Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop



I often use the Windows Remote Desktop function to connect and remotely manage another Windows server. As you might know, there are many other better remote control software such as the free Virtual Network Computing (VNC) or even the popular Teamviewer, but I try to minimize the installations of third party software on the Server machines. If you don’t know what Remote Desktop is, it’s a protocol developed by Microsoft which allows you to view the display and control the mouse and keyboard of another computer at different location, as if you were sitting in front of the computer.

I never have any problems with Remote Desktop and it works as I expect it to, except for only one annoyance which is if I leave it idle for a few minutes, it auto logs off and I have to re-enter the password to login again. This is very annoying whenever I am reading the log files or the console messages that are displayed on screen. Fortunately there is quite a simple solution for how to disable remote desktop auto logoff on idle.

It took a couple of days trying to find the solution because I actually misunderstood the problem in the first place. I thought the system was auto logging out when idle but it turns out that it was the screen that was locked. No wonder setting “Never” for idle session limit in RDP Properties didn’t work.

By default Windows Server activates the screen saver if the computer has been idle for 10 minutes and the setting “On resume, display logon screen” will also be checked. So if Windows detects no activity for 10 minutes, the screen saver will be activated and when we get back to the Remote Desktop Connection, the screen saver is removed and then prompts to login. To solve this problem, you can either disable the screen saver or remove the logon screen on resume.

The solution

Message that users get when trying to remote desktop to a Windows 2003 R2 server: 'The client could not connect to the remote computer. Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection'. Tech Tip: Enable remote desktop connections in Windows Server 2003 by Guest Contributor in Microsoft on July 30, 2004, 12:58 PM PST Follow these steps to enable remote desktop connections.

  1. Enable Remote Desktop Connections In Windows Server 20031.Prepare- DC21: OS windows Server 2003, IP: 10.0.0.41- WIN72: OS WINdows 7, IP: 10.0.0.212.s.
  2. Aug 03, 2015 The office RDP server is a Windows Server 2003. All text on the RDP are blurred and display is completely distorted, not being able to work with it. Tried RDP-Options - Experience - Font Soothing but it did not help. This issue was not there on Windows 8.1.

To disable the auto lock screen when idle, the easiest solution which requires only a click is to download this registry fix file, run it on the computer that is automatically getting locked and restart the PC for the changes to take effect. Alternatively, here are the steps if you prefer to do it manually.

1. Right click Desktop and select Personalize

Tidal deezer hifi. 2. Click Screen Saver

3. Uncheck “On Resume, display logon screen” and click OK.

Now you can remain idle on the remote desktop connection as long as you want and you won’t be locked out. And obviously this also works on an ordinary PC if you keep receiving the login screen whenever you come out from a screensaver.

If the “On Resume, display logon screen” checkbox is disabled or grayed out like what is shown at the screenshot below, it means that there is a group policy being implemented probably by your company’s network administrator to prevent the local logged in user from changing this setting.

Fortunately bypassing the policy is as easy as download and running another registry fix. We’ve provided two different registry fixes where you can either delete the policy so that it will be possible for you to manually enable/disable the settings, or you disable the option while maintaining the checkbox grayed out.

Download Reg Fix to Delete Password protect the screen saver Group Policy

Download Reg Fix to Disable Password protect the screen saver Group Policy

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ralplpcr5 months ago

Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve got a Windows 2019 server which is continually running a script, and every time the screen locked up, the script would fail. It was driving me crazy having to constantly switch over to that session just to keep the screen alive, and all the tricks with editing group policy, disabling screen saver, keeping monitor constantly on, etc. had done no good. This appears to have finally solved it!

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Hmm…this has nothing to do with Remote Desktop. It disables the computer’s screen lock, not just for Remote Desktop.

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HAL9000 Admin2 years ago

No-one said it was just for remote desktop, the article explains what the problem was and the solution.

Reply

Did you read the title of the article?

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HAL9000 Admin12 months ago

Yes I did, does it say the solution was *just* for remote desktop? It makes no difference that the problem is related to another Windows setting and not directly connected to remote desktop itself. If you get this while you’re in remote desktop, here’s how to fix it, no more, no less…

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Thank you! I was getting frustrated at how often I had to log back into my RDC. I turned off the screen saver, and adjusted the power/idle settings, but it still kept locking. Ticking that check box was the one thing I was missing, and now it works great! Thank you!

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Mohamed3 years ago

thanks to match it help me

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Go around group policy thing doesn’t work for me.

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mouhannad7 years ago

Awesome thanks alot you help

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In your introduction, you make it sound like VNC or TeamViewer are superior to RDP, which is wrong. VNC actually transmits video as a stream of compressed images (eg. JPEGs), i assume TeamViewer does something similar though its a bit faster. RDP just sends a stream of rendering instructions to the client OS, which then reconstructs the image. RDP compared to VNC is very low bandwidth and latency. In addition you can easily access drives and printers (without the need for a driver) from the client machine in the RDP session.

