Windows 10 V1903 black screen with Remote Desktop

Anonymous
2019-05-24T01:45:13+00:00

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*

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2019-07-14T03:31:57+00:00

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
2019-05-30T19:52:43+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2019-07-12T06:31:05+00:00

    Black screen can be caused by a variety of reasons. In this thread we are focusing on one that happens in a specific scenario:

    1. You run Windows 10 may update (1903)
    2. You have a specific old Intel GPU driver for Q45, Q43, G45, G43, G41, B43  and few other chipsets. Driver version: 03/11/2013, 8.15.10.2702

    For this specific scenario the workaround is disabling the driver.

    There might be other old GPUs with the same issue, but we have not seen any reports.

    It is also necessary to enable the rdp option "wallpaper", otherwise the windows search will be black.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-07-12T18:08:03+00:00

    There’s a known issue with some of the old display drivers.

    Display drivers report some of their capabilities upon load. In previous Windows versions this reported data wasn’t used or verified. Because of that, some of the old versions of the legacy display driver may report invalid data and it would be ignored. Starting with Windows 10 1903 RDP uses this data to initialize the session.

    The best option is to install an updated display driver from the hardware manufacturer. If the new version is not available, you can workaround this by disabling the problematic driver in the device manager.

    Our team has identified the issue and we are currently verifying the fix that will dynamically switch to the software renderer if the problematic driver is detected.

    I will this thread when the fix will be included to the Windows Insider release.

    I don't see this listed anywhere as a known issue. 

    Windows 10, version 1903 and Windows Server, version 1903 - Windows Release Information | Microsoft Docs

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-07-13T19:12:55+00:00

    It was finally added just yesterday (of course, what he meant by "known" before that was that it was acknowledged here in this forum), but I'd really like to see someone own up to how this issue slipped through when it was reported multiple times, with plenty of upvotes, months before 1903 was released. At the very, very least, such an issue should have been on the Known Issues page on Day 1, but ideally it would have been a blocker.

    Initiating a Remote Desktop connection may result in black screen

    When initiating a Remote Desktop connection to devices with some older GPU drivers, you may receive a black screen. Any version of Windows may encounter this issue when initiating a Remote Desktop connection to a Windows 10, version 1903 device which is running an affected display driver, including the drivers for the Intel 4 series chipset integrated GPU (iGPU).

    Next steps: We are working on a resolution that will be made available in upcoming release.

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