Windows 2022 Server RDS - Laggy/Slow TaskBar

Jamie Pearson 51

Hi,

Hoping somebody else may have some experience of this...
We have two virtual Windows 2022 Remote desktop servers pushing full remote desktop to users.

We are finding the task bar in all sessions (including admin/local) suffer from a delay of 5-20 seconds (varies) when trying to click on the taskbar i.e. to change applications or right click for task manager.
Once the taskbar has focus its responsive as usual, but once it loses focus i.e. you click back into your application, when you try to click on the task bar its delayed to respond again.

This is happening on both our 2022 RDS servers - clean boot doesn't resolve the issue, they are fully patched to date.

Thank you,
Jamie

Roy Dufek 6 Reputation points

2022-07-06T17:07:22.96+00:00

I too have been having this issue for almost a year now. It is getting so frustrating that I am just now coming on the forums for help. Hope I can see some resolution to this here. :(

Accepted answer

Dirk Haex 81 Reputation points

2022-07-07T11:17:31.95+00:00

Hi Jamie,

There is a known issue with Server 2022 and Remote Desktop services (maybe just 2022).
The real cause I haven't found but our fix was to remove the keys at HKLM\System\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults

When the issue occurs, a lot of read/writes are taking place at that location for no apparent reason (not happening on 2016/2019).
You should be able to block users from having write rights on that location so it limits this key from populating.

I've read some contradicting reasons but the fact is that this issue only occurs on 2022 so I suppose this is a bug.
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Jamie Pearson 51 Reputation points

2022-07-07T15:09:03.807+00:00

Hi,

Thank you very much for posting your findings on here, it looks like you have (hopefully) given me an answer to this!
After your input I googled for that reg key and found the following discussion...
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/752491/server-2022-and-teams-bloats-hkey-local-machinesys.html

A few more people with a very similar pattern to our problem (we also do not have teams installed on RDS).

I have removed the reg keys from one of my RDS servers and will monitor.
Seems like some permission changes on the reg key may be required to stop it bloating again, I will just delete the keys for now and see how quickly they build back up.

Thank you again for taking the time to help me out, really appreciate it!

Jamie

Binh Tang 41 Reputation points

2022-10-13T04:51:42.897+00:00

Hi Jamie,
Did those changes help with your situation? I have a 2022 RDS server where users are reporting lag when switching between windows and apps. I've just removed those registry subkeys now and renamed C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ink\TabTip.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink\TabTip32.exe
to see if this helps.

Will have to wait till tomorrow or a few days to see if anyone has reported any difference. Wanted to check with you if you've noticed an improvement after those changes?

Jamie Pearson 51 Reputation points

2022-10-13T08:44:08.197+00:00

Hi,

Yes for me running two commands from PowerShell...
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\27641008" -Recurse
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\27641370" -Recurse

instantly sorted the problem, I don't recall even having to reboot the servers.
The keys do re-populate over time, to get round this I have a scheduled task to run the above commands each morning on the RDS servers.
(I believe you can set reg permissions to stop this or as you have done rename the .exe's).

Hope your fix sorts it for you.

Jamie

Binh Tang 41 Reputation points

2022-10-20T03:21:31.55+00:00

Thanks. I ended up doing that too and also renaming TabTip32.exe and TabTip.exe to stop it loading up which prevented it from adding to that registry key in the future. I added more information to this post here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/752491/server-2022-and-teams-bloats-hkey-local-machinesys.html

After those changes, it sorted out the problem as well. Reg key hasn't recreated again and no more issues.

Rob Oliphant 20 Reputation points

2023-01-16T17:09:31.37+00:00

Is it safe to remove the keys - i have the same fault Server2022 21H2 taskbar freezing and my Testresults is 88Mb with 1000's of eateries

Jamie Pearson 51 Reputation points

2023-01-17T10:20:13.7433333+00:00

Hi Rob, I have had no issues from removing the listed registry keys on both my Win 2022 21H2 RDS servers.

Jamie

Celt19 0 Reputation points

2023-02-08T13:32:03.2633333+00:00

I did the same than Jamie and it solved our problem with the laggy taskbar. Two days and it works perfect.
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2 additional answers

Limitless Technology 39,416 Reputation points

2022-07-03T12:05:14.937+00:00

Hi there,

If this behavior is after any recent updates I would suggest you uninstall them and see the response.

The other main cause is a build-up of Windows Firewall rules that get created per user and sometimes don’t get auto removed when the user logs off. The worst-case scenario is having hundreds and thousands of Windows Firewall rules.

Try temporarily switching off the antivirus and check the response and also you can try some registry repairing commands.

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

Hope this resolves your Query !!

--If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept it as an answer–
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Jamie Pearson 51 Reputation points

2022-07-06T19:49:19.137+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for your response and ideas, unfortunately its been an issue ever since go live with Win2022, before we had Windows 2016 RDS servers and didn't have the issue, same software installed etc.
I was hoping windows updates might resolve it over time, but 6 months on we still have the same issue, in fact I would say its worse than it used to be.
Both servers exhibit the exact same issue, We have recently noticed having the server manager open on the server makes it a lot worse, so we tend to not load server manager on the server anymore.

Re the firewall rules, we certainly suffered with that on Win2016, but it seems to be resolved in Win2022, the rules clear down with the session now so there isn't a large build up.

I have tried removing all group policies and disabling windows defender but neither have fixed it. I will give the SFC tool a try as you suggest but as its both servers I feel it might be an inherent problem with Windows 2022/RDS or some combination of software installed.

Again thank you for your ideas, I will post again when I get some time to try SFC.

Jamie
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Michael Vela 0 Reputation points

2023-01-17T17:07:19.2666667+00:00

I searched and found people fixing this issue by adding a registry key to delete those firewall rules when they log out. This improved the freezing/pausing issue and start menu lag that our users were experiencing.

Use regedit to modify the following and set it to 1: Type: “DeleteUserAppContainersOnLogoff” (DWORD)

Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy
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Windows 2022 Server RDS - Laggy/Slow TaskBar

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