SOLVED: Remote Desktop Shows Black Screen in Windows 7 and 8

If you RDP (remote desktop) to a Windows 7 or 8 PC and see only a black screen the computers involved appear to be arguing over screen resolution.  The easy way to resolve it is to:

  1. Click on the black RDP windows (to select it) and press CTRL-ALT-END to bring up the Windows Security screen and select LOG OFF, then log back in
  2. Start a new RDP client on your desktop but BEFORE you click CONNECT, click the SHOW OPTIONS link, click the DISPLAY tab and set the DISPLAY CONFIGURATION to a low resolution like 640×480

To actually solve the problem in the future:

  1. Disable BitMap Caching in your RDP client (on the EXPERIENCE tab).
  2. You can use THIS process to reduce the RDP compression to none.

For more details see, THIS Microsoft KBase article or THIS blog.

For the record, I like the phrase BLACK SCREEN OF DOOM that has been coined by others.

 

View Comments

  • Thanks! i got it to work by reducing the resolution in RDC man and then connecting to the server.

  • PS C:\> invoke-command -computer BigSlobBobzServer01 {Net localgroup Users Interactive /add}
    The command completed successfully.

    PS C:\> invoke-command -computer BigSlobBobzServer01 {Net localgroup Users “Authenticated Users” /add}
    The command completed successfully.

  • this has been giving me problems FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS. Yes it appears that if the remote PC is logged in then the black screen will nearly always happen. so completely log out REMOTELY first (Not sure if the 'switched user-to-login-screen is sufficient')
    windows10 seems the same issue. Is it disable PERSISTENT bitmap caching for win10?
    yes ctrl-alt-END must only be done by someone at the remote PC

    • This is a problem with only intermittent solutions for me. I see the problem with some regularity and these solutions are the best I have to date.

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Published by
Ian Matthews

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