RDP not working on Windows Server 2012 R2

[ProjectBox153]

My main server (in signature) runs Windows Server 2012 R2 and works wonderfully except for RDP. No client has been able to even see the server, but all networking is fine and VMs are able to be connected to. Any ideas?

[itzzkolt]

I've never used Windows Server but for my Windows 10 VMs, I have to enable Network discovery and allow RDP connections (search for 'Allow remote access'... and something will come up).  Of course you would have to do this directly on the physical machine.

 

Hope this helps and good luck

[Dujith]

Also check the firewall. For some reason enabling remote access does NOT allow it in the firewall  

[ProjectBox153]

44 minutes ago, Dujith said:

Also check the firewall. For some reason enabling remote access does NOT allow it in the firewall  

I configured everything identically to another machine that worked fine. I don’t know why it would be different. 

[Dujith]

3 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I configured everything identically to another machine that worked fine. I don’t know why it would be different. 

Does RDP work with an IP adress?

[Jay Deah]

https://technet.microsoft.com/pt-pt/library/cc794832(v=ws.10).aspx

 

[ProjectBox153]

2 minutes ago, Jay Deah said:

https://technet.microsoft.com/pt-pt/library/cc794832(v=ws.10).aspx

 

That’s completely not the point. I have it enabled, I’ve used it one hundreds of machines. 

 

35 minutes ago, Dujith said:

Does RDP work with an IP adress?

Nope, and it’s allowed through the firewall. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Jamiec1130 said:

That’s completely not the point. I have it enabled, I’ve used it one hundreds of machines. 

 

Nope, and it’s allowed through the firewall. 

What's the error message it gives?

[ProjectBox153]

12 hours ago, Windspeed36 said:

What's the error message it gives?

Nothing. All my client devices seem to indicate that the machine isn't on the network. 

[NelizMastr]

Completely disable Windows firewall. If it works now, that means the firewall is the culprit. I've seen this on many occasions. This is why we sell hardware firewalls and completely omit software firewalls for our customers.

 

Should be rather easy to rectify, though. In Advanced Settings, you can manually enable access for TCP port 3389 as just enabling access for MSTSC sometimes isn't enough.

[ProjectBox153]

1 hour ago, NelizMastr said:

Completely disable Windows firewall. If it works now, that means the firewall is the culprit. I've seen this on many occasions. This is why we sell hardware firewalls and completely omit software firewalls for our customers.

 

Should be rather easy to rectify, though. In Advanced Settings, you can manually enable access for TCP port 3389 as just enabling access for MSTSC sometimes isn't enough.

What I don’t get is that I setup three other machines exactly the same way and have used this same system for RDP before. I don’t really want to disable the firewall because yes, it may be limited, but it’s saved me a few times before and this is an internet facing machine. 

[NelizMastr]

3 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

What I don’t get is that I setup three other machines exactly the same way and have used this same system for RDP before. I don’t really want to disable the firewall because yes, it may be limited, but it’s saved me a few times before and this is an internet facing machine. 

I'd still consider disabling it as a way of testing whether it's the culprit. If it is, it's simply a matter of playing with the rules a bit. I've setup a bunch of machines with remote access enabled, and some utterly refused as well, in a simimar way, and with those I also had to manually point the firewall to allowing traffic both ways through TCP port 3389 (which is the default RDP port anyway).

Just re-enable once you've verified the firewall is blocking the connection.

[Mikensan]

3 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Nothing. All my client devices seem to indicate that the machine isn't on the network. 

That's vague and impossible at the same time (unless your client machine has issues). If you try to RDP you get an error message or you connect - Also RDP doesn't tell you the presence of a machine on the network. (e.g. of an error: I just tried to rdp to an IP I knew wasn't valid, I got "Remote Desktop can't connect to the computer for one of these reasons:"

 

Disabling the firewall is a troubleshooting step not a permanent solution - do it. If disabling your firewall works it just means there's a configuration issue you need to address. Easy peasy.

 

Don't try to compare it to other installations, it's a M$ product. Inconsistency from them is the bread of butter of most of our jobs.

 

Couple people are trying to help you and you're dismissing it. If your logic and internal discussion hasn't solved it, try others' suggestions. We're just trying to help.

