Can't connect to connect to multi-homed server using RDP

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The problem: You are trying to connect to a server using the Remote Desktop Connection client (RDP) and you get the following error:

Remote Desktop Disconnected
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The client could not connect to the remote computer.


Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection.

Please try connecting again later. If the problem continues to occur, contact your administrator.

If you are using the new Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 Client, the error you get is:

Remote Desktop Disconnected
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This 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.

You checked that Remote Desktop is enabled and you have rights to connect, but it fails every time. What the #$% is going on???
Well, you may have a binding problem with the RDP-Tcp connector. This typically happens with servers with two or more NICs (as is usual with an ISA server). To fix the problem follow these steps:
  1. Logon to the server locally

  2. Click Start, Run, type "tscc.msc /s" (without quotation marks) and click OK

  3. In the Terminal Services Configuration snap-in double-click Connections, then RDP-Tcp in the right pane

  4. Click the Network Adapter tab, select the correct network adapter and click OK

  5. Make sure that you can establish an RDP connection to the server
The change takes effect immediately. No need for a restart.


2 comments:

  1. Perfect. Solved my problem instantly. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The RDP-Tcp connector binding fix does not work for me... :(

    In my case, there are three machines involved:

    Remote 2003 system: a Windows Server 2003 EE 32-bit system (configured as workstation/standalone server without domain controller), which is the remote system to be connected to over the Internet (which works fine for over 2 years now using different Windows XP/2003 clients from different locations).

    Local 2003 system: a Windows Server 2003 EE 32-bit system located at my current work location.

    Local 2008 system: a Windows Server 2008 EE 64-bit system located at my current work location.

    Both local systems are placed in the same domain and use the same DHCP server and proxy server for their network and internet access.

    The local 2003 system is able to start a RD-session with the remote 2003 system. However, the local 2008 system shows the dreaded message: "This 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.".

    The local 2003 system is rather old and I am migrating al my work to my new local 2008 system. Because the local 2003 system doesn't have a screen anymore, I can use my local 2003 system only using a RD-session from my local 2008 system. This works fine!!! Even starting a RD session from my local 2003 system over a RD session from my local 2008 system, thus making a chain of RD connections, happens to be possible too!!!

    But directly connecting to the remote 2003 system from my local 2008 system is not possible. Furthermore, trying to start a RD-session from a Windows Server 2003 EE 32-bit system running as a virtual machine (in Virtual PC 2007) running on my local 2008 system isn't possible either.

    So it seems that it has something to do with some "new" network settings and/or internet settings on my local 2008 machine, but I have not been able to identify the problem.

    Both my local systems have network and internet access using the same proxy server and DHCP server.

    Temporarily disabling windows firewalls does not seem to have any effect.

    Does anybody have any idea? Thanks very much in advance.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment! It is my hope that you find the information here useful. Let others know if this post helped you out, or if you have a comment or further information.