Troubleshooting Remote Control (shadowing) of RDP sessions

  • Article

This is a landing page for articles on all aspects of troubleshooting Remote Control (shadowing) of RDP sessions, including but not limited to:

  • Introduction
  • Places where Remote Control can be disabled
  • Common Error messages when trying to Remote Control
  • Using WMI to quickly check Remote Control Settings
  • Additional resources

This is a work in progress, so please feel free to edit this page and add new items or sections as appropriate.

Introduction

Remote Control with Remote Desktop Services is the technique you can use to view and / or interact with the session of another user. Doing so helps support desks troubleshoot issues or errors that end-users experience. If in any event Remote Control does not work this Wiki can guide you in finding and solving the issue.

Places where Remote Control can be disabled

There are multiple places where shadowing can be disabled.

1. The user account properties in Active Directory
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OYlnJtT6jhs/Ta7uTqrK3DI/AAAAAAAAAD8/HHTWFmEq010/s400/RemoteControl1.png

2. In the RD Session Host Configuration
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EP89u4XYkOU/Ta7uVW5MXKI/AAAAAAAAAEA/5IaD_WqnYog/s400/RemoteControl2.png

  1. In various places in a Group Policy Objects, on user- as well as on Computerobjects
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HuhlkjePlyE/Ta7w4ycIfKI/AAAAAAAAAEc/U_eMdnFVuPE/s1600/RemoteControl9.pnghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k8gm_8qI2Lo/Ta7w5gt7ECI/AAAAAAAAAEg/-KGSbWhGC84/s1600/RemoteControl10.png

Common Error messages when trying to Remote Control

Remote control failed. Error code 7051
Error [7051]: The requested session is not configured to allow remote control.
On 1 of the 3 places discussed before you deny shadowing for this user.

Remote control failed. Error code 7044
Error [7044]: The request to control another session remotely was denied.
The user clicked “no” when the systems asks whether he allows the shadowing (if asking for permissions is enabled of course), or the user simply did not respond.

Remote control failed. Error code 2Error [2]:
The system cannot find the file specified.
Error[2] could mean that either on 1 of the 3 places discussed before you deny shadowing for this user, or the user in question simply hits “No” when the systems asks whether he allows the shadowing (if asking for permissions is enabled of course), or the user simply did not respond. You particularly get this error when trying to shadow a session that sits on a different RDSH server then you start the shadow from.

Remote control failed. Error code 120
Error [120]:This function is not supported on this system.
Error[120] is raised when you try to shadow a session from a computer that has one monitor to a computer that uses multiple monitors.

Remote control failed. Error code 31
Error [31]:A device attached to the system is not functioning.
Error[13] is raised when you try to shadow a RD session from a Windows XP client, this is not supported.

Remote Control Failed. Error Code 7050
Error [7050]:The requested session cannot be controlled remotely. This error means that you are logged on to the console of the server that is running Terminal Services, if you try to shadow another user's session from the console of the computer, you receive this error.

Using WMI to quickly check Remote Control Settings

To quickly see what Remote Control configurations have been made for a computer, open a PowerShell box and enter the following command:

get-wmiobject -namespace "root\cimv2\terminalservices" -class  Win32_TSRemoteControlSetting 
This will result in the following (example) output:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vRZz9klMSmY/Ta7uaQt2VfI/AAAAAAAAAEM/DPDDy9EpSnc/s1600/RemoteControl5.png
**
Levelofcontrol** can have the following values:
(as explained here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383818(v=vs.85).aspx )
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uQ_OUTSmkp0/Ta7ubhFIU5I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/icmoIdhjYI8/s1600/RemoteControl6.png

PolicySourceLevelOfControl Indicates whether the LevelOfControl property is configured by the
server, group policy, or by default. And can have these values:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yDY5lIvGapU/Ta7uc_tvRuI/AAAAAAAAAEU/n9LhxwL0DaQ/s1600/RemoteControl7.png

RemoteControlPolicy is the policy the server uses to retrieve the remote control settings and can have the following values:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mwC1qF2NgJ0/Ta7ud2upO2I/AAAAAAAAAEY/ynPVxRnvmdk/s1600/RemoteControl8.png

Additional resources

 
Troubleshooting Remote Control
http://microsoftplatform.blogspot.com/2011/04/troubleshooting-remote-control-session.html

How to Connect to and Shadow the Console Session with Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278845

How to Shadow a Terminal Server Session Without Prompt for Approval
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292190

Configure Remote Control settings:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781839(WS.10).aspx

Administering Remote Assistance
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456978.aspx

Configure Remote Control of Remote Desktop Services Sessions
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771538.aspx

Win32_TSRemoteControlSetting class
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa383817(v=vs.85).aspx