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, Mikensan said:

That's vague and impossible at the same time (unless your client machine has issues). If you try to RDP you get an error message or you connect - Also RDP doesn't tell you the presence of a machine on the network. (e.g. of an error: I just tried to rdp to an IP I knew wasn't valid, I got "Remote Desktop can't connect to the computer for one of these reasons:"

 

Disabling the firewall is a troubleshooting step not a permanent solution - do it. If disabling your firewall works it just means there's a configuration issue you need to address. Easy peasy.

 

Don't try to compare it to other installations, it's a M$ product. Inconsistency from them is the bread of butter of most of our jobs.

 

Couple people are trying to help you and you're dismissing it. If your logic and internal discussion hasn't solved it, try others' suggestions. We're just trying to help.

The “error” says the client can’t find the computer on the network, even though I can see it on a client list from my router and it can connect to other machines. How am I dismissing the help? 

[Mikensan]

Moving on.. have you had any success with disabling the firewall? One easy way to do so is stopping the firewall service "Windows Firewall" - that way it's easy to turn it back on (vs disabling it for each profile via the GUI).

[happymax1212]

Are you able to connect from your server to your clients? 

[ProjectBox153]

25 minutes ago, happymax1212 said:

Are you able to connect from your server to your clients? 

 

1 hour ago, Mikensan said:

Moving on.. have you had any success with disabling the firewall? One easy way to do so is stopping the firewall service "Windows Firewall" - that way it's easy to turn it back on (vs disabling it for each profile via the GUI).

Haven't tried yet, I'm out of the house.

[NelizMastr]

A server not appearing on the network is default behaviour by the way. That's just how modern Windows Server operating systems work. One important thing to keep in mind is how your DNS is setup. If you connect using hostname instead of IP a failure is usually DNS related. If IP doesn't work either, it's a firewall, configuration or routing issue. If ping works, most likely firewall or remote access configuration.

[ProjectBox153]

35 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

A server not appearing on the network is default behaviour by the way. That's just how modern Windows Server operating systems work. One important thing to keep in mind is how your DNS is setup. If you connect using hostname instead of IP a failure is usually DNS related. If IP doesn't work either, it's a firewall, configuration or routing issue. If ping works, most likely firewall or remote access configuration.

I got it to work one time yesterday, without disabling anything. I’m having to change my router and modem around so I’ll see what happens. 

[Jarsky]

Run an ipconfig and check the ip address assigned is in the same CIDR notation as the rest of your devices. e.g 192.168.1.XXX

Try and ping that IP address from another computer, if it fails then you may need to restart your modem to refresh the ARP cache.

If it pings ok, tthen it is Windows configuration, and as you say 'Allow RDP Connections' is already enabled, I would test with the firewall off as suggested.

 

If it works with the firewall off, then I would check the Network Type e.g Private, Public, Domain and confirm that your firewall rules are for the correct network.

[ProjectBox153]

7 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

Run an ipconfig and check the ip address assigned is in the same CIDR notation as the rest of your devices. e.g 192.168.1.XXX

I've set a custom IP address and tried with DHCP assigned addresses.

[Jarsky]

Thats fine, but you need to go to the next step if thats the case, and so on...

[AdrianG001]

On 1/29/2018 at 10:45 PM, Jamiec1130 said:

My main server (in signature) runs Windows Server 2012 R2 and works wonderfully except for RDP. No client has been able to even see the server, but all networking is fine and VMs are able to be connected to. Any ideas?

Hi,

Are users able to ping the Windows 2012 R2 Server’s FQDN and IP address?

Please ensure that firewall ports required by RDS are open:

Which ports are used by a RDS 2012 deployment?

 

In addition, what’s the exact error message when users failed to connect?

Best Regards,

Adrian Gates - Apps4Rent.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, AdrianG001 said:

Hi,

Are users able to ping the Windows 2012 R2 Server’s FQDN and IP address?

Please ensure that firewall ports required by RDS are open:

Which ports are used by a RDS 2012 deployment?

 

In addition, what’s the exact error message when users failed to connect?

Best Regards,

Adrian Gates - Apps4Rent.

My problem is solved. I've moved onto Windows Server 2016, not to mention this is a month old post.