You may have received the error message “Remote Desktop Services is currently busy” while connecting to a Windows server using RDP. This post introduces detailed steps of three solutions on how to fix this problem.
I recently upgraded to Windows 10, and it runs smoothly. But today I've run across a problem. When I try to use Windows Remote Desktop, I received this: The task you are trying to do can’t be completed because Remote Desktop Services is currently busy.”
- Question from Microsoft Community
If you ever see this error when you’re trying to log on to a Remote Desktop Server, it means that you are unable to connect to RDS Servers running Windows Server using the built-in RDP client. This happens due to a number of reasons, including an error in the operation of the Remote Desktop Services, a bug in the csrss.exe process, etc.
Here in this post, we’ll introduce three solutions to help you troubleshoot this problem. See the detailed steps listed in the following.
Step 1. Press Win + R, then type in “cmd” and press OK to open up the Command Prompt window.
Step 2. Open a command prompt and type in “query session”. Then the command prompt returns a SESSIONNAME and ID for the affected user. In this case, we will assume “system” is having the issue. Take note of the user’s session ID, in this case it is Session 2.
Step 3. Type in “query process /id 2” in the command prompt. Then there will display the list of running process in the session ID you noted earlier. Find the csrss.exe process and its PID. In my case, the PID is 5140. You need to end this process.
Step 4. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager. Go to the Details tab and find the PID and the process we mentioned in the last step. Right-click it and then click End task.
In addition to csrss.exe, any processes operating within the stale session ID must be terminated. Generally, csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, dwm.exe, and LogonUI.exe should all be terminated. The procedures for terminating the other three processes are identical to those for terminating csrss.exe. To end the other three processes, simply repeat the procedures above.
Step 1. Press Win + R to invoke the Run dialog box. Type in “cmd” and press OK. Type in “query process” in the command prompt. Copy the session name of the problem user. In this case, we will assume “system” is having the issue, then the session name is “rdp-tcp#5”.
Step 2. Then type in “reset session”. Replace the SESSIONNAME with “rdp-tcp#5”. Then you may try to log on and a problem should not occur again.
You need to make sure that the Drain mode preventing users from creating new RDP connections is disabled.
Step 1. Open Command Prompt and type in “chglogon.exe /QUERY” in the command prompt.
If the command returns “Session logins are currently ENABLED”, then the problem not lies in here, you can stop here.
Step 2. If the command returns “New user logons are DISABLED, but reconnections to existing sessions are ENABLED”, then you need to disable Drain mode by typing in “chglogon.exe /enable”.
Then how to effectively avoid problems like “Remote Desktop Services is currently busy”? Here we provide you with the easiest option. You can use AnyViewer, the free yet professional third-party remote control software for Windows Servers, including Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012 R2, which can perfectly help you avoid RDP problems like the name of the remote access server did not resolve, the remote session was disconnected License Servers, your credentials did not work on Remote Desktop on Windows Server 2016.
Preparation work:
You can log in to the same account on both devices to achieve unattended remote access with one click.
Step 1. Launch AnyViewer on both computers. Go to Log in, and then click Sign up. (If you already have signed up on its official website, you can log in directly.)
Step 2. Fill in the signup information.
Step 3. Then you can see you successfully logged in to AnyViewer. Your device will automatically be assigned to the account you've logged in to.
Step 4. Log in to the same AnyViewer account on the two devices, then click One-click control to achieve unattended remote access.
If you do not want to log in to the same account on the two devices for any reason, we also provide you with other two connection methods. But you should note that you're unable to transfer files between computers using these two connection methods, as this is a function for logged-in users.
Methods 1. Send a control request to realize Windows Server remote connection
Step 1. On the client computer, input the device ID of the host computer and then click Connect.
Step 2. Then there will be a pop-up window, choose Send a control request to your partner. And then click OK.
Step 3. The host computer will receive a pop-up request. People sitting in front of the host computer need to click Allow to make the connection successful.
Methods 2. Input security code to realize Windows Server remote connection
There are two types of security codes:
Step 1. First, you need to set up a permanent security code on the host computer. Click Settings and then Recipient. Tick the third option. Then set the security code you want in the box. Then click OK to finish the set-up process.
Step 2. Return to the main interface of AnyViewer on the host computer, you could see the Temporary Security Code.
Step 3. On the client computer, input the device ID of the host computer and click Connect. Choose Input security code, then enter either the permanent security code or the temporary security code of the host computer and click OK.
Three solutions to the error “Remote Desktop Services is currently busy” on Windows 10 are introduced in this post. Furthermore, we propose the simplest method for remotely controlling computers, AnyViewer, which will free you from multiple RDP problems.
