Win7 Remote Desktop... useless. Connects but login and desktop issues abound

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schwank

Limp Gawd
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Nov 2, 2000
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I have been having nothing but issues trying to get Windows 7 (Ultimate x64) Remote Desktop working correctly. I searched the net and there are no shortage of issues for other people as well.

To begin with, the initial connection to my machine will work however I get nothing but a black screen, which will eventually time out and close. As I found in some internet posts, if I open a second connection to the remote machine while the first is still open, it will allow me to log in.

Once the login is completed, I can see my desktop. However neither my keyboard nor my mouse work in the remote environment. I can stare at the desktop but can't even click the Start button or log out... nothing works. All I can do is click the red X to close the remote session window which of course leaves me logged in on the remote machine.

I have tried this from both XP and other Windows 7 computers with the same results on both. I know the firewall settings are good as I can connect (kinda) and log in. As I have seen in other posts, I made sure to uncheck Theming and Bitmap Caching in the Experience tab of the Remote Desktop options before connecting. This made no difference.

Other than that my 7 experience has been positive. However if I cannot use the remote, I will have to go back to XP Pro as it is required due to the nature of my job.

Any ideas?
 
so it's only borking when connecting TO a Win7 machine?
 
Sorry for not being clear.

The machine in question is in my home office. I am having issues connecting to it from work or other places, ie when it RECEIVES inbound requests. It has no problem remoting OUT to other servers, only INBOUND requests.

I have tried from multiple locations using XP Pro and Windows 7. As I said, the connection itself works so it is not firewall rules. I just can't do anything after I get logged in.
 
not sure if it would have any effect or not, but do you have the latest terminal services client installed on the XP box? 6.0 I think it is?
 
Huh.. I have no problems with Win7 and RDP. Even with all the "effects" turned on I can connect and go about my business from anywhere on the Internet to my home desktop.

FWIW, there are MANY other alternatives to RDP that you can use instead of going back to XP. LogMeIn, TeamViewer and Live Mesh come to mind.
 
I don't currently have Windows 7 installed on any of my machines at work, but I am able to remote from my 7x64 PC at home to any PC at work running XP, Server 2003, etc. I did have the RC installed on my work PC for a while and was able to RDP from my 7 PC at home to that machine at work.

I know what you mean about RDP being required. I am on a 3 week call rotation and if I couldn't RDP into the machines at work to resolve issues it would be a dealbreaker. I love 7 too much to abandon it though so I would either dual boot with XP or RDP from my other PC which has various HDDs with different OSes loaded.

Still, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to get this working. Is it really a common problem that other people are experiencing as well?

edit: sorry, apparently there were other replies before I posted and I didn't realize you were having issues connecting to your PC at home from work. I'll have to experiment with that and see what happens; I rarely have the need to do that so I've been using LogMeIn (though RDP is preferable).
 
i have some issues as well with my windows 7 RD


i try to connect from home, one day it works fine, next day doesnt work at all, wont connect, sits there on the negotiating security or something infinetly, but wont time out.

So then i restart RD and then it works if i try again, then i can disconnect and try to connect moments later and it says the remote machine is not availible.... try again later and it works!

this is going from a Win7 machine at home to a Win7 at work.
 
Thats strange... I'm using win7 on my desktop and have had no issues using RD from XP home or XP Pro. When I get a second computer with win7 I'll have to see if I can recreate that issue.

Edit:

Upon further testing from a remote location... I can only seem to somewhat recreate that issue. I connected to the win7 desktop through RD from Ubuntu. It logged in quickly and loaded the desktop. All seemed well but it took about 20seconds for the mouse to be able to be used.... Other than that it still seems to have no issues for me.
 
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no issues on 4 different Win7 installs and RDP all on unique hardware, 3 x64 and 1 x86.
 
Yea, after reading this thread I'm more inclined to think its something related to the routers on both ends of the connection doing something wonky. I use Win7 as a remote desktop client and server every day and have never experience anything like what the OP has.
 
Unfortunately for me it appears to have nothing to do with the router config.

This same behavior happens when my I try remote from my Win7 laptop to my Win7 desktop, all on the same wired GigE network in my home office. I can log in and the mouse pointer will move but mouse clicks and keyboard usage is not passed through. I have also tried using XP Pro SP3 on the same laptop from on home home network, with my XP Pro SP3 desktop at work, and using my Win7 laptop at a friend's house.

So all I can think of is that it is some setting on the host. Before I rebuilt it I had no problem remoting in when the host was running XP Pro.
 
I have no problem with win 7 remote desktop.

Here is my setting



Make sure you put a password on your account or it won't work.
 
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your image i use the last security settings since i am using all vista/ win7 boxes.

i havea Dlink DIR-566 at home and at work i have various firewalls i have tried, firebox to untangle to netgear all the same...

but when before i was using Vista, it worked all the time from home no problems.
 
And I have the exact settings in the pic.

What's worse I am a developer and IT manager for a living. That's what makes this so frustrating!
 
schwank said:
And I have the exact settings in the pic.

What's worse I am a developer and IT manager for a living. That's what makes this so frustrating!
Click to expand...

tried multiple computers? I could try remoting to your comp to see what happens.
 
Just to finalize this, I seem to have gotten it working by unchecking some other options in the RDS client. I removed the default remote audio and printer mappings, and bumped the resolution down from 1600 to 1280. The next time I connected, I could finally click on things and use the remote computer.
 
i love teamviewer.... seems to be faster with images and video content than RDP.

plus the portable app is great.
 
Win 7 RDT works perfectly for me. I upgraded from XP and was shocked with how much better it works now. I even remote my PC from my phone when Im away and need to check up on it.
 
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