Remote Desktop not available after cloning a Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine
September 5, 2012 4 Comments
After cloning and syspreping XenApp 6.5 VMs running Windows 2008 R2 SP1, I was not able to connect to the cloned servers by Remote Desktop.
After troubleshooting the steps below, I noticed the the RDP-TCP listener was not listening on a network adapter. (I am certain it occurred while cloning /VMTools update)
Executing the netstat -aon command you find out that the port on which Remote Desktop should listen, isn’t listed in the Local Address column.
- Log on to the server by using the console
- Checked the event log for possible errors relating to Remote Desktop services.
- Verified if no other process is using the default RDP TCP port 3389
- You also checked the Windows firewall rules and/or disabled the Windows firewall
- Re-entered the IP address information
- Reset the TCP/IP stack (netsh int ip reset)
- Reinstalled the network adapter
- Verified if the Remote Desktop services indeed was running (services.msc)
- Checked if the Remote Desktop services port is configured to listen on the default RDP port 3389 (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber)
- Entered the command netstat -aon on a cmd prompt to verify if the RDP indeed was open and listening on the configured RDP port, TCP port 3389 by default. Look for 0.0.0.0:3389 in the Local Address column to make sure the port is open.
Solution: (In this case, the RDP-Tcp listener is probably not listening on a network adapter)
- Open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration
- Double click on the RDP-Tcp connection, the RDP-Tcp Properties appears
- Select the Network Adapter tab
- If the Network Adapter drop-down list is empty or set to listen on a specific network adapter (e.g. Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network connection), change it to listen to All network adapters configured with this protocol
- Save the changes and try to connect to the server by Remote Desktop again.
Daniel Ruiz - Blog 
Do you have a doc or post about the best way to clone Xenapp 6.5 (I’m using sphere 5) ? I have read many conflicting docs on how to do this. Thanks
Never mind I say your post from before. Is this still up to date?
thanks
Jason, Sorry for the delay. Been hit with the flu and been focusing on resting.
So the process from this post works pretty darn good. The one thing you need to make sure is that the services are all up after you clone and sysprep your VM.
You will notice after you run the cloning tool that the service is set to Manual. Make sure when you are all done with the VM Sysprep process that you set it to Auto and reboot. This is where all the magic happens. Once the process is done, the service will auto set to disable.
Then you can check all the services listed on the cloning post I wrote.
Let me know if you have any more questions. Are you utilizing Citrix Provisioning Services for your XenApp 6.5 environment, if you are, this process works a little different.
Cheers,
Daniel
Hi everybody, I had the same issue and tried all the advices that I could find on the net, but nothing worked out. I finaly found the solution on my own and would like to post it here if somebody else finds himself in the same boat.
Resolution:
-Open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration
-Under connections, delete the RDP-Tcp connection
-Click Create New connection, give it a name and create it
-Remote Desktop works again, but you might find Desktop expirience not working
-If that is the case, uninstall it, reboot and reinstall it. That should fix it.