Troubleshoot Remote Desktop services

This article shows you how to troubleshoot problems with Microsoft® Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Log in by using the Emergency Console

To access the Emergency Console, see Start a console session.

If you can’t log in by using the Emergency Console, reset your Administrator user password. For help, see How to change your server root admin password from your account.

Check to see if the Remote Desktop Service is running

After you access the server by using the Emergency Console, ensure the RDP service is running. Use the following steps:

1. To access services, navigate to Start menu, click Run, enter services.msc, and click OK.

2. Look for Remote Desktop Services in the list of services and ensure the status shows as Running.

3. If the service shows Stopped, right-click the service and choose Start to restart the service.

Check the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security to ensure the connection is allowed

1. To access the Windows® firewall, navigate to Server Manager > Tools > Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

2. This screen shows you which profiles are enabled. Ask the user for their local IP address to add to the Remote Desktop rule.

Check the authentication logs

Note: Use this step for situations where a specific user cannot log in by using RDP.

1. To find the authentifcation logs, navigate to Server Manager > Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Security.

2. Use the username of the affected user to search the logs for a specific error message to help determine the best course for continuing to troubleshoot the issue.