Workstation 15 issue with connection to MKS via port 903

[UOVS]

Hi,

I have an interesting issue for which I don't get any info on google.

I have 2 computers, one running as host the other as my desktop (I'm using this for a playpen)

"Host server"

Windows Server 2012R2 (ver6.3 build 9600) up to latest win patches

"Client desktop"

Windows 10 ver 1809 (build 17763.379)

Both running VMware Workstation (Pro) 15.0.3 build 12422535

on the Win 2012 host, I run a few VM's and share then so that I can connect directly from my desktop via VMware workstation. The firewall on both computers are turned off.

As you can see from 2 of the screenshots both have vmware-authd.exe service runs on port 902 ( as the vmware documentation specifies.)

But when I connect from the client desktop to the win 2012 host I get an error that MKS cannot be connected via 903.

Can someone please assist me with this? This has been happening from the first vmware workstation 15 build that I installed. I ignored it and worked around it via RDP but this is becoming a problem.

[mac671]

I have a very similar setup, and I also suffered from this issue.

My configuration:

Desktop with VMWare Workstation Pro 15.5.2 (Host)

Laptop with VMWare Workstation Pro 15.5.2 (Client)

All worked fine until I automatically updated to the latest version of Workstation Pro.

The issue I had boiled down to firewall settings, and this is a broad thing to check.

After I disabled the firewall on the Desktop I was able to connect.

I would suggest the following troubleshooting steps:

1) Disable Firewall on Host ( in my case 192.168.2.20 )

2) Connect to VM from Client ( in my case 192.168.2.32 )

3) On host run netstat -an | findstr 192.168.2.32

This will list all ports needed to establish the connection between the two machines.

TCP    192.168.2.20:443       192.168.2.32:51385     ESTABLISHED

TCP    192.168.2.20:443       192.168.2.32:51390     ESTABLISHED

TCP    192.168.2.20:903       192.168.2.32:51395     ESTABLISHED

TCP    192.168.2.20:3389     192.168.2.32:51415     ESTABLISHED

Ensuring that ports 443 ; 903 and 3398 remain open in the firewall rule and re enabling the Firewall has solved the issue for me.

Hope this helps.