Windows 10 V1903 black screen with Remote Desktop

Anonymous

I upgraded my secondary machine from 1809 to 1903. When I access it now using Remote Desktop all I get is a black screen in the RDP windows. I then upgraded my primary machine to 1903 hoping that would help, but no. Fortunately I also have GoToAssist installed so I was able to log into the secondary machine that way and checked for updates, still no help. Finally I reverted it back to 1809 and Remote Desktop once again works. I could keep using GoToAssist but RDP over my local LAN is much faster.

As long as this version as been (more or less) gold before going public, I can't possibly be the first one with this issue. It's no big deal to me that my secondary is running 1809, it's primarily a file server, but upgrading would be nice.

Granted, that secondary system is an older Core2 Quad, but at 3.3GHz and 8GB of memory and a SSD, it's plenty fast enough. I suppose I could try a different video card, but it shouldn't be necessary for a feature update.

Anyone have some insight into why RDP isn't working. I've already been through all the "guesses". :-)

*Modified title for accuracy*

*Original title: Windows 10 1903 (May update) black screen with Remote Desktop*

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Anonymous

Workaround reported here is to set the group policy to force RD sessions to use XDDM instead of WDDM:

Gpedit.msc: Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->Windows Components->Remote Desktop Services->Remote Desktop Session Host->Remote Session Environment

Moderator's note:

If Group Policy method doesn't works, open administrative Command Prompt, type this, and press Enter key:

REG ADD “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services” /v “fEnableWddmDriver” /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Microsoft has also released update KB4512941, which addresses this issue:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4512941/windows-10-update-kb4512941

The update page mentions:

Addresses an issue that displays a black screen when you use Remote Desktop to connect to a machine running Windows 10, version 1903.

You can install KB4512941 and this would resolve the issue for you.

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Anonymous

In my case all Intel G41 drivers currently available, from Intel (2009), and from Microsoft (2013), showed black screen with RDP, even though they are Ok with the monitor connected to the PC.

So I've decided to use the "Microsoft Basic Graphics" driver, shown in the compatibility list when I tried to update the driver manually, and now RDP works.

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148 additional answers

Anonymous

2019-08-12T20:03:04+00:00

Much like Phil, I tried all of the workarounds. Much like Phil, none of them helped. I also had a black screen after signing out requiring a hard power cycle. Even went so far as to change out my graphics to an nVidia GTX 1650 - nothing fancy, but a current generation card, with the latest drivers.

Then I saw Phil's UPDATE and got my boss to disable Carbon Black. Sure enough it fixed it. I was back-versioned so we're trying to install the latest update and see if it still works (he installed 1903 from scratch to a new drive on his machine, had no trouble even after installing latest CB)

Update: RDP works with Carbon Black Defense version 3.4.0.1047 for me too. No more black screen!
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Anonymous

2019-08-09T16:35:24+00:00

On my Dell 780, I have set the group policy to force RD sessions to use XDDM instead of WDDM as detailed and am pleased to say it works and the black screen is gone.

HOWEVER

I now have a problem that when I use MS RDP, the USB microphone which I have is blocked (not available).

I use this microphone with ISpy software and it has been working and recording fine with Team Viewer since I had the black screen problem. However the interesting point is that although RDP makes the microphone unavailable (even locally), if I then link in again with Team Viewer, it starts to record again!!

Any ideas please?

Tony
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Anonymous

2019-08-07T08:58:07+00:00

Absolutely none of this works for me! I even changed the driver to a Microsoft basic Display Adapter and still the issue persists. I have been at it a full day now, trying every single 'fix' posted by people! You name it, I've tried it. CTRL-ALT-END in the session window does nothing, CTRL-ALT-DEL at the target PC does nothing. The whole thing is locked. If I don't log in to the target PC and then remotely try and RDP to it, I get a black screen in the window. If I log in to the target PC then start a remote session, the remote session window presents the targets desktop, but the target PC screen goes black. When I log off the remote session, the target PC remains black and I can do nothing but pull the power. Yesterday, when I logged in to the target PC, then started a remote session, there was an update waiting to be finished. I selected reboot to install it. The remote session Window eventually closed but the target PC screen just stayed black, and the PC never rebooted, so I had to pull the power again.

My PC is one of the very latest Intel NUCs, NUC8i7BEH, with the latest set of drivers. Windows 10 Pro 1903, build 18362.267

A colleague has also tried it with the i5 version and gets exactly the same issue. He had 1809 and did not have the issue, but as soon as he upgraded to 1903 for the purpose of the testing, the issue started.

UPDATE!

If I uninstall our Forcepoint (Websense) web filtering agent on the target PC the issue goes away, but if I leave the Forcepoint endpoint agent installed and roll Windows back to 1809, then the problem also goes away. My guess is that due to the fact there are many people with this issue (and I can't believe they all have the Websense agent installed!), then the issue lies with 1903 rather than the Forcepoint agent.
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