Introduction

Windows 10 RDP black screen was recently reported by several Microsoft users on the internet on different forums. Microsoft Windows Server 2019 includes several new features especially for Hyper-V and the Security in general (another topic for discussion later) and I have been working intensively with it for the last few weeks. On the other side from the client side, the latest Windows 10 update had some problems and Microsoft rolled it back and re-released it again late 2018. I was hesitant to roll it back to my main working laptop until i run full testing and check the community feedback.

Finally I had all my client machines updated to Windows 1809 where I use to administer my environment and run my demos. Recently I faced an issue with Windows 10 RDP black screen once connected my Windows 10 1809 to Server 2019 as follows:

Windows 10 RDP Black Screen Problem

When trying to RDP (Remote Desktop – MSTSC) from a Windows 10 client (1809) to a Windows server 2019 I get a black screen after entering my credentials and nothing happen except having the black screen for long time till the session ends. This will occur for new windows 10 1809 only so far.

Investigation

Checking the event viewer on Server 2019 from Application and Service Logs – Microsoft – Windows – RemoteDesktopService-RdpCoreTS
I noticed the below two errors repeated every time the Windows 10 RDP black screen occurs after connecting to server 2019
  1. ‘Failed GetConnectionProperty’ in CUMRDPConnection::QueryProperty at 2884 err=[0x80004001]
  2. ‘Connection doesn’t support logon error redirector’ in CUMRDPConnection::GetLogonErrorRedirector at 4199 err=[0x80004001]

Failed GetConnectionProperty

 

Connection doesn't support logon error redirector

 

The problem is clearly in the URCP mode (Universal Rate Control Protocol) as there were several changes and updates done in 1809 and Server 2019 as per the link below. This protocol is used for Data Exchange between the remote desktop client and the server over UDP.

 

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt242356.aspx

 

Solution/Workaround

 

After investigating this issue with Microsoft they confirmed that its a reported issue and they are working on understanding the problem and issuing a permanent fix, the current available workaround for now is to stop the URCP connection mode by applying the following Registry key on your Windows server 2019.

 

  1. On your Server 2019, open the registry editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client                                                                                                           
  2. Create a new d-word (32-bit) value and name it UseURCP with decimal value of 0

 

Again this issue will only face Windows 10 1809 clients connected to Server 2019, if you are Windows 10 1803 or earlier or even Windows 7/8 you won’t face this problem.

 

 Hopefully this post can help others facing the same issue.