Strange Windows 2025 Server GUI issues

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum! 

Based on your scenario, the issue is very likely related to GPU rendering behavior over RDP, especially when using NVIDIA A4000 with hardware acceleration enabled.

Your symptoms are consistent with known RDP graphics issues:

• ANSYS Fluent shows rendering artifacts and may crash
• Microsoft Word ribbon turns black while content remains visible
• Entire screen occasionally becomes pink or corrupted

These are typical signs of RDP rendering pipeline instability with GPU acceleration.

This behavior usually occurs due to how RDP handles graphics:

• By default, RDP uses a software renderer (Microsoft Basic Render Driver) for stability
• Enabling “Use the hardware default graphics adapter for all RDS sessions” forces RDP to use the physical GPU, which can introduce instability depending on drivers and workload
• Pink artifacts, black UI, and screen corruption can occur specifically in RDP sessions with NVIDIA GPUs
• The issues are typically driver or rendering pipeline related, not application-specific

I would like to share the following recommended solutions that may help you. 

1. Rule out networking issues

Test RDP to localhost from the server console

• If the issue disappears, likely network/RDP transport-related
• If it persists, problem is local to server (GPU / driver / RDS)

2. Graphics driver and application acceleration

• Ensure NVIDIA driver is stable (not just latest)
• Test with hardware acceleration disabled inside applications such as ANSYS Fluent and Microsoft Word (disable hardware graphics acceleration)

Many UI corruption issues only appear when applications use GPU acceleration over RDP

3. RDP graphics pipeline

You currently have “Use the hardware default graphics adapter” Enabled. This is a key trigger. Please test by disabling it.

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Remote Desktop Services → Remote Desktop Session Host → Remote Session Environment → Use hardware graphics adapters for all RDS sessions (Disabled)

This is a known workaround for RDP artifact issues. If artifacts disappear, root cause can be GPU + RDP rendering path

4. Windows and application updates

Ensure:

• Windows Server 2025 is fully patched
• Office and ANSYS versions are updated

Some RDP and graphics issues are resolved by cumulative updates / hotfixes

5. RDP listener / session reset

• Recreate the RDP listener (if misconfigured)
• Restart Remote Desktop Services and Display-related services

Incorrect session configuration can affect rendering.

6. Clean boot / third-party interference

Perform a clean boot

• Disable all non-Microsoft services
• Test without antivirus or third-party monitoring tools

Third-party components (especially AV or GPU utilities) can interfere with RDP graphics.

7. Application-specific considerations

ANSYS Fluent:

• Requires GPU/OpenGL (may not behave reliably over RDP)
• Check vendor guidance for remote usage scenarios

Microsoft Office:

• Known to show black UI issues with GPU acceleration
• Disabling hardware acceleration is a common workaround

8. Additional RDP factors to validate

• Try different NVIDIA driver versions (not only the latest)
• Clear RDP cache: C:\Users<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Cache

Corrupted bitmap cache can also cause visual artifacts and rendering issues.

I hope this information is helpful and thank you for choosing Microsoft Q&A to raise your concern.

Here are the screenshots (please do not delete, they are anonymised and published with permission):

ANSYS Fluent:

MS Excel:

Remote Desktop: