Windows 10 remote desktop RDP mstsc.exe won't start

windows-10 remote-desktop rdp mstsc

Sir Swears-a-lot · Mar 27, 2017 · Viewed 7.7k times · Source

I have recently upgraded from win 8.1 to Win 10. Since the upgrade RDP wouldn't work correctly.

I couldn't use a recently used connection. Instead I had to open a new window each time. Today it stopped working completely.

If I tried to run mstsc.exe directly it would appear in task manager for less than a second before dissapearing.

Edit: Issue was traced to "custom scale factors" in display settings. See answer below.

Answer

Issue was traced to "custom scale factors" in display settings.

This fix on technet worked for me. I am reposting here for others. (since most links in my search results were way off the mark)

Hit the Windows key and then type "display".
Tap on the "display settings" link that is found.
You should see the following text in red: "A custom scale factor is set"
Click on the text underneath which states "Turn off custom scaling and sign out".
Sign back in.

I would add that if you have it pinned to the task bar it would be worth unpinning and re-pinning it also.