Avatar of Chris Collins
Chris Collins
Flag for United States of America asked on

Excruciatingly Slow Login - Server 2012 R2 Remote Desktop

I have recently setup RDS Session Host collections so that users can access four separate servers via Remote Desktop (from both PCs and thin-clients). The session hosts are Server 2012 R2 VMs running under Hyper-V. When users connect via RDP, the login can take upwards of 90 seconds from the initial "Welcome" screen to the "applying computer settings" to the various group policy processing messages before their desktop is finally accessible to them.

Yet, if I login locally to any of those four servers, the speed of the login is much more normal.

I have already disabled the Smart Card service in an attempt to speed these logins up.

Can anyone suggest anything else I can look into?

Much appreciated!  :-)
Remote AccessMicrosoft Server OSWindows Server 2012Hyper-VNetworking

Avatar of undefined
Last Comment
Chris Collins

8/22/2022 - Mon
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
masnrock

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
Brian B

So just to be clear, the login is slow when being accessed over the internet?

Check event logs on the server(s) for any errors.
Check firewall logs for any indication of delays or problems. In addition as a test remove any restrictions on rules related to the RDS servers and give the rule the highest priority.
Chris Collins

ASKER
@masnrock - I will definitely give the VMQ setting a try.

@Brian B - Not over the Internet, but via RDP on their internal LAN. So, for example, a user with a thin-client terminal users RDP to connect to the application server, but their login takes a very long time hanging on the Welcome screen.
Chris Collins

ASKER
@masnrock - one other thing: do you think it makes sense to disable the VMQ on the physical adapter itself (on the Hyper-v host) or on the virtual switch (via a PowerShell cmdlet on one of the VMs)?

I am only just recently getting heavily into administering this setup and have not had to do this particular operation before.

Thanks.  :-)
I started with Experts Exchange in 2004 and it's been a mainstay of my professional computing life since. It helped me launch a career as a programmer / Oracle data analyst
William Peck
Brian B

Thanks for clarifying. I got crossed up by that word "locally".

Is there any difference if you log on as a user from your own station versus a thin client? Just trying to narrow down if there could be any issue regarding policy.
Chris Collins

ASKER
Logging in over RDP, regardless of whether it is done from a PC workstation or thin-client takes almost two minutes (20-25 seconds to secure the connection and establish the session, then another 90 seconds or so while the "Remote Desktop Configuration", "User Profile Service", "Folder Redirection Policy", etc. do their thing. A local login by the same user (i.e. sitting at the server console itself - not using RDP) takes around 30-35 seconds . . . which is still rather slow. But it is waaaay better than the time lag I'm experiencing over RDP.

Interestingly, there are no errors or even warnings in the System Event Log of the VM.
Brian B

Thanks for the response. Down to general troubleshooting of slow logon steps at this point. Have to think about what else I have seen before. I have come across slowdowns caused by printer redirection in the past. So that's one thing to check. Try with anti-virus off and also check DNS settings are pointing to internal DNS servers only. I'll see what else I can think of.
⚡ FREE TRIAL OFFER
Try out a week of full access for free.
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
Chris Collins

ASKER
Thanks, I really appreciate your efforts. I'm pretty sure it's going to end up being something quirky and obscure (like the VMQ the other poster mentioned - which I still haven't quite figured out how I should deal with). I say this only because this environment is presently a lab/testing platform only. It won't become a live production environment until I have these kinds of kinks worked out. As such there are no printers or virus protection in the mix.

There is, however, a domain with a pair of DCs (also Hyper-V VMs) and DNS is configured properly as far as I can tell.

I do wonder if it might be some weird group policy processing thing - but, as I indicated above, there is not a single error in the System Event log of the servers I'm attempting to RDP into. I will check the DC event log next.

Thanks again.  :-)
masnrock

Chris - To answer your VMQ question, both.
Chris Collins

ASKER
@masnrock - I had to do a little research to get the proper PowerShell cmdlet to disable VMQ on the Hyper-V hosts (they are running Server Core with no GUI). But, I found it and implemented the change. OMG!! Logins are now practically instantaneous!

Thank you!!!

:-)
Experts Exchange is like having an extremely knowledgeable team sitting and waiting for your call. Couldn't do my job half as well as I do without it!
James Murphy