Connection lost during Windows XP Remote Desktop session logs user off instead of disconnect

remote desktopwindows-server-2003windows-xp

We are experiencing the same issues as described in this post on TechNet. We use Remote Desktop to log into Windows XP machines remotely. If the connection is lost the user is logged out instead of being disconnected. I checked in GPO for the remote desktop settings but they are all set to no session limit. It doesn't matter for how long the connect is lost, the log off happens immediately.

This happens when using both Windows 7 and Windows XP. Are there any other policies I should check? I see this question asked a lot online but I don't see a solution.

Our servers are Windows Server 2003, clients are Windows XP.

Update: I tested using remote desktop into a Windows 7 computer and the user remains logged in. So this is isolated to Windows XP it seems.

Best Answer

The Terminal Services server component on a Windows XP uses configuration settings stored in the registry.

Registry key: HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\
Registry value: MaxDisconnectionTime

If MaxDisconnectionTime has a very low value, this may be causing the issue. Try setting this to 0 (no timeout).

Note:

  • This setting is in milliseconds. A value of 60000 (decimal) = one minute.
  • The setting does not take affect for the current session. I would restart to be sure, but it should take affect when you log off and log back on.
  • There may be some other settings under that registry key that affect the behavior. You may want to also set MaxIdleTime and MaxConnectionTime to 0.
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