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cef_soothsayer

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Cant RDP *FROM* server & can't connect to guest VMs

My Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V host box started having problems.  (and no, I didnt change anything on the server) The Hyper-V guest machines launch just fine.  And I can connect to the guest machines via RDP from my laptop.

But if I try to right click connect from the Hyper-V host machine, it does nothing.  No pop ups, no errors, nothing.  
Same thing if I try to launch MSTSC.EXE.   it does nothing.  No pop ups, no errors, nothing.  Doesn't even get to the screen that asks for the IP or host name.

Also, when I try to  rt click the VM guest machine & select SETTINGS, it does nothing.  No pop ups, no errors, nothing.  

So the VM guest machines run fine.  But something is wacked on the VM host box.

I've rebooted it, checked the event log, tried to re-register mstsc, deleted old un-used VHDs, etc.

Please Help!
Thanks.
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Korbus

Do you see any instances of mstsc.exe running in task manager?  Or do they disappear immediately?

If you didn't change anything, and suspect corruption, perhaps a fresh install of RDP client is in order? (or is that what you meant by re-registered?)
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ASKER

Yes, I  see instances of mstsc.exe running in task manager.  they dont go away unless I taskkill them.
OK, that explains why your not seeing any errors in the log, the app is not actually "crashing "as far as the OS is concerned.  This result implies the software is either waiting for something, or there is some corruption in the .exe (or .dll's used by the .exe).

If you install processExplorer you should be able to find out what dll's are being used by this program, and can try replacing them with known good copies, or re-installing the particular component they are part of.
I installed the RemoteDesktop Connection Manager v2.2 adn when I RDP from there, it generally works.  When I RDP from the MSTSC.EXE app, it generally does not.
That another application CAN run & connect, further indicates corruption as well.  Have you tried replacing files used by RDP, with known good copies yet?
I copied the mstsc.exe from another server with the same version of Windows Server OS (2008 R2) and it still didn't fix my problem.

BTW - replacing and/or deleting a file from c:\windows\system32 isnt easy.  Even with an elevated command prompts when logged in as local administrator and after taking ownership of the file, it still would not let me delete or overwrite the file.  I had to use icacls first.
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cef_soothsayer

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>>Same thing if I try to launch MSTSC.EXE.   it does nothing.  No pop ups, no errors, nothing.  Doesn't even get to the screen that asks for the IP or host name.

I'm unclear how changing the status of your Virtual Machines fixed MSTSC.exe on the host machine.  Can you explain a little more please?
MTSC.exe was never broken.  It wasn't crashing.  It was getting hung in some kind of loop while attempting to connect to the VM.  Apparently the VM having too many snapshots was confusing the MSTSC client?  Not sure.  But when I removed/merged all the snapshots, the RDP session started working reliably.
Not to belabor the point but, you said mstsc.exe was not even prompting for what machine to connect to.  It didn't seem to matter if it was a VM host, or physical host because it never even got that far.

That's what is throwing me off.

P.S. this is just for my information, I do NOT object to closing the question as requested.
Your right.  It does seem a bit odd.  Bit I cant argue with the results.  It was a bit disconcerting having 5-10 generations of snapshots per VM anyway.  That can cause issues with your VM... just never heard it cause *this* kind of problem... <shrug>
>> It does seem a bit odd.  But I cant argue with the results.
Agreed!
Solutions provided by others did not resolve my problem.  I figured it out and posted the solution myself.  Thanks.