No Remote Desktop After SP2 Install

[Nick Goodall]

Hello All

Right, basic problem is that I can no longer get Remote
Desktop to work from my Windows XP main system to my
server running Windows Server 2003.

It has been working perfectly fine untill I have
installed SP2 on the main system. No all I get is an
error saying that it has timed out when trying to connect.

I have checked the box in the new XP firewall for remote
desktop, and it's the same. I have also disabled the
firewall totally and again it will not work.

I have no other firewalls installed on either system, my
router does that job for the server.

I can still view all network shares on the server and
copy to and from those. I can also do a remote desktop
from the server to the main system without problem.

I have tried installing SP2 from a XP and SP1 system, and
have also tried a fresh install from a XP SP2 Sliptreamed
cd and have the same problems both times. I have just
reinstalled back to a fresh XP SP1 systemm checked remote
desktop was working - it was, then installed SP2, and
after the restart it will no longer connect.

Any ideas people?

Thanks

Nick Goodall

 

[Lee Smith]

You using a difrent port other than the 3389? If so you need to allow that
through firewall. That one of the first things I had to fix after
installing SP2.

 

[edn2]

I am having the same problem / found your
post while searching for a solution. I
will update if I find one. I have tried
disabling all firewalls and attempting to
telnet to 127.0.0.1 port 3389 - this has
also failed


-
edn

 

[edn2]

there are others:

http://www.mcse.ms/archive67-2004-8-942143.htm


-
edn

 

[edn2]

I uninstalled SP2, reinstalled ZoneAlarm
(which I had uninstalled while
troubleshooting) and everything works
properly again.

I guess I'll give Microsoft a few more
months to let the customers find a
solution ;-) ... but wasn't that what
the "beta" was supposed to be?

Here's what I've confirmed:
(1) problem starts when SP2 installed
(2) problem ends when SP2 removed
(3) problem is not zonealarm
(4) exists even when XP firewall is off
(5) port 3389 never opens
(6) NO error messages (silent failure)

I could say more but I think I've wasted
enough time on this.

Good luck all

and thanks again Microsoft


-
edn

 

[Guest]

This is getting very annoying now, I can't find any way
to get this working again apart from complete windows
reinstall back to SP1.

Nick

 

[Nick Goodall]

Right, got slightly further.

I tried it in 'Safe Mode With Networking' and it connects
first time every time.

I've tried changing the port from 3389 to 3390 and the did
not help.

I've tried stripping out all msconfig startup programs and
non-microsoft services to try to get as close to safe mode
but still running windows normally - still not working.

I have again tried with the firewall off and on. One thing
I did notice is that with the firewall on when you look in
the firewall log file there is no entry in there for this
remote connection. So it's not even getting as far as that
level.

Nick

 

[edn2]

I should mention that I also installed SP2 on my laptop and terminal
services work fine on it. I'm not sure what it is about the two
machines is making the difference, but I am guessing it is hardware
because I run nearly identical software configurations (with the
exception of server stuff and games which I don't run on the laptop).
The primary hardware differnces are that the desktop CPU/chipset/video
is AMD/nVidia/nVidia and the laptop is Intel/Intel/Intel.

As for the server software, I run apache (over ssl) and openvpn servers
on my desktop machine. These continued to work, even when I enabled the
SP2 firewall. But I never told the firewall to allow them! Terminal
services failed, even as I was able to confirm the firewall settings
from the command line. I would just say I don't understand how to use
the SP2 firewall, but I experienced problems even with it turned
completely off (red lights, warning shield, and all).

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

I'll send this to the TS team at MS to see if they are seeing tech
support incidents on this, but I haven't been able to reproduce this
on ten machines I have tried...

Getting this solved will involve someone who has this issue to open up
a support incident with either MS or your OEM. However, this may cost
$$$...

Jeffrey Randow (Windows Networking & Smart Display MVP)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Support Site -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[Nick Goodall]

I was just using the default port of 3389, and it was
definatly allowed in the firewall.

I have also now tried changing it all to port 3390 and
that mode no difference. I can connect to the server from
my brothers pc (XP with RTM SP2) using port 3390 (and
default if set) but not from my system which had just the
same version of windows and same SP installed.

Nick

 

[Tom]

I'll send this to the TS team at MS to see if they are seeing tech
support incidents on this, but I haven't been able to reproduce this
on ten machines I have tried...

Getting this solved will involve someone who has this issue to open up
a support incident with either MS or your OEM. However, this may cost
$$$...

