RDP login freeze windows 10 guest after update 1903

[virtusermsk]

RDP session into Guest-VM running Windows 10 freezes after accepting user-name/password, with windows update 1903.

RDP into guest-vm was working without any issue prior to windows 1903 upgrade. During weekly Windows upgrade guest-vm picked up 1903 and I started observing this problem. Even now I have snapshot of guest-VM running windows without update-1903 and is working properly (able to RDP without any RDP session freeze)

Host configuration:

• Windows 10 Pro
  Running Virtualbox 6.0.10 r132072.
  Processor: intel core i3 - 6006U (4 core)
  12GB RAM

Guest configuration:

• Windows 10 pro
  2GB Ram
  1 x Core
  Virtualbox extension pack 6.0.10
  Display - ram set to 128MB
  HDD - 20GB (8GB free space available)

When I RDP from HOST into guest-VM, after accepting login/password the RDP with windows screen just freezes. It just display login name and it stays there for 3-5min and when I press enter few times I see timeout message and RDP session closes down. When I attempt to RDP into guest-vm again, it fails even without asking username/password.

Debugging done so far:

1. Changed guest-vm display
   1. VboxVGA - 2G enabled, 3G not enabled -- RDP freeze
   2. VBoxSVGA - 2G enables , 3G enabled (or disabled) - RDP freeze
2. Client side - disabled RDP using udp - RDP to guest still freezes

Need some guidance on troubleshooting the problem. If it's already know issue requesting to point me to resolution, if available, for testing.

Thank you.

[scottgus1]

Please post a zipped guest log, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab, showing the guest from fully shut down (not save-stated) to cold boot to attempt to remote in to shutdown of the guest within the guest OS if possible.

Are you remoting in using the guest's Remote Desktop (using the guest's IP address) or using the Virtualbox Remote Desktop server (using the host's IP or loopback address and the port number set in guest Settings?

[grokman]

Same problem, but I am not running 1903 yet. Still 1607. However my VB rev matches the OP.

[socratis]

Same problem, but

Same problem, but it seems that you chose to read only the OP's post, and not the follow-up by 'scottgus1' that asks for information, you skipped that somehow...

[hellAT]

I have a similar problem. I see that CPU load on the host goes up to >100% for the according VM.

Last days i updated to 6.0.12, but no change.

When using VRDP everything looks fine... but its no real workaround for me.


regards
Karsten

[scottgus1]

Beginning to think there's something wrong with the forum when folks load this thread. There must be a big flashing "DO NOT POST ANY LOGS IN RESPONSE TO THIS PROBLEM" at the top when it's loaded. Only thing is it doesn't appear on my browser....

[virtusermsk]

Uploaded guest-vm log starting from cold-boot, rdp into guest VM from HOST, timeout after 9-11mins, login virtualbox console and shutdown. complete log is attached.

Regarding RDP into guest-vm, in VM network setting , host port-a is redirected to guest-vm tcp port 3389. Login from host is via rdp localhost:port-a.

[hellAT]

Maybe its more an problem fpr Microsoft.

I found this article: https://www.borncity.com/blog/2019/07/1 ... ck-screen/

It suggest to deativate the WDDM-Display Driver by group policy. First test give a good result - it works now again.


I had done this in the production enviroment. But in my test enviroment i did not see this bug. And both Windows (production / test) does have the same patch level. Both use Ubuntu 18.04.3.

[virtusermsk]

Thanks for the response.

Disabled WDDM and rebooted the machine. Problem still present. Unable to RDP into guest-vm (it gets stuck after accepting username/pass) running 1 core.

As part of the thread, pointed in the link, they were discussing about dwm.exe consuming complete core cpu power causing high cpu utilization.(https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 66e?auth=1)

So as a test, extra core was allocated to the guest-VM (from 1 core to 2 core) and booted it with windows 10 v1903 and RDP into guest-VM is working! After entering username/pass, desktop is visible and able to start/stop application via RDP.

