RDP connection from Windows 7/8 to Server 2012 is slow

Question

I recently installed Windows Server 2012 for development purposes at our office and noticed immediately that connecting via RDP is slow. It can take 5-10 seconds to connect at times, where as connecting to any of our Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 boxes takes at most 1-3 seconds.

At first, I chalked this up to the box itself needing a driver update or something, but just yesterday, I installed Windows 8 on my Desktop PC and connecting from home to that Windows Server 2012 machine produces the same result. There is a 3-4 second pause at "securing remote connection" and then again at "configuring remote session".

I don't see any warnings in the event log, and once connected, there do not appear to be any performance issues. Is there a known problem with RDP connections from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows Server 2012 systems? Anything I should look for?

Solution 1

I experienced the same issue and resolved it by adding the registry setting referred to here.

1. Open RegEdit on the Windows Server machine.
2. Navigate to this registry key in the tree on the left:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

3. Right-click on the right side, and add a new DWORD (32-bit) Value
4. Set the value name to DisableTaskOffload and the value data to 1
5. Reconnect to the Server via RDP (to a new session) and your performance should be normal.

Solution 2

This has happened to me before. I solved it by going into the Remote Desktop Connection -> Experience tab and ensuring I didn't have "Detect connection quality automatically" selected. I also unchecked everything under "Allow the following".

Solution 3

I have same problem .And I try do 2 step .

Step1: do like "schellack" say

• Open RegEdit on the Windows Server machine. Navigate to this registry key in the tree on the left: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

• Right-click on the right side, and add a new DWORD (32-bit) Value Set the value name to DisableTaskOffload and the value data to 1

• Reconnect to the Server via RDP (to a new session) and your performance should be normal.

Step2: And Disable service Smart Card Device Enumeration:

• Go to Run --> Services --> Smart Card Device Enumeration --> Disable

I think the main reason is Smart Card is enable cause delay remote desktop service. I hope this helps someone that has the same problem.

Solution 4

You can diagnose this a few different ways -

Use the NetBIOS name, then the FQDN, then the IP Address when using the RDP application. usually this is a name resolution delay and can be resolved by using the FQDN instead of the shorter NetBIOS name. Normally, after the first connect, subsequent connections should resolve faster as the name will be cached on the local machine.

If this is a machine you will be connecting to regularly AND that machine has a static IP address, you could add it to the local HOSTS file which should result in the faster negotiation that you are accustomed to.

Solution 5

The problem is related to the Mouse Pointer Shadow Function.

Within RDP this leads to a hopping/slow mouse.

Correct this behaviour with Mouse -> Pointer -> Enable pointer shadow (disable)

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Comments

[Pacerier]

Which Experience tab are you referring to? I don't see the Experience tab in Server 2003 tscc.msc: i.stack.imgur.com/SXh0h.png

[Pacerier]

@schellack, Why does this work? How does it work?

[schellack]

According to technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc959732.aspx, the DisableTaskOffload setting offloads tasks from the processor to the network adapter. This greatly improves performance. I don't, however, know why the setting is disabled in newer versions of Windows Server.

[Oskar Berggren]

@schellack There seems to be some confusion in your comment... The setting is called _DISABLE... Setting it to 1 will turn OFF task offloading, not ON. The default value is 0, meaning that by default task offloading is active.

[DavidPostill]

Welcome to Super User! Please quote the essential parts of the answer from the reference link(s), as the answer can become invalid if the linked page(s) change.

[Bryan]

Correct answer right here. Disabling the Smart Card Device Enumeration made a 100% improvement for me. This was obviously the culprit.

[Rob]

Is that enumeration on the client or server?