Jeffrey Randow (Windows Networking & Smart Display MVP)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Support Site -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

Yeah, I would have started a support incident long ago, but believe it or
not, even though we pay close to 10K a year for our "campus agreement"
(just for our one college on campus, since not college & deptartment wanted
to pitch in), that yearly license doesn't include any free support.

Anyway, I've been too busy to post any more info, but I've tried even more
things, going back and forth from a pre-SP2 system restore point,
uninstalling this, changing that, installing SP2, but nothing at all has
worked yet. I've now ruled out ATI video drivers, as well.

Also, it is hard, even for me, to discount Windows Firwall, despite the
fact I do have the 3389 exception set and I can verify it with the netsh
firewall commands. I even enabled logging on the firewall and you can see
my client computer connecting and then it immediately (same second) drops,
which is exactly what I'm seeing on the various clients I try to connect.
Again, this error is a big mystery, because there is zero documentation I
can find about what the root cause would be:
"The remote computer has ended the connection."

Now, Nick, who started this thread, says he can get it in with Safe Mode
With Networking, but in normal mode he doesn't get any firewall log
entries. It doesn't necessarily sound like we are experiencing the same
problem, as he says his times out. My problem (and at least three others
in the various newsgroups or have e-mailed me from my newsgroup postings,
have said they are having a similar problem) is the fact I'm connecting
literally for a split second and then being dropped, which my firewall log
confirms.

It might be strange, it might be obscure, it is likely something a handful
of us are just doing - and note, I have a few other SP2-updated systems
that do *not* have this problem, and no one else on campus has reported a
problem, so I know there has to be some very specific circumstances behind
it. Nonetheless, since SP2 still hasn't been widely deployed at all, I
fully expect the number of incidents of this 'SP2 kills Remote Desktop'
problem to grow exponentially as thousands of XP Pro users install SP2 over
the coming weeks and months.

- Tom

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Is there any chance there was a leftover service from Zone Alarm still
running on the SP2 machine which failed, even though Zone Alarm was not in
use at the time?

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Hmm - not Nvidia video driver service? Do I recall that service causing
this error message? Perhaps the video driver rev changed with SP2?

 

[Guest]

Nope faid not on my system. Not got any other firewall
software running at all.

I can install SP2 and it stops working, got to control
pannel > add/remove programs and remove SP2 and it starts
working again.

Still got no further.....

Nick

 

[Guest]

I'm using an ATI video card, and got no nVidia gfx
drivers on the system anywhere.

Nick

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Here's my suggestion, and I'd like to hear how it goes.

If you are in the US or Canada, call 1-866-pcsafety and see whether this
issue qualifies for free Microsoft PSS support.

If you are not in the US or Canada, call your local Microsoft offices, as
found at:

http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx

I probably should have suggested this earlier, but I'm not crystal clear
that SP2 issues qualify.

They'll tell you.

Let us know how it goes. If you can't get free support by this mechanism,
let us know what they say, and I'll check whether the policy is being
interpreted correctly.

 

[Dean Colpitts]

Has anyone came up with a good answer for this as it is affecting me
as well. I have an office full of IBM Netvista M42s with, with an OEM
WXPP image on all of them running SP2. I cannot connect to any of the
M42s, however, I can connect to my IBM Thinkpad T40s running an OEM
WXPP image with SP2 from the M42s...

dcc

 

[Steven]

Are you sure you have Remote Desktop enabled? It turns out that this
was simply due to an ID10T error on my end. When XP SP2 installs it
disables the Remote Desktop setting in My Computer > Remote tab.

I know I had RDP enabled and working before the install... so then I
after installed I assumed that that was still the case and that I was
having a Windows Firewall issue. I was wrong. Once I enabled Remote
Desktop again, everything works fine!

 

[Jeffrey Randow (MVP)]

Actually, file a support incident. SP2 specific problems are
generally free:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;Prodoffer80

Jeffrey Randow (Windows Networking & Smart Display MVP)
(e-mail address removed)

Please post all responses to the newsgroups for the benefit
of all USENET users. Messages sent via email may or may not
be answered depending on time availability....

Remote Networking Technology Support Site -
http://www.remotenetworktechnology.com
Windows XP Expert Zone - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[Colby]

I am also experiencing this issue and have checked all things
mentioned in this thread through 8/28. I have an IBM T21 laptop with
WinXP SP2 and a Dell GX110 desktop with WinXP SP2 both on a wireless
(802.11g) home network (SWB DSL). SP2 was installed from the internet
on both systems. I was able to connect to the desktop from the laptop
until after I installed SP2. (In fact I started the SP2 install on my
desktop via the RD connection on my laptop.) Now nada.