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I created an "Instance" in Google Cloud (Windows server 2016 with RDP). On this server, I launch a console application (written in C ++), the simplest example of a web server. The web server listens on port 2246 and sends an OK response regardless of the request. After launching the application, I exit RDP and on a remote Linux server (online.net Data Centre) I begin to send requests to Google Instance every 2 seconds. If Google instance does not respond within 2 seconds, I get an email (this email is sent to me by the Linux server). As soon as the connection to the Google instance is restored, I receive an email stating that the connection is established.

The problem occurs several times a day, sometimes the connection is broken for 10 minutes, sometimes for several hours. At the time of the disconnection, I can not access the Windows server via RDP. After recovery, which happens by itself, I see in the Event Log that the RDP process has ended with an error

the screenshot is below

The RDP port is closed for everyone except me, and even if you do not log in via RDP, the process ends with an error and because of it the Google instance stops responding to any of the ports. The problem is also that using dedicated servers I could specify in my simple C ++ application that it listened to EXTERNAL IP and port, so even if there was a problem with RDP (there are errors every day on all our windows servers 2012-2019) the server kept responding. But on the Google Instance I can point my web server to listen only INTERNAL IP.

What should bedone in this situation? Is it possible to solve the problem with the instability of the RDP process? I want stable operation of windows servers and move from dedicated servers to cloud servers.

user1686
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AlexFX
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    I don't know the specifics of this situation, but a faulty RDP service is very *not* standard on Windows servers. Even more so if you experience it routinely on your own servers, too. You should definitely investigate and fix that, because RDP is not supposed to crash. – Massimo Jan 31 '19 at 15:02
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    according to your screenshot something is crashing the desktop window manager from what appears to be a system call. RDP itself isn't crashing, there is nothing to RDP into since the desktop is dead...Does this happen on other services (amazon or azure)? – Jim B Jan 31 '19 at 16:51
  • Thanks for the reply! We will test on Azure today. – AlexFX Jan 31 '19 at 17:58
  • Not sure whether the platform itself is causing this. That's being said, I would recommend you to refer [this help center article](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/troubleshooting/general-tips) as it describes some tips that you might find helpful if you run into problems using Compute Engine. – Digil Oct 05 '20 at 17:31

1 Answers1

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I posted these instructions for anyone who is facing such issue in 2021. Your screenshot indicates issue can be caused by dwm.exe.

According to this thread DWM crashing intermittently when connected via RDP on windows 10, this is usually caused by GPU drivers, both integrated Intel and dedicated nvidia.

There's couple of things that can be done:

  • Run gpedit.msc
  • Go to Local Computer Policy → Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Remote Desktop Service → Remote Desktop Service → Remote Desktop Session Host → Remote Session Environment →
  • Set Use WDDM graphics display driver for Remote Desktop Connections as Disabled

If this doesn't solve your problem, try rolling back your GPU driver.

If there is no previous driver available, try updating it to latest version.

Also, as suggested by @Jim B, there may be an external cause for the application to crash.

In any case, you can also try using this document to troubleshoot problems with RDP: Troubleshooting RDP

Uwe Keim
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Sergiusz
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