Microsoft Remote Desktop black screen Mac

1. 1st March 2011, 06:03 PM #1

   Hi,

   I am having problems with the Microsoft RDP app for Mac. It gets suck on the attached screen, and sometimes shows a black screen. This is an intermittent problem, sometimes i works perfect.

   I am using version 2.1 Does anybody know how to fix this please? Its driving me up the wall!

   Thanks

   Attached Images
   • Screenshot 2011-03-01 at 17.00.04.png [23.7 KB, 19 views]

3. 1st March 2011, 10:06 PM #2

   Have you checked the preferences for the connection [in one of the RDP menus on your mac]. Particularly the resolution and color depth - try it with 1024x768 and thousands of colours rather than millions. You need to close, save and reopen the connection for these to take effect.

   Can you connect from a windows PC when it doesnt work from your mac?

5. 1st March 2011, 10:11 PM #3

   Can you connect from a windows PC when it doesnt work from your mac?

   From a Windows machine its 100% perfect.

   I have tried all sorts of settings with the resolution and it sometimes fixes it most of the time not. But they are not a permanent fix.

7. 1st March 2011, 11:03 PM #4

   Hi Create another admin account, log in with it and try again. Does the problem go away now?

   Antonio Rocco [ACSA]

9. 1st March 2011, 11:38 PM #5

   Does the RDP app not create its own local profile similar to windows with bitmap cache or something like that - on the mac I think its either in the home area or my documents or somewhere like that and on windows the fix is to purge the bitmap cache directory or something similar ?? If memory serves me correctly - will check this later

   //superuser.com/questions/14953...cache-location

   Long shot

   what about cord instead of RDP for mac ?

   //cord.sourceforge.net/

   Last edited 1st March 2011 at 11:47 PM.

11. 2nd March 2011, 12:29 AM #6

    I would also recommend cord!

    Last edited 2nd March 2011 at 12:29 AM. Reason: Spelling Mistake

13. 2nd March 2011, 01:33 AM #7

    I have had this problem too randomly. When its black I generally leave it for a few mins and it does log in but not sure why.
    Not tested though since I went sp1.

15. 2nd March 2011, 08:35 AM #8

    Won't allow me to edit my above post - as per the link though I would ensure RDP for mac is closed, copy the bmc file to your desktop and then delete it from the said location[s] and re launch RDP for mac and test again. Cord worked for me and allows to configure multiple connections down the left pane which is nice

Using Remote Desktop the remote screen turns black right after login and you have no control. The issue appears to be caused by Screen Caching and accessing a system with different display resolution or RDP window sizes.

Solution

There are numerous potential root causes for the above issue with their respective solutions. Refer to the following article for step-by-step troubleshooting: //superuser.com/questions/976290/windows-10-remote-desktop-connects-with-black-screen-then-disconnects .

General prevention tasks include the following:

• Disable bitmap caching for your RDP connections
• Confirm RDP account has full administrative rights on remote system
• Access the remote computer using consistent resolution – Full screen may help
• Confirm both systems’ video drivers are up to date

In this article, I will be showing you the steps to take if you see a black screen instead of a desktop screen when you connect to a remote computer via Remote Desktop Protocol [RDP]. This problem usually happens on Windows 10 and Windows Server editions. When you try to access a remote system remotely using RDP Client [mstsc.exe] and enter your valid credentials what you see next is a blank screen and leaves you with no clue on what to do. Follow the below steps on resolving this issue that is not new to the Windows system. For more related Windows Operating System errors you can read this: How to Fix “Insufficient System Resources Exist to Complete the Requested Service” error, how to fix the issue “The Security Database on the Server does not have a Computer Account for this Workstation Trust Relationship” on Windows Server [Part 2], How to Quickly Fix Windows Search Bar Not Working, Windows Out Of Box Experience: OOBESETTINGSMULTIPLEPAGE error on Windows 10, how to fix Windows cannot connect to the printer: Operation Failed with error 0x000004f8,  and How to Fix “Unknown hard error” on Windows Server and Windows 10.

Black Screen

The first thing you need to do is to open the Remote Desktop Connection and click on the Display tab and try to adjust the display configuration [Small-Large]. You may also want to see this guide: Terminal Server [Now RDS]: How to setup and configure Remote Desktop Services.

Remote Desktop Connection Display

• The next thing you need to do is to click on the Experience tab and uncheck the box Persistent bitmap cashing.

Remote Desktop Connection

• One temporary measure is to launch the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on the keyboard. The launching of the Task Manager can display something on the screen.

Task Manager

• Another resolution to this issue is to update your system. It is very possible you have some pending updates to be completed and can result to issues like this

Windows Update

I hope you found this blog post on How to resolve Microsoft RDP connection black screen very interesting and helpful. In case you have any questions do not hesitate to ask in the comment section.