Windows 10 and 11 RDP clients are showing severe graphical lag when connecting to a Windows Server 2008 R2 host. Dragging windows looks like it is running at roughly 5 FPS, and even simple applications such as Notepad or File Explorer feel sluggish. Linux clients connecting with Remmina are smooth, so the server seems capable of handling the sessions.
The server has plenty of available resources, and the problem still occurs after a reboot with only one client connected. The server is limited to TCP transport and does not use newer features such as RemoteFX. The issue may have started after a recent Windows client update, but the exact beginning is unclear. Has anyone found a client-side setting or compatibility workaround for this kind of RDP performance problem?
3 Answers
Since Remmina uses FreeRDP, try connecting from Windows with a current FreeRDP build as a comparison. If FreeRDP is smooth while the built-in Remote Desktop client is not, that would strongly point to a change or regression in the Windows RDP client rather than a server resource problem.
On one affected machine, try setting the RDP Experience option to LAN and disable automatic connection-quality detection. The equivalent settings in a saved .rdp file are connection type:i:6, networkautodetect:i:0, and bandwidthautodetect:i:0. If changing those has no effect, testing a clean Windows installation or a client without the latest update would be the next useful comparison.
Disabling UDP and RemoteFX can sometimes help with display issues, but this particular server setup already uses TCP-only transport and does not have RemoteFX enabled, so those settings are unlikely to explain the difference here.
Correct—Windows Server 2008 R2 does not provide UDP transport in this setup, and RemoteFX is not being used.
I already tested LAN, automatic detection disabled, and even the 56K modem profile, with no noticeable difference. I do not currently have a Windows client without the latest update, so a fresh Windows 10 installation may be the next test.