Remote Desktop Fails on Server 2K3 After Every Restart

[Jason H.]

For about 6 months now, our 2K3 servers have had the same issue: Remote
Desktop stops working after a restart (be it for patches or just
maintenance.) Every single time, we have to log on to the machine at the
console and restart it again. This fixes the problem - EVERY SINGLE TIME -
and we're able to remote desktop into the servers again after this server
restart. This issue does NOT apply to our Win2K servers. We have no problem
connecting to those via Remote Desktop after they are restarted. Anyone have
any idea what may be going on? Restarting a server that's hosting critical
services can be taxing enough - have to reboot it twice is just
frustrating...for us and our users.

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You should examine the Event Log on these servers and check specifically
for messages about the Terminal Server service.

What exactly is the message you see when you attempt to launch an RD
session?

Until you find the cause of your problem, you should implement an
automatic second reboot. Manually create a file c:\windows\reboot.txt,
then use the Task Scheduler to run this batch file at boot time:

@echo off
if not exist c:\windows\reboot.txt goto :eof
del c:\windows\reboot.txt
shutdown /.. /.. /..

Select the appropriate switches to reboot the machine within
five minutes.

[Jason H.]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately, the logs show nothing relating
to Terminal Services at the time of reboot - in fact, nothing relating to
anything pertinent.

I can implement the script you've provided (many thanks for that) but it's
definitely not the ideal solution. Have you never heard of anything like
this?

Anyways, to answer your question, the message I get when I try to connect to
the server is: "The computer can't connect to the remote computer. Try
connecting again. If the problem continues, contact the owner of the remote
computer or your network administrator."

Thanks again for that script.

[Pegasus \\(MVP\\)]

When I see this message then I invariably do this:
- I ping the RD host by its IP address to ensure that it is correct.
- I ping the RD host by its name to ensure that it can be resolved.
- I run telnet to check if the RD port is open, e.g.
telnet MyServer 3389
And no, I have never seen this phenomenon.

[Jason H.]

I was able to ping both ways but I haven't tried the Telnet option yet. I'll
report back when I do. However, I did notice that after this happens, the
Terminal Services service options are grayed out both via remote computer
management (I can do this, I just can't remote desktop into the server) and
sitting in front of the machine itself. Someone mentioned that it's because
I might not have sufficient priveleges but I'm logged in as the admin. Any
other thoughts?

(The options for the RPC service are also grayed out but I suspected that it
was because the TS service was in whatever state it's in now.)

[joshua.brown@shaw.ca]

I had a smiliar issue, or so I thought... heres the story:

Logged into my server via RDP and Installed the latest Windows patches
on April 19. Did a reboot (or so I thought). My RDP connection
disconnected as usual and I waited a few minutes before I tried
logging back in again... so after 4 or 5 minutes I try to log in
again... no luck. Logged into the phsyical machine and noted that the
services were still running... but still nothing listening for RDP
connections.... did a port scan as well, no port 3389 listed. it was
like the service didn;t exist. Everything else on the server was
running great... web sites, services, VPN connections, etc.

Low and behold, I looked at the logs and checked the system up since
date and it was still showing the last date we rebooted (something
like March 30). TS Hung before the reboot could happen and everything
stopped there! Manually rebooting will of course fix this issue.

not sure if this is the case with you guys, but at least its something
to rule out. Hope thats the issue..

[netitnow]

A Windows Server 2003-based computer stops responding when you shut down the computer in a remote console session

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=k...30045&x=16&y=8

French keywords :
Pas de RDP TSE après plusieurs reboot successifs.

[nkosana]

I also found out the same thing as Josh. We usually assume that the server has rebooted because it kicks us off RDP but we cant see what the server is actually doing. The first thing I noticed is that PING -t continued to get responses which meant that the server was not going down at all. It turns out that the server begins to shut down various services including the service that handles RDP connections however the server hangs before it actually stops all services - so you still get PING responses, IIS is up etc.
Solution:
- remote reboot the server using remote command prompt:
"c:\shutdown -r -m \\ip_address"

- to monitor progress:
"PING -t \\ip_address"

(you will need to use a user account with identical credentials on the local computer as well as on the target server or or you will need to be in a domain environment for the remote reboot to work)

at some point the ping service on the remote server stops responding then you know you have a successful reboot. After that everything works.

[pablosan]

Sorry for revival old threads, but I had the same problem, and the solution for me was adding the issue group or user, to the local user group Remote Desktop Users.
My compute/manage/Local user and groups/groups/Remote Desktop Users/Add

Regards
Pablo

[three18ti]

Hello,

Well, my solution anyway.

Again, too bad about the necromancy, but,

I had this same issue and when in doubt, install Windows Updates.

Seriously, installing windows updates and rebooting resolved the issue.