Reply
reirab1 year ago

Agreed. I almost had to stop reading the article when it said that VNC was better than RDP. RDP is superior to VNC in almost every possible way. I’ve written a VNC (RFB) server. Frankly, RFB (the protocol for VNC) is a crap protocol. It’s just usually all you have available when you’re not on a Windows box.

VNC is slower, higher latency, less secure, has fewer features available, and everything beyond the basics is done with extensions that are typically vendor-specific and so only work if the client and server are from the same vendor (file transfer, for example.)

Reply

So you’re getting annoyed because someone has a different opinion and preference to you…? Are people that don’t agree with you automatically wrong?

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traveler1 year ago

I have to agree,with your opinion and position on this and Most things you Comment on. Well Done!!! And thank you for the RIGHT INFORMATION,METHODS,and your Opinions…

Reply

Download Remote Desktop Windows 10

We’re using RDP to connect to a server that when the connection is established the login launches a specific program with a switch to activate one section of the program.
All of that is working fine. However, the 10 minute “lock” kicks in and the session has to be terminated (no keyboard available to the user since this is a public viewing station.)
There is no screen saver on the server, no screen saver on the workstation. Yet the session still locks the TS session.
Here’s the flow:
WinXP Pro workstation –> Windows 2003 server
LAN connection 100mb/s

I have set the idle time and disconnect times on the server to NEVER, but the sessions are still being locked after 10 minutes.
Any ideas or direction would be greatly appreciated.

– Mike

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skyline7 years ago

Thanks!

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This works, thanks.

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Nachman8 years ago

Thanks so much! This is exactly what i was looking for and I too made the mistake of thinking I could fix this with the RDP Idle Session timeout settings.

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Good work :) thanks

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Josh9 years ago

So awesome!! This has been driving me nuts since my password is 20 random characters. Thank you!

Reply

Great tip! Thank you

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gaiusgracchus10 years ago

Well, it may be newbie, but it sure helped us out.
Good job posting this!

Reply

Awesome been looking for this “fix”

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Thanksalot10 years ago

This has been bugging me for months, now it is gone. Thank you for solving a nagging problem.

Reply

Hi,
Thanks a lot its really short simple and helpful.

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Nicole10 years ago

Awesome! I just had remote computer re-imaged. Then this started happening. Thanks so much for this post it was awful having to log in every time I returned to the remote computer.

Reply

wow i feel stupid for not thinking of this…have been looking for a solution too. thanks man!

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ahmed11 years ago

thank you man

Reply

thank you very much…
my problem solved.

Reply
Kiran11 years ago
Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop

Thank You so much.this helps a lot…

Reply

Leave a Reply

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This article provides a solution to an error that occurs when you try to connect to the Terminal service running on one of the affected products.

Original product version: Windows Server 2003
Original KB number: 555382

Symptoms

When you try to connect to the Terminal service running on one of the affected products, you receive the following error message:

Remote Desktop Disconnected
The client could not connect to the remote computer.
Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections.
It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection.
Please try connecting again later. If the problem continues to occur, contact your administrator.
OK Help

Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop Service Restart

Additionally, when you view System Event log on the affected server you see the following event:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: TermService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1036
Date: <DateTime>
Time: <DateTime>
User: N/A
Computer: Servername
Description:
Terminal Server session creation failed. The relevant status code was 0x2740.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at. Pioneer rzx price.

Resolution

To resolve the problem, make sure that the correct network adapter is bound to RDP-TCP connection. To do it, follow these steps:

  1. On the server, sign in to the server locally (not using Remote Desktop/Terminal Client).
  2. Select Start, Run, type tscc.msc /s (without quotation marks and select OK).
  3. In the Terminal Services Configuration snap-in, double-click Connections, then RDP-Tcp in the right pane.
  4. Select the Network Adapter tab, select the correct network adapter, and select OK.
  5. Make sure that you can establish an RDP connection to the server.

Alternative resolution steps.Use these steps only if you can't do local sign-in to the affected server.

Apache proxy. Warning

Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop

Using Registry Editor incorrectly may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use Registry Editor at your own risk and only after making backup of full Registry and the keys you are going to change.

  1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).

  2. Select FileConnect network Registry. Enter computer name or IP address and select OK. Firewalls between your computer and the affected server may prevent successful connection. Remote Registry service should be running on the server.

  3. Navigate to the following registry key (path may wrap):HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlNetwork{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

  4. Under this key are one or more keys for the globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) corresponding to the installed LAN connections. Each of these GUID keys has a Connection subkey. Open each of theGUIDConnection keys and look for the Name value. Choose the connection you want Terminal Services to use.

  5. When you have found the GUIDConnection key that contains the Name setting that matches the name of your LAN connection, write down or otherwise note the GUID value.

  6. Then navigate to the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlTerminal Serverlanatable. Using the GUID you noted in step 5 select subkey. It's LanaId.

  7. Navigate to the following value:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlTerminal ServerWinStationsRDP-TcpLanAdapter.
    Change it's data to the value you noted in step 6. If you want RDP to listen on all LAN adapters enter value of 0.

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Windows Server 2003 Remote Desktop Connection

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