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
    2019-08-29T17:45:54+00:00

    There are multiple causes of the same symptoms hence the confusion as to who should fix the problem and whether it is fixed or not. Many have reported that switching to the Basic video driver solved the black screen problem for them, but personally I had an old Radeon HD7700 discrete adapter as well as an Intel HD4000 integrated, both supposedly plagued by the display driver issue, but both worked fine with old drivers (did not cause the black screen issue). In my case the true cause was outdated Carbon Black defense software.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T19:27:22+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-08-30T15:23:39+00:00

    This fix worked for me 

    https://itcalls.net/windows-10-version-1809-black-screen-when-connecting-rdp-to-server-2019/

    This hack worked so I could use Microsoft Remote Desktops to get in.  It did not fix for normal RDP but this helps.

    Also you will notice this points to a different issue.  So you see that what we are finding is that there are multiple things  broken by Microsoft that needs to be fixed in an update, not just a single issue here.

    I suggest Microsoft responds and gets this fixed in a patch REALLY soon so that this will stop being an issue for everyone as well as stopping pushing the 1903 update on people until this is fixed.  Remote Desktop is very important to stay working for a company.

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