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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

No RDP after VM reboot problem

Hi,

So I've had this issue for a while now, but never really bothered to research/question it until now. Basically what happens is random servers (all running w2k3) will just stop responding to RDP requests after a reboot even on different hosts. Now this has happened on numerous datacenters that I have implemented - ESX 3.0 right through to ESX 3.5 update 2. The only way to fix is to reboot right after - as such I usually get the guys to check the RDP conn when patches are done etc etc, but sometimes they forget and then we need to log a change to get the server rebooted.

The VM's will respond to ICMP, network shares etc. its just the RDP thats broken!

I've done some research, but no one seems to have an answer to this....this issue only comes up on virtual enviroments. I havent seen this happen on physical servers in a datacenter of 100+ physical boxes ranging from Win 2000 - 2003!

Has anyone out there experienced the same issue?

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25 Replies
satishgte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Please check it VMware tools installation

regards

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

RDP is a service it's inside Windows. It's not part of VM Ware at all, if it's not working you need to restart the VM. Doesn't matter if tools are updated or not, it has no bearing.

I find that you should DISABLE TCP/IP sec.

Other than that this is completely a Windows issue, not VM Ware influence, other than rebooting your VM's. Did you enable remote desktop? Ensure that Terminal Services are running? Check the event viewer for error messages? That's where you should start.

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Sureshadmin
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Parker,

I have a similar problem. I find that you have given a comment "Disable IPsec". When i reboot my vm's i will get domain authentication error and when i log in as local administrator and disable IPsec and again reboot my machine everthing works fine. It's happening in VM's only and not in physical machine.

I have opened a thread already for this wtih all details. Any further info is much appreciated.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/212982

Thanks in Advance!

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

This ONLY happens on VM's - as I said above...everything works as it should. Usually on server maintenance the tech does a reboot via the RDP session, on reboot they try RDP and it fails. Login to console session via the VI - reboot the server. Then RDP works again.

This does not happen on the physical servers. Happens on more than one VI datacenter as well.

There are no eventlogs errors - the server responds to everything else as it should.....only RDP does not work....all servers have vmware tools installed.

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Please note this doesnt happen every time after a reboot. It probably happens one of of 10 reboots - very random....so its realllly difficult to troubleshoot....

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Sureshadmin
Contributor
Contributor

I have faced this problem many times. Hope its a bug. the solution i follow is, whenever i want to rebbot the W2K3 VM machine through RDP

1. Start >Run-> mstsc /console

2. Enter the machine name, connect, login and give a reboot. No problems with RDP.

Basically W2K3 VM's never give a problem when restarted through console session.

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Ok Cool...I'll let everyone know for this months maintenance weekend. I'll update the forum when we're done.

Thanks

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vinoji2005
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi ,

Can you check the RDP server and Terminal services status . its is start or stop and check staup type .

This server is standalone or domain ?

Thanks ,

Vinoth.S

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

As explained above...all services are started. no problems in eventlogs. all servers are part of domain.

I think sureshadmin may have a point....we will be looking at his solution.

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acnsys
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Same problem here, we are currently rebooting using the command line to get round the bug:

shutdown -r -f -t 01

There is a Win hotfix but i havent tried it yet:

Even though it looks VMware related i would agree with RParker that it is more a Windows problem.

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

This ONLY happens on VM's - as I said above

OK, I was REFERRING TO VM's. This is a VM Ware forum? I know what subject we are on. EVERY time a VM doesn't respond to RDP / Terminal Service it's a timing issue. Terminal service tries to start, but since NONE of the services on Windows are strict in their operation, there is no way to for a service to know that its dependency is working only 'STARTED*. And I have seen this many times.

Since we are talking about VM's, the timing issues are ALSO more prevelant. OK, so ipsec may not be a good solution for you, but it's still not a VM Ware issue, becuase I have seen this quite a few times on a PHYSICAL machine as well. It happens less frequently but it DOES happen.

It's Windows being Windows. There could be OTHER problems with services which affect services from completely starting, only thing they return is a status code, of '0' which indicates they are running, but it doesn't mean that terminal service, TCP/IP, and the other servers are actually WORKING only that they respond to indicate they started.

BTW, this is a KNOWN issue on the Hyper-V forums also, so that's how I know it MUST be Windows since it's the common denominator (Physical, VM Ware, Hyper-V).

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

Can you check the RDP server and Terminal services status . its is start or stop and check staup type .

You can't stop / start teminal services. That's the biggest problem. You can disable the service and set it to manual, but you can't stop it once started, if we could this wouldn't be an issue. It requires a restart of the VM. To fix it sometimes I purposely set TS to manual (can't use delay either) and later I start the service, which results in 100% (so far) working. The problem is they require manual intervention, but for some machines that take a long time to start, and they are critical to operations, and need remote access, I simple enable manual and then start TS, that way I know they work.

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Interesting post.....I see you take offence reeeaallll quick.

You obviously didnt understand what I meant by putting "ONLY" in Caps......you took offence and as such....please dont try and assist anymore...

This will also be the last reply to any of your posts.

I thank you for your insight.

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zman442
Contributor
Contributor

We have actually seen this on several VMs but in our case we have seen this on VMs that have been running with no issues. Just all of a sudden the only thing that responds is a ping request, all other communications fail but the console works normally and appears normal. We have seen this occur on physical server but much more frequently on VMs.

-Z

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vinoji2005
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

we have facing same problem 2 months before that time we have checked AD server netlogon services restart and then problem resolved .

Can you check your AD Server and services stop or disabled

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Texiwill
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Leadership

Hello,

Moved to Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum


Best regards, Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Now Available on Rough-Cuts: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Hi guys,

Jeez....I'm happy to see I'm not the only one having these probems....makes the boat not that lonely anymore LOL

Anycase, the environment is crisp. No issues at all on AD - we do critical / security patches every month and the tech doing it signs off on every single critical service after patching - SLA - you know the drill. So everything must work by the time he is done. We've just been picking this RDP thing up on the VM's at multiple clients - they reboot after, but it's kind of irritating.

I've instructed them to use the console when doing maintenance as per sureshadmin's post....and I'll keep you guys updated after the patch weekend.

Its really interesting though....I havent picked it up on any of our physical Wintel boxes...maybe just lucky!

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Sureshadmin
Contributor
Contributor

hi,

Any luck by using mstsc /console as per my post?

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g1xx3rb0y
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

We've been using the console sessions at all our clients running ESX for maintenance/reboots and we haven't had this issue pop up since. I'll update this thread asap if we get that issue again.Thanks again.

Cheers

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