Win 10 1903 RDP (Remote Desktop) not retaining window positions or task bar position (multiple monitors)

[reload68]

Hello,

 

FYI I did cross post this to Microsoft forums but I figured this community might be more insightful and not reading from a tech support (unplug it and plug it back in) manual.

 

I'm unable to figure this out after hours of searching and trying things so I'm hoping someone here can help.

Recently my remote systems were updated to windows 10 1903 and since then every time I reconnect (hit the close button, re-establish a remote desktop session) all of my windows, and the task bar, that I re-locate to my other monitors are all crammed back on the center monitor.  I have three monitors.  Note that this all worked fine before this update.

 

Setup (can provide exact details if needed):

Main computer:

Win 10 (1807, 1903 now since I upgraded thinking it was a comparability issue) 

i7 8700k

nvidia 1060

 

Remote Computer 1:

Windows 10 (1903)

i7 4770

intel integrated graphics

 

Remote computer 2:

Windows 10 (1903)

xenon 13...

AMD hd 400 or something (dell)

 

Remote computer 3:

Windows 10 (1903)

i7 8700

intel HD 600 integrated

 

 

Things I've tried:

• I upgraded my main PC to 1903 thinking maybe if I had it on the same version it might fix it.  This resulted in my third monitor not receiving signal until I unplugged all of them, powered them all down, and plugged them in sequentially.  Separate issue I suppose, resolved now.
• I updated the remote pc's with all the latest patches from windows.  Checked graphics drivers are up to date.
• I tested remoting in from two other computers on windows 10, one with two monitors, one with three, same issue.
• I looked at the windows logs on the computers and there doesn't seem to be any error logs created by the remote connection event (like a graphics driver crash or similar)
• I ran sfc and similar to check for corruption and nothing of note came up.

Observations:

• This seems similar to what happens when you clean install a graphics driver where it bumps to one monitor low res and back.
• I am aware of the black screen issue with RDP and 1903.  The fix is to use a default windows display adapter which only supports low res and one monitor so its kind of pointless to try that.
• Given the range of hardware spanning 4 generations it seems unlikely to be a "old computer, not compatible" issue.

 

Any help or nudge in the right direction as to where I should look next would be appreciated.

 

Thanks for your time,

"Reload"

[mekieran]

Any luck in finding a solution?

[reload68]

I have not sadly.  There was even an update today to something like 1909 20-1 and it's still doing it.  I'm getting kind of fed up so I'm going to post on a couple more forums to see if any of them can help (Remote Desktop User Voice, and Remote Desktop Services/Terminal Services on Technet).

 

I did some more searching today to see if anyone else has put anything up but all that comes up is my posts on various sites.  The reason I saw your reply actually (I didn't get an email notifying me for some reason).

 

I wish I knew more about internals so I could kind of troubleshoot this more down to graphics drivers and resolution switching and such.

[reload68]

The fix appears to be to disable a specific display driver policy:

Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\ Remote Desktop Services\ Remote Desktop Session Host\ Remote Session Environment\ 

set "Use WDDM graphics display driver for Remote Desktop Connections" to disabled

 

Steps: 
 - Disable the policy described above
 - Restart host computer (one you're remoting into)
 - re-connect via remote desktop
 - re-arrange desktop windows
 - disconnect
 - re-connect to test and verify nothing has been compacted back to primary monitor.

 

Credit to TP [] on the technet forums.

 

Post this was resolved on:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/756e4469-1b10-4a3a-b5cf-2362b293a39a/win-10-19031909-rdp-remote-desktop-not-retaining-windowtaskbar-positions-on-reconnect-multiple?forum=winserverTS