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RDP Client on Windows Xp will not open

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3 replies

by buddyglee

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I have used RDP on my workstation for a while now.

XP Pro, SP2

My PC blue screened with the SP3 update so I rolled back using system restore.

Some time after that I believe I attemted to start a RDp session with a client. I browsed to the remote Desktop Icon in accessories etc clicked on it and nothing.

I have saved rdp shortcuts on my desktop. I can connect using all but one.

I cannot edit the saved shortcuts but I can connect using them?

Has anyone else experienced this?

3 replies

by buddyglee

To resolve this issue you must have a copy of your Windows XP installation CD. If you do not have this to hand please DO NOT follow these instructions yet, as they will screw up your PC:

1. Open a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd)
2. At the command prompt move into your Windows installation directory (usually c:\windows) using: cd \windows
3. From that directory enter the following command to delete all mstsc related items: del mstsc* /s
Several files will be deleted
4. A few seconds later Windows will automatically pop-up a warning that some critical system files have been removed. At this point insert your Windows XP installation CD and Windows will automatically re-install the required files, restoring / recovering whatever's wrong. The pop-up warning will automatically disappear, and if your CD has auto-run the XP Installation menu you can just exit it (you don't need to run anything manually from the CD, Windows takes care of it all). If the CD is inserted before hand it may not give you a warning at all but repair for you.

Note: If you do not have a Windows Installation CD it may be possible to recover these system critical files by installing mstsc manually which can be downloaded from support.microsoft.com/kb/925876, but I haven't tried that so can't recommend it either way.

I followed these steps and my RDP is now working.

by oh smeg

Following the directions here

Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
To reset the registry and file permissions, follow these steps:
Download and then install the Subinacl.exe file. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en)
Start Notepad.
Copy and then paste the following text into Notepad.
cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools"
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.
Save this Notepad file as Reset.cmd.
Double-click the Reset.cmd file to run the script.

Note This script file may take a long time to run. You must run this script as an administrator.
Install Windows XP SP3.
If this method resolved the error message and if you successfully installed Windows XP SP3, you are finished.

If this method did not resolve the issue, go to the "Next Steps? section.

Full text available on M$'s Web Site here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377

This is the only issue I have experienced with XP SP3 in well over several thousand installs. While M$ say it is related to the Way that a Slipstreamed Image was made for some AMD CPU's I've also experienced this same issue with Intel CPU's but the same solution works in both cases.

Col

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