Remote Desktop Connection or RDC is a feature offered natively on the Windows Pro and Enterprise Editions. This lets you remotely connect your system to another machine without using any third-party apps. If you are witnessing a black screen while connecting to another system using the RDP, don’t worry. Just follow the workarounds to find a quick resolution, otherwise, follow these easy steps to solve the problem in no time at all.
Workarounds –
1. Check the connection on both of the systems. Lack of proper connection may cause this issue.
2. Make sure the user logs out first. Abruptly shutting down the remote system can cause this issue.
3. Reboot the system and reconnect. This shall temporarily solve the issue.
Fix 1 – Change the resolution
Changing the resolution has fixed the issue for many users.
1. At first, type “Remote Desktop Connection” in the search box.
2. Then, tap on the “Remote Desktop Connection” to access it.
3. Now, click on “Show Options” to view all the available options.
3. When the Remote Desktop Connection opens up, go to the “Display” tab.
4. After that, slide the ‘Resolution’ slider to a lower value than the full resolution.
5. Finally, click on “Connect“.
6. If the screen is still appearing to be black, slide down the resolution further to use a lower resolution.
7. Then, tap on “Connect” to connect to the remote system.
This time the remote desktop should appear just normal.
Fix 2 – Disable the Bitmap caching
Disabling the Bitmap caching has solved the issue for many users.
1. At first, press the Windows key and type “RDP“.
2. Then, click on the “Remote Deskop Connection” to access it.
3. Now, click on “Show Options“.
4. In the Remote Desktop Connections page, go to the “Experience” tab.
5. Further, uncheck the “Persistent bitmap caching” box.
6. Then, tap on “Connect” to complete the process.
This should solve your issue related to the Remote Desktop Connection.
Fix 3 – Edit the Group Policy
There is a particular policy setting that needs to be allowed in order for to Remote Desktop service to work smoothly.
Steps for the Client machine
1. You have to press the Windows key+R keys together.
2. Then, type “gpedit.msc” and click on “OK“.
3. Once the Group Policy Editor opens up, go to this place –
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Connection Client
4. Now, on the right-hand side, look for the “Turn Off UDP On Client“.
5. Just, double-click on the policy to edit it.
5. Just choose the “Enabled” option to enable it.
6. Now, tap on “Apply” and “OK” to apply the settings.
Close the Local Group Policy Editor.
This will work but you may have to force the policy update.
8. Open an elevated command prompt window with administrative rights. Paste this command and hit Enter.
gpupdate /force
Close the terminal and restart the remote desktop and reconnect.
Steps for the Remote machine
You have to alter the policy settings on the remote machine.
1. At first, type “group policy” in the search box.
2. Then, tap on “Edit group policy” to access it.
3. Once you open Group Policy settings, expand this way –
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Remote Session Environment
4. Now, double click on the “Use WDDM graphics display driver for Remote Desktop Connections” to access it.
5. Now, set the policy to “Disabled” to disable the particular policy.
6. Finally, click on “Apply” and “OK” to save the settings.
This should help you solve this issue. After this reboot the system.
Fix 4 -Start and automate RDP-related services
RDC requires a few services up and running all the time on the machine.
1. Press Windows key+R keys together.
2. Then, type “services.msc” and hit Enter.
3. When the Services window appears, scroll all the way down to the “Remote Desktop Services“.
4. Then, double-click on it to access it.
5. After that, set the ‘Startup type:” settings to “Automatic“.
6. If you notice the service is not yet started, tap on “Start” to start it immediately.
7. Then, tap on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes.
8. Now, double-click on the “Remote Desktop Services UserMode Port Redirector” to access it.
9. Just like before, click on the drop-down and choose “Automatic“.
10. After that, click on “Start” to resume the service on your system.
11. Then, click on “Apply” and “OK” to apply these changes.
After that, close the Services app. Then, connect to the remote machine. It will work just fine.
Fix 5 – Restart the remote machine from the Command line
Many users have claimed of solving this issue simply by restarting the remote machine via RDP.
1. You have to log in to the remote machine first.
2. Type “cmd” in the search box.
3. Then, right-click on the “Command Prompt” and tap on “Run as administrator” to open the terminal as an administrator.
4. Now, type this command and adjust it accordingly to log in to the remote machine.
net use \\<remote machine IP>\IPC$ <password> /USER:<username>
Just replace the “<remote machine IP>“, “<password>” and “<user >” in the code with your credentials.
Suppose, the remote machine IP is 192.168.0.1, the password is 1997 and the user ID is user1, the command will be –
net use \2.168.0.1\IPC$ 1997 /USER:user1
5. Once you have logged in to the system, you have to restart it from the Command line.
shutdown /r /m \\<remote machine IP>
Just like before, alter the “remote machine IP” accordingly to your case.
Example – As the remote machine IP is 192.168.0.1 on our system, the command is –
shutdown /r /m \2.168.0.1
After doing this, close the Command Prompt.
Fix 6 – Disable Shadow Play
[FOR NVIDIA CARD USERS]
If the remote machine has an NVIDIA card and the Shadow Play (or In-game Overlay) is enabled on it, this issue may occur.
1. At first, type “Geforce” in the search box.
2. Then, tap on the “Geforce Experience” to access it.
3. Now, tap on the gear-shaped Settings icon.
4. Then, click on the “GENERAL” section on the left-hand pane.
5. Now, toggle the “IN-GAME OVERLAY” settings to “Off“.
After doing this, close the Geforce Experience app.
Then, connect to the remote machine and check whether you are still seeing the black screen.
Fix 7 – Disable the fast startup
If your machine is configured to use the fast startup, disabling it should help.
1. At first, press the Windows key+R keys together.
2. Then, type “powercfg.cpl” and click on “OK“.
4. Now, tap on the “Choose what the power button does“.
5. Now, click on the “Change settings that are currently unavailable“.
6. After that, uncheck the “Turn on fast startup (recommended)“.
7. Then, tap on “Save changes” to save this change.
This will disable the fast startup on your system. Restart the system and reconnect the machine.
Check if you are still facing the issue or not.
Fix 8 – Update the graphics driver
Updating the graphics card driver has worked out for many users.
1. At first, right-click on the Windows key and tap on the “Device Manager”.
2. When the Device Manager opens up, expand the “Display adapter“.
3. Then, right-click on the display driver and tap on “Update driver“.
4. After that, tap on “Search automatically for updated driver software“.
Let Windows search, download, and install the driver software for your display adapter.
Once you are done, close the Device Manager and restart the system.
After that, connect the system to the remote machine and check whether you are still seeing the black screen or not.
Fix 9 – Restart the explorer in RDC
Usually, restarting the File Explorer works quite well as it can solve this black screen issue.
1. At first, connect the remote machine.
2. Here, right-click on the Windows icon and tap on “Task Manager“.
3. When the Task Manager opens up, tap on the “File” in the menu bar.
4. After that, tap on “Run new task“.
5. Now, type “explorer.exe” in the Run window.
6. Then, click on “OK“.
This will restart the Explorer and solve the black screen issue.
You won’t see the black screen issue.
Fix 9 worked for me. Thanks!