Just to confirm, reverted number of cores to VM from 2 to 1 and tried RDP after reboot and it didn't work. So with extra CPU power RDP is working.

Looks more like some process is hogging CPU during RDP login which is causing RDP session timeouts and failed RDP login attempts. Not sure which process is that.

From my observation, Workaround seem to be allocating extra core to the VM if you have to run v1903 windows-10.

[socratis]

I re-read your thread, and I realized that you're not actually using the VirtualBox RDP, but the native RDP from within the guest!

That's a completely different issue now, and it's maybe got to do more with the RDP server/client that you're using and not with VirtualBox. There are two things you can try:

1. Replicate your setup with two physical computers, taking away the VirtualBox parameter.
2. Trying it with the VirtualBox RDP server, after disabling the RDP server on your guest. Then you need to connect to your Host to get a connection. Try with the "Null" method, not with the "Username/Password", as I've never seen it work.

[virtusermsk]

Socratis,

Yes, native RDP server of windows 10 was used. Sorry for not using right terminology for clarity in my initial post.

As suggested, I tried using VRDP with 1xcore guest-vm and connection is going through without any issues. Seems like my setup is hitting some Microsoft v1903 upgrade specific issues. I am prepared to live with VRDP in guest-vm as the requirement is to have access to guest-vm console remotely.

Also, I tried RDP between two computers, without virtualbox, and RDP connections gets established as expected (as the server machine has 4 core). Which is expected.

In summary:

1. Microsoft upgrade v1903 has some rdp issues and it is not related to virtualbox.
2. if someone is hitting the blank screen or login-screen hang issue with guest-vm running windows-os and using virtualbox, they may use VRDP as a work around. (At least it works for me)

Thank you all for the support.

[hellAT]

one thing... the high CPU might be the cortana related bug. Info about it e.g. here https://www.borncity.com/blog/2019/08/2 ... kb4512941/

[DennisH]

I had similar problem with Windows10 1903 guest in July. Guest boots up just fine. First login with RDP to the guest works fine (to the guest, not VRDE.) After disconnecting, I can no longer RDP in from the same machine. Host (a 64bit Linux) shows the virtualbox process hogs all CPU resource I gave to it (which is 200% CPU.) I can still send a ACPI power button to power down the guest. It just takes much more longer.

I found some workarounds maybe you can try.

1. Rolled back KB4505903 on the guest. I had this issue right after installing this update. After removing it, things go back to normal. But this is not a long-term solution, hence
2. Instead of using Windows10 built-in RDP client (mstsc.exe), I downloaded a new RDP client from Microsoft Store, version 10.1.1107.0. This one has a b/w icon instead of the blue icon for the original one. The new client connects to the Windows10 guest just fine every single time, even with KB4505903 installed.

Yet I have another problem now. About 20 seconds after RDP disconnects, the virtualbox process on the host eats up one 100% CPU time (I gave it 2, as above mentioned.) From 'top', the CPU is doing some system/kernel task. If I re-connect to the guest again, the CPU% drops to around 15% for the same virtualbox process on the host. Same software is running on the guest. So even I can use the guest just fine, it is not a solution with host always has CPU fan runs at full speed and consumes more power than it should. The only workaround I found so far is to connect to VRDE, which brings down the CPU utilization. And disconnect. It works but very inconvenient.

Microsoft definitely changed something about Remote Desktop login procedure.
Any help would be appreciated. Log attached below.

----
Host
linux 4.19.72 with virtualbox 5.2.32
Xeon E3-1245v5

Guest
Windows10 Pro 64bit 1903

[DennisH]

Sorry to reply to myself. I should try the WDDM issue @hellAt said above.

After disabling WDDM in group policy, the guest doesn't hog the CPU resource after disconnecting the RDP. Also the original RDP client works, too. (But I keep the new client since it could resize the window on-the-fly.)

So it looks like virtualbox Windows10 guest video driver is incompatible to RDP WDDM model for some reasons, at least for virtualbox 5.2.32.