Windows 10 V1903 black screen with Remote Desktop

Question

I upgraded my secondary machine from 1809 to 1903. When I access it now using Remote Desktop all I get is a black screen in the RDP windows. I then upgraded my primary machine to 1903 hoping that would help, but no. Fortunately I also have GoToAssist installed so I was able to log into the secondary machine that way and checked for updates, still no help. Finally I reverted it back to 1809 and Remote Desktop once again works. I could keep using GoToAssist but RDP over my local LAN is much faster.

As long as this version as been (more or less) gold before going public, I can't possibly be the first one with this issue. It's no big deal to me that my secondary is running 1809, it's primarily a file server, but upgrading would be nice.

Granted, that secondary system is an older Core2 Quad, but at 3.3GHz and 8GB of memory and a SSD, it's plenty fast enough. I suppose I could try a different video card, but it shouldn't be necessary for a feature update.

Anyone have some insight into why RDP isn't working. I've already been through all the "guesses".   :-)

*Modified title for accuracy*

*Original title: Windows 10 1903 (May update) black screen with Remote Desktop*

Answer 1

Workaround reported here is to set the group policy to force RD sessions to use XDDM instead of WDDM:

Gpedit.msc: Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->Windows Components->Remote Desktop Services->Remote Desktop Session Host->Remote Session Environment

---

Moderator's note:

If Group Policy method doesn't works, open administrative Command Prompt, type this, and press Enter key:

REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services” /v “fEnableWddmDriver” /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Microsoft has also released update KB4512941, which addresses this issue:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4512941/windows-10-update-kb4512941

The update page mentions:

• Addresses an issue that displays a black screen when you use Remote Desktop to connect to a machine running Windows 10, version 1903.

You can install KB4512941 and this would resolve the issue for you. 

---

Answer 2

In my case all Intel G41 drivers currently available, from Intel (2009), and from Microsoft (2013), showed black screen with RDP, even though they are Ok with the monitor connected to the PC.

So I've decided to use the "Microsoft Basic Graphics" driver, shown in the compatibility list when I tried to update the driver manually, and now RDP works.

Answer 3

There’s a known issue with some of the old display drivers.

Display drivers report some of their capabilities upon load. In previous Windows versions this reported data wasn’t used or verified. Because of that, some of the old versions of the legacy display driver may report invalid data and it would be ignored. Starting with Windows 10 1903 RDP uses this data to initialize the session.

The best option is to install an updated display driver from the hardware manufacturer. If the new version is not available, you can workaround this by disabling the problematic driver in the device manager.

Our team has identified the issue and we are currently verifying the fix that will dynamically switch to the software renderer if the problematic driver is detected.

I will this thread when the fix will be included to the Windows Insider release.

Answer 4

With your older hardware, you are likely using the Intel Q45/Q43 graphics chipset.  That is the problem. 

If your device is a desktop, get yourself an add-on graphics card.  But...  Be careful regarding compatibility.

Or, wait for Microsoft to fix the problem.

Also, while you are in the black screen, you can CTRL-ALT-END, select Task Mangler, and terminate the Remote Desktop session.

Answer 5

With your older hardware, you are likely using the Intel Q45/Q43 graphics chipset.  That is the problem. 

If your device is a desktop, get yourself an add-on graphics card.  But...  Be careful regarding compatibility.

Or, wait for Microsoft to fix the problem.

Also, while you are in the black screen, you can CTRL-ALT-END, select Task Mangler, and terminate the Remote Desktop session.

I have this problem, too, however I'm not running the Intel Q45/Q43 chipset. I'm running an AMD Radeon R7 350X, on a Dell Optiplex 7040.  All my drivers are updated, and I'm unable to hit ctrl-alt-end to open task manager while at the black screen.