Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 prompts you for credentials before you establish a remote desktop connection

This article provides a workaround for the issue that Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 prompts you for credentials, before you establish a remote desktop connection.

Applies to:   Windows Server 2012 R2
Original KB number:   941641

Symptoms

After you install the Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 client update (update 925876), you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 prompts you for credentials before you establish a remote desktop connection.
• Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 prompts you to accept the identity of the server if the identity of the server cannot be verified.
• You may be unable to use a smart card to log on to Remote Desktop Connection 6.0, even though you could use a smart card to log on to Remote Desktop Connection 5.x.

For more information about the Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 client update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

925876 Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0)

Workaround

To work around this problem, turn off the new features in Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 to revert to the features in Remote Desktop Connection 5.x. To implement this workaround, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type mstsc.exe, and then click OK.

2. Click Options, and then click the General tab.

3. Click Save As, and then type a file name in the File name box.

4. Select the location where you want to save the remote desktop file, click Save, and then click Cancel.

   Note

   The saved file has the .rdp file name extension.

5. Click Start, click Run, type notepad, and then click OK.

6. On the File menu, click Open.

7. In the Files of type list, click All Files.

8. In the Look in list, locate and then click the file that you saved in step 4. Then, click Open.

9. Locate the line that resembles as: authentication level: i: n

   Note

   The n placeholder represents the current authentication level.

10. Change the authentication level to 0 so that the line becomes:
    authentication level:i:0

    Note

    When you set the authentication level to 0 , RDP 6.0 does not check for server authentication.

11. Add the following line to the end of the file:enablecredsspsupport:i:0

    Note

    When this line is present, you do not have to provide credentials before you establish a remote desktop connection.

12. On the File menu, click Save.

To connect by using Remote Desktop Connection, run the file that you saved in step 12.