Typing in command prompt in RDP session stops randomly working

Hello

Sorry to hear about the issue. This is something I know a bit about. VMWare indeed won't accept unicode input; internally they map the keypresses to their own platform-agnostic key codes and none of their software (that I've seen) has the ability to do that mapping from unicode (only scan codes).

Presumably you're remoting (the first hop) into a Windows server? What's the OS version?

What keyboard layout are using (both locally, on your Mac, and on the Windows server)?

To be clear: you can type characters into the initial Windows server (the first hop)? But when then you cannot type characters into a second, nested RDP session or the VMWare console? Is that right?

Please, let me know if something isn't clear.

Kind regards,

OK, understandable that nothing can be done with VMware.

I RDP to Windows Server 2019 and 2022.

But I just found out that this is not something that only happens when double jumping, it also happens on servers I directly access.
The only setting that I can see that all of the servers with this problem have in common is that they have the CIS level 1 security baseline applied, otherwise they are hosted in different environments.
I have the problem only in the command prompts like cmd and PowerShell command prompt where character input is not typed.

On the servers I RDP to that have the problem, I can type in other apps like browser, notepad, etc.
I can even type commands in the console area in PowerShell ISE or git-cmd.exe, the problem is only in the terminal on those servers.

Hello

Thanks for the info.

Well - for VMWare - I think it should work with scan code input. But that isn't the case, right? What keyboard layouts are you using at every step of the "hops"?

I do remember something with keyboard input in remote terminals. I'll need to search back over my notes on that. I'll post back once I have something.

Best regards,

I use the Danish keyboard layout on all my hops. However, as mentioned earlier, I’ve noticed that I also encounter issues on certain servers that I connect directly to. Notably, the only common factor among the server configurations I’ve observed is that they have the CIS level 1 settings. Interestingly, servers without these settings don’t exhibit the same problem. Is there perhaps a known security-related setting that causes problems with Unicode?

Hello

Thanks for the update.

Ok, I think what we're seeing here is maybe two separate issues. I'll have to try the VMWare problem on my side and see what I can find. I'll post back once I've some info.

In terms of the terminal not accepting key input in scancode, I'd encourage to take a look at this issue which is broadly similar. I'm not familiar with the CIS benchmarks, but it seems feasible that if they cause the "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service" to be disabled, or otherwise interact with ctfmon.exe (preventing it from starting, for example) that would be a strong indicator of the issue.

Next question: do you get the same result with the Microsoft RDP client ("Windows App")? Once you're inside an RDP session, you can toggle the input mode between scan codes and unicode in the menu Connections > Keyboard mode. Let me know.

Thanks and kind regards,

The issue arises when Unicode is enabled. I can type successfully when I set the Unicode setting to “No.” Then, I can type in the command prompt of the Windows Server, but then I have the problem with keyboard layout...

Hello

Ok, I've done some checking here.

Indeed the issue with VMWare is intractable. It will only respond to keyboard input over RDP if you're using scan codes. This is due to how they map keyboard input to their own platform independent key codes.

With regard to the terminal input on servers with the CIS security baseline, I think it's broadly the same issue as here. I have to guess that the security changes are blocking either the text input service or ctfmon.exe itself.

In both cases, I'd be surprised if you don't get the same issue with Microsoft's own RDP client. However, I note that one advantage of using Windows App is that it at least lets you toggle between scancode and unicode inside the connection, whereas with RDM you need to reconnect to make that change. Do you think this would be a worthwhile improvement for you in RDM?

then I have the problem with keyboard layout

Can you expand on the issue with the keyboard layout? I don't see it mentioned above.

Please, let me know if something isn't clear or you have further questions.

Kind regards,

Hi

I have the same problem from Mac OS using unicode when RDP til Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022.
The issue only applies for CMD and Powershell prompts.

On Windows Server 2025 I can use Windows Terminal with no issues and on Windows Server 2022 I install Windows Terminal using this PWSH:

Install-PackageProvider -Name "NuGet" -Force
Set-PSRepository -Name "PSGallery" -InstallationPolicy Trusted
Install-Script Install-WindowsTerminal -Force
Install-WindowsTerminal

On Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2012 R2 I have no issues with CMD and Powershell prompts, so using Windows Terminal for 2025 and 2022 Windows Servers "fixes" the issue for me.

Regards,

Thomas