Remote Desktop cannot Connect to the VDI-based remote computer after enabling Microsoft RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter

A new KB was released today regarding connection issues to a VDI-based computer after enabling the RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter.

“…With the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, a new Windows Firewall rule is added for RemoteFX. This problem occurs if RemoteFX Windows Firewall rule is not enabled…”

“…You may also receive the following error in the Windows Event Log:

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager/Operational
Source:       Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager
Date:          <Date><Time>
Event ID:    17
Level:         Error
User:          SYSTEM
Computer: machinename.domain.com
Description:
Remote Desktop Service start failed. The relevant status code was 0x800706b5…”

Resolution:
”…To resolve the problem, you must enable the RemoteFX Windows Firewall rule manually.
To enable the RemoteFX rule by using Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

1. Click the Start button , and then click Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel windows click Windows Firewall.
3. In the left pane, click Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall.
4. Click Change settings. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
5. Under Allowed programs and features, select the check box next to Remote Desktop - RemoteFX, and then use the check boxes in the columns to select the network location types you want to allow communication on.
6. Click OK.

Alternatively, if you enable Remote Desktop by using the System properties window, the rule is enabled automatically.

1. Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click on System icon.
3. Under Control Panel Home, click Remote settings.
4. Click the Remote tab. Under Remote Desktop, Select Don’t allow connections to this computer and the click Apply
5. Now select either option depending on your security requirements:
6. • Allow connections from computers from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)
   • Allow connections from computers only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure)
7. Click on Apply and the OK…”

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2820155/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

KB: A user cannot be assigned to a renamed virtual machine in a personal VDI collection in Windows Server 2012 (2815795)

A new Microsoft KB article (2815795) has been released today related to renaming a personal assigned  VDI on Windows Server 2012.

“…Consider the following scenario:

• You have a virtual machine in Windows Server 2012.
• The virtual machine is assigned to a user in a personal virtual machine collection.
• You rename the virtual machine.

In this scenario, the virtual machine is displayed as not assigned after you rename it. When you try to assign the user to the renamed virtual machine, the assignment fails, and the user cannot be assigned to any virtual machine. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object…”

“…To work around this problem if you rename an existing virtual machine in a collection, follow these steps:

1. Remove the user from the virtual machine.
2. Remove the virtual machine from the collection.
3. Rename the virtual machine by using the Hyper-V console.
4. Add the renamed virtual machine to the collection.
5. Assign the user to the renamed virtual machine…”

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2815795/en-us?sd=rss&spid=16526

Remote Desktop Manager by Devolutions

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to try out a tool (although “suite” might be a better description) to manage all types of different Remote Connections from a single console. It’s called Remote Desktop Manager by Devolutions.

Devolutions describes their product as “…Remote Desktop Manager lets you centralize all your remote connections, passwords and credentials into a unique platform that people love to work with…” I have been using it for a few weeks now, and I must say the feature set is absolutely huge!. Whether its managing Remote Desktop Sessions, Remote Assistance, Azure Consoles, Hyper-V consoles it’s all in there.

During my testing I found out that there was a new feature they did not fully support yet. If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you might have read my blogs on the way the RD Connection Broker role works in Windows Server 2012 and that it now also the serves the initial connection, similar to the Dedicated Redirector sub-role we used to know in Windows Server 2008 R2. In order for this to work you need to specify additional RDP properties to allow the RD Connection Broker to know what Collection to redirect you to. I found out that importing an .RDP file in Remote Desktop Manager that contains those properties is not being picked up. I notified Devolutions about this and they fixed this in no-time in a their new Beta release! This feature is now available in their latest beta release version 8.0.25.0 which released 2 days ago.

Compliments to Devolutions fast support and development on this!

If you want to give their product a try you can sign up for a 30 day free trial here: http://remotedesktopmanager.com/

Taking a closer look at RD Connection Broker High Availability in Windows Server 2012

My new article “Taking a closer look at RD Connection Broker High Availability in Windows Server 2012” was just published on VirtualizationAdmin.com

“…If you have been following the new features of Windows Server 2012, you’re probably already familiar with the new High Availability features of the RD Connection Broker role in Windows Server 2012. In this article we’ll be taking a closer look at the RD Connection Broker configuration and its database. As a quick recap, we’ll start by summing up the requirements and performing an actual High Availability configuration. Along the way, we’ll take a look at some of the pitfalls during the configuration. After that we’ll dive a little deeper in the configuration and explore the SQL database that gets centrally stored on a SQL Server instance by setting up the High Availability (HA)…”

Source: http://virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vdi-articles/microsoft-hyper-v/taking-closer-look-rd-connection-broker-high-availability-windows-server-2012.html

MVP Summit 2013 will kick off tomorrow!

