xfreerdp connected to host but nothing happens

skilli · 04-01-2018, 06:40 PM

When I try to connect to one Windows 10 host that has Remote desktop enabled and NLA either enabled or disabled (it hasn't changed the behavior) with the xfreerdp command, nothing happens. xfreerdp produces the following output when I attempt to connect:

Code:

user@server:~$ xfreerdp /w:1824 /h:1026 +home-drive +clipboard /v:192.168.1.206 +verbose
loading channel rdpdr
loading channel rdpsnd
loading channel cliprdr
Warning xf_GetWindowProperty (177): Property 339 does not exist
connected to 192.168.1.206:3389

And then nothing happens. I don't know how to troubleshoot further. I've been Googling around to see how to get verbose output for xfreerdp and haven't found anything. I can connect to other servers with xfreerdp without any issues, so I believe this is a misconfiguration somewhere on the host I am attempting to remote into but I don't know what to do to obtain more information to troubleshoot that issue. I don't know what setting in Windows 10 is different between the host that I'm having issues connecting to and any other host that I can connect to. I was hoping xfreerdp or some other tool client-side would help me diagnose the enabled/disabled setting that is preventing me from establishing the connection. Anyone have any experience with this and/or know what else to do from here to find out what the problem is?

AwesomeMachine · 04-01-2018, 09:58 PM

Did you try enabling NLA to see what happens? Are the hosts that work Win 10 too? I'm 90% sure this is NLA related. Did you look at the Windows log files?

skilli · 04-02-2018, 06:51 AM

Thanks for your response, AwesomeMachine! I did try both with and without NLA and updated my question to add that info. I'll check the Windows logs and post back.

lupe · 04-03-2018, 11:41 AM

Maybe it's an authentication problem, see https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/issues/4449

If so, you need to disable the NLA requirement on the server. Here's how to:
Connect to the remote host using Microsoft Remote Desktop
Run "SystemPropertiesRemote.exe" (or manually open "System Properties – Remote")
Disable "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended)"
use /sec:tls

As in the example

Code:

xfreerdp +clipboard +fonts /jpeg-quality:95 /scale:140 /size:3440x1800 /u:myuser /v:win10 /sec:tls

skilli · 04-07-2018, 08:58 AM

I've been testing connecting to several computers that have remote desktop enabled (that is Remote Desktop, not Remote Assistance!) and see that I cannot connect to any of them except for my one Windows 10 host. Because the problem is different than what I first reported, I'm just going to close this question and ask a new one. Thank you AwesomeMachine and lupe for your help, I hope to have your assistance with my next, hopefully more accurate, question!