I'm experiencing some strange issues with Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). I manage around 100 computers and 4 servers by myself, alongside my boss. Lately, we've noticed that we can't connect to several machines, getting the "credentials didn't work, log attempt failed" error. Oddly, my boss can connect to certain machines that I can't, and vice versa, when trying from our own computers. I have no trouble connecting to the servers, and from the servers, I can RDP to all machines without problems. It feels like something is stuck or hung. I've been through a ton of articles and have tried various solutions already, but nothing seems to work. I usually hop on a server and use that as a jump box, but I'm looking for some fresh insights or tips here. I've tried the following:
- Restarting RDP services
- Flushing DNS
- Clearing Credentials from Credential Manager
- Syncing System Time
- Disabling Network Level Authentication (NLA) for testing
- Running SFC /scannow and DISM cleanup
- Checking for any failed login logs (none found)
- Recreating MachineKeys
- Troubleshooting TLS handshake errors from the Event Log
- Comparing Trusted certificates with a working machine
- Purging Klist
And many more! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
Double-check that your user account is part of the local 'Remote Desktop Users' group on those devices. I usually create a security group called 'RDP admins' and add it to any servers or workstations I need to access. Just to confirm, you and your boss are in the same group, right?
Have you tried checking if the firewall is turned off on the machines that are giving you trouble? Also, it's worth pinging them to ensure they're reachable.
Yes, I checked the firewall and turned it off, but it didn’t help. I can ping the machines without any issues, and the nslookup is also working correctly.
You might want to try rebuilding the secure channel to the domain controller. Running the command `Test-ComputerSecureChannel -Repair -Credential $Credential -Verbose` can often resolve issues like these. I had a similar situation before where workstations were unresponsive locally but I could fix them via PowerShell without rebooting.
I did that channel repair on both my machine and the ones I can't connect to, but it didn't resolve the issue. I’ve cleared the klist too, but there wasn’t much there.
Yes, I checked that too, and everything looks good. It’s just strange that I can access some machines and my boss can’t, and vice versa.