RDM Locks Up With Unsuccessful Connection
I have two scenarios where I am running into an issue with RDM completely locks up, will not accept any user input at all and has to be killed from the Windows Task Manager and relaunched. They both are centered on unsuccessful RDP connections through RDM.
- If an RDP connection is unsuccessful because the server is unavailable (powered off, networking issue, etc) the UI will completely lock up. It tries to connect for a while, the tab closes and then everything becomes unresponsive.
- If the credentials entered for a session are invalid (in my case we have some issues with our MFA provider sometimes) ... the same thing happens. It tries to connect, the tab closes and then everything goes unresponsive.
Its consistent in these two use cases where this happens. It almost feels like there is a confirmation box or other dialog that is waiting for input related to the issue but is never presented on the screen.
Its been happening in all versions I've used in the past 3-4 months (I think, possibly longer) ... I am currently on 2025.1.25.0
Please let me know any additional information that would be helpful to diagnose this. Thanks!
All Comments (9)
Hello,
Thank you for getting in touch with us. To better assist you, could you kindly provide us with the following information:
- The operating system you are using and its version.
- The data source you are utilizing.
- Could you reproduce the issue with the Profiler open and see if any information shows up while it freezes? Here's our documentation about the Profiler.
https://docs.devolutions.net/rdm/commands/help/profiler/
- A recording showing the steps that led to the issue? This will allow us to investigate and try to reproduce the issue. I sent you the information in a direct message about where to send us the recording.
Once we have this information, we will be better equipped to diagnose and resolve the issue.
Best regards,
Maxim Robert
Thank you for the quick reply. I am running Windows 11 23H2 build 22631.5039. My data source is a local data source.
The profiler only shows the below when I run it and trigger a lock up condition.
I will take and upload the screen recording shortly.
Profiler output:
Main thread (UI)
----------------------------------------
SelectionChanged - Default : 33 ms
GetOpenedConnections...
Opened - by process : 12 ms
GetOpenedConnections : 13 ms
GetOpenedConnections...
Opened - by process : 16 ms
GetOpenedConnections : 16 ms
GetOpenedConnections...
Opened - by process : 8 ms
GetOpenedConnections : 8 ms
GetOpenedConnections...
Opened - by process : 8 ms
GetOpenedConnections : 8 ms
Update: 2025-04-03 @ 9:26am Eastern US ... video uploaded as requested
Hello,
Thank you for your response!
Would it be possible for you to create a portable installation of the latest version of RDM and see if this issue still occurs? To do so, you will need to do the following:
(Close RDM)
1- Download the .zip file below:
https://devolutions.net/remote-desktop-manager/download/thank-you/?platform=RDMbin&edition=team&os=windows
2- Create a new folder on your Desktop
3- Extract the content of the .zip file into the folder created at #2
4- Go to this folder once the .zip file has been extracted and run remotedesktopmanager.exe
5- Connect to your data source
This test will allow us to rule out your local installation of RDM as a possible cause for this issue.
Best regards,
Maxim Robert
Same thing happens with the portable version. I followed the instructions as you wrote for #1-4 ... for #5 it went through the setup wizard (asking me for theme options, IT/business user, ribbon types, etc) but after that it pulled up my existing data source without prompting, not sure if that was expected or not.
Hello
Further to what my colleague wrote, can you check what RDP version you have configured? In the "Advanced" tab of the RDP session; or if it's set to "Default" you can find the default setting in File > Settings > Entry Types > Sessions > Remote Desktop (RDP). I'd expect it to be "Latest" but if you have something else set, can you let me know?
Kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
The RDP version is set to "Latest"
Hello
Based on your description, something to try before digging further into the problem is disabling the UDP transport for RDP. It's known to cause issues like this. We have a knowledge base that explains how, but please let me know if you have some questions.
Kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
OK that worked, I now get a login prompt instead of a hang. Thank you!
I ended up having to do the registry entry (option 3 in the KB article). When I tried to do option 1 from the article it said I needed to run RDM as an administrator, but the application opens in the background but has no visible windows when run as an administrator. So I had to force close it. I then figured to make the change as universal as possible the registry entry sounded like the next best option instead of making the change per session through my entire library.
Hello
Ok, first I'm glad that it worked. I'm sorry there was bit of friction there, we will have to look at the problem if things aren't opening correctly as administrator, but making the change universally is the best idea. Indeed, the option within RDM is ultimately just setting the same registry key anyway.
This is a problem for some users with RDP embedded. Essentially, the UDP transport seems quite fragile. The ActiveX (which provides the embedded RDP in RDM) shares a lot of code with mstsc.exe but it works in a fundamentally different way (in mstsc.exe, the session is tied to the lifetime of the application, which isn't the case with the ActiveX). Microsoft don't use the ActiveX in any of their own products so these kind of problems are basically only visible with third-party applications. There aren't many downsides to disabling UDP; you might notice slightly more latency with certain features if you are on a slow network but that's about all.
I'll mark this thread as resolved but please don't hesitate to post back if you have further questions or comments.
Kind regards,
Richard Markievicz