Problems with Outlook and Teams after adding second RDS Session Host

Question

We set up a second session host, added the session host to the collection, installed Office 365 software with shared activation, and enabled load balancing via the connection broker.

Shortly after some users got connected to the second session host a number of them started reporting problems with Outlook and Teams. Outlook was showing “Need Password” in the bottom right hand corner but didn’t bring up the login box to enter the password (the login box appeared to flicker on and off screen really quickly). Teams showed “We weren’t able to connect. Sign in and we’ll try again.”

The users still on the first session host weren’t affected. It was only when a user who had previously been connected to the first session host was subsequently connected to the second session host that the problems arose. Not all users who had switched to the second session host had problems however.

So it seems that it was the switching between session hosts that were causing the problems with Outlook and Teams.

We disabled connections to the second session host and moved everyone back to the first session host and there haven’t been any problems since.

Our current setup:
(all Server 2019)
RDS Connection Broker VM
RDS Gateway VM
RDS Session Host VM
User Profile Disks VM
Office 365 E3 subscription
Office software is installed with Shared Activation enabled

Answer 1

No I meant after adding the second session host to the collection we went to the Load Balancing section and set this as required.

Answer 2

We set up a new Windows Server 2019 session host VM and joined it to the domain, added it to the existing collection, installed all of the same software apps on the second session host (including Microsoft Office software via our 365 E3 sub in Shared Activation mode). We then enabled load balancing.

It was shortly after users began to get connected to the second session host (users that were previously connected to the first session host) that we started getting reports of the issues with Outlook and Teams.

Not all users who had switched over to the second session host reported problems and subsequently when we disabled connections to the second session host and everyone reconnected to the first session host the problems stopped.

We referred to this article also: https://turbofuture.com/computers/How-to-Setup-Remote-Desktop-Connection-Broker-for-Windows-2016

Answer 3

Yes we have set up the collection to use User Profile Disks (these are stored in a file share on a separate VM). All settings for redirection have been left at default.

The second session host has full access to the user profile disks share to match that of the first session host.

Answer 4

Hi all,
We also have:

• All Server 2019
• 1x RDS Connection Broker VM
• 1x RDS Gateway VM
• 3x RDS Session Host VM
• 1x User Profile Disks VM
• Office 365 E3 subscription
• Office software is installed with Shared Activation enabled

We are continuing to have problems (Teams Login and Outlook) with our users if they swap between RD Hosts in a collection. It can take a few days to show but is definitely caused by moving to a different RD Host.

I have mentioned this is this post also.
rds-amp-upd-with-microsoft-teams.html
I am trying to narrow down a script which fixes this permanently.

I guess it would be a work around to send the user to the same Host each time they login to RD but that kinda removes the reason of having an RDS collection in the first case.

Matt

Answer 5

Matt,

Your RDS setup appears to be identical to ours.

We've since stopped using Teams inside RDS but Outlook continues to have intermittent problems. Maybe one or two issues a week - Outlook showing disconnected/need password and we have to sign the user out of their Microsoft account and sign them back in.

It only takes 30 seconds or so to sort so not a big deal but I would like to eradicate the problem if possible.

Are you on LinkedIn? Wondered if you wanted to connect on there to discuss further?