I’m currently in Bellevue,WA. Tomorrow the Microsoft MVP Summit 2013 will kick off and I’m excited to be able to attend this event for the second time! The days will be packed with interesting technical sessions and lot’s of evening events too.

It’s also the 20-year anniversary celebration of the MVP Award! Below the commemorative 20-year timeline banner.

I also visited the Windows Store in Bellevue today where I had a change to test-drive the new Surface running Windows 8. The Microsoft store in Bellevue was packed with people and I can only conclude that the Surface (and Surface RT) are hot!

Looking forward to a great week here in Bellevue / Redmond!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mvpawardprogram/archive/2013/02/15/2013-mvp-summit-and-20th-anniversary.aspx

KB: Graphics update freezes on a Windows Server 2012-based RD Session Host server that is under a heavy load

A new KB hotfix was released today (KB 2797502) regarding graphics update for all the connected RDP clients freezes for at least 100 milliseconds when a client connects that runs Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with RDP 8.0 installed.

“…Consider the following scenario:

• You have a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server that is running Windows Server 2012.
• The RD Session Host server has more than 50 Remote Desktop Services (RDS) clients connected, and that causes the RD Session Host server to be under a heavy load. 
• The RD Session Host server receives a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) session from a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based RDS client that has RDP 8.0 installed. 
  Note For more information about how to install and enable RDP 8.0 on a computer that is running Windows 7 SP1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  2592687

  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2592687/ )

  Description of the Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

In this scenario, the graphics update for all the connected clients freezes for at least 100 milliseconds. Additionally, this issue recurs when the RD Session Host server receives new RDP sessions from any other clients…”

“…This issue occurs because a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connection object is not created immediately after an Acknowledgement (ACK) packet is received. This behavior provides an opportunity for all the other connections that have a pending date to be sent. Additionally, when multiple connections are established at the same time, if the higher layers of some connections are not ready, a 100-millisecond delay occurs to let the higher layer be registered by using the RDP-UDP layer..”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2797502/en-us?sd=rss&spid=16526

KB 2799035: Certificate Propagation service crashes when you disconnect an RDS client from a Win7 or Win2008 R2-based RDS server

A new KB was released today (2799035) related to a crash of the Certificate Propagation service when you connect to a RD Session Host Server by using a smart card, and then you disconnect the connection immediately.

“…Assume that you have a Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2-based Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server. You connect an RDS client to the server by using a smart card, and then you disconnect the connection immediately. In this situation, the Certificate Propagation service crashes and other services that are contained in the same Svchost group on the RDS server unexpectedly stop. Additionally, the following event is logged in the Application log:

Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: Date and time
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Description:
Faulting application name: svchost.exe_ProfSvc, version: file version, time stamp: time stamp,
Faulting module name: iedkcs32.dll, version: file version, time stamp: time stamp
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: Offset
Faulting process id: Id
Faulting application start time: Time
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\iedkcs32.dll

Note The following services that are contained in the same Svchost group as the Certification Propagation service are affected by this issue:

• Application Experience service
• Application Information service
• Application Management service
• Certificate Propagation service
• Group Policy Client service
• IP Helper service
• Server service
• User Profile service
• Task Scheduler service
• System Event Notification service
• Remote Desktop Configuration service
• Shell Hardware Detection service
• Windows Management Instrumentation service
• Windows Update service…”

“…This issue is caused by a race condition that occurs when the RDS client is connected to the server and then disconnected. Two separate threads are created to handle the connection and disconnection events. The session that is used by the first thread is deleted by the second thread because of the race condition. Therefore, an access violation occurs in the first thread..”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2799035/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

KB2798286: RemoteApp disconnects from a client running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

A new KB article (KB2798286) was released today related to Remote Apps being disconnected with a protocol error when the Remote App supports Remote Applications Integrated Locally (RAIL). It seems like a similar update as KB2696020 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2696020/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134. Only this time the fix is also applicable for Windows 7.

“…Consider the following scenario:

• You install the Remote Desktop Session Host role service on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2.
• You publish a RemoteApp application that supports the Remote Applications Integrated Locally (RAIL) feature on the computer.
• You use the Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) service on a client computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 to access the RemoteApp application.
• You open the RemoteApp application and perform several operations.

In this scenario, the Remote Desktop session disconnects. Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Because of a protocol error, this session will be disconnected. Please try connecting to the remote computer again..”

Source and download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2798286/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134