Pavuluri 490 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-06-25T00:59:32.03+00:00 Hi Zack Shaffer,
Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see my response to your question in resolving the issue.
If it was helpful, please click "Upvote" on this post to let us know.
Thank You.
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