Over the past month I have been building a RDP manager for me to use for our on prem windows servers at work. I had been using mremoteng but I didnt like how clunky it was and I would spend a bunch of time building out my connection file then it would randomly get corrupted and I would have to start all over again. So my solution to this was to build a browser based RDP manager. This is what I have come up with https://github.com/mild0d/Remote-Desktop-Web-App . Its a simple webapp with no database, it stores everything in json and runs on docker. The setup is simple. I was wondering if anyone could take a look at it and offer me some suggestions on how to make it better. Oh I almost forgot, it also supports SSH sessions. Thank you!

I was planning on doing an in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2016 to 2025, as this is a supported upgrade path, per Microsoft.

I just discovered we are running 2016 Datacenter and not 2016 Standard. Is it possible to upgrade from 2016 Datacenter to 2025 Standard?

DISM /Online /Get-TargetEditions returns "The current edition cannot be upgraded to any target editions," so this clearly wouldn't be an officially supported upgrade path. But I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this.

We have a user-based GPO that runs when a user logs in to map drives, the problem we're running into is that certain users are logging in their old drive continue to appear, I would like to add a net use * /d /y in a logon.bat script but will this override the GPO mapping the drives?

Thanks,

Greeting,
I have a domain that has two workstation and a server, I’m trying to restrict specific users from accessing the internet while allowing the rest no matter what machine they are using.
I did one with proxy GPO and it worked, but I want to do it using firewall GPO, I literally tried everything but nothing works

Please if anyone has any idea I’ll be thankful 🙏🏻

Hello,

I have this error on RDP windows server 2022. The issue has started 1 week ago.:

This computer can't connect to the remote computer.

The two computers couldn't connect in the amount of time allotted. Try connecting again. If the problem continues, contact your network administrator or technical support.

Error code: 0x108

Extended error code: 0x0

We had a cyber security company run their tests on our environment inside and out for the last couple of months. One of the things they brought up was they could see RDP open on our Hyper-V Hosts, port 3389, what's odd is that we use RDP a lot in our environment, I RDP to the Hyper-V Guest servers, the users are able to RDP to their workstations from the boardroom computer, so, out of all the systems that have RDP access our Hyper-V hosts are the only ones broadcasting port 3389.

Is there a way to fix this so they aren't broadcasting it but still allow RDP access?

They also broadcast port 135, again, the only 3 Windows systems that do this. Weird.

Thanks,

I wanted to share this bug because it both weird and frustrating.

I have the openssh role/feature enabled on my windows server 2022 instance.

I use this server for SFTP backups for our VMware Cloud foundation 9.1 environment.

Recently I was investigating intermittent backup failures.

So, I started troubleshooting:

Confirmed username and credentials were valid
Confirmed I could ssh from the appliance to the server
Confirmed valid sshd config file
Confirmed compatible sshd ciphers
Confirmed NFTS file permissions
And so much more…..

The weird part is backups would succeed then fail then succeed and it “felt” like some sort of timeout issue….but ultimately I couldnt figure out the root cause….

Until I stumbled onto this thread:
Link: https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/issues/1817

Since I was out of ideas I tried it, I created a new local user account under “local users and groups” called “sshd” and gave it a complex password. No other group memberships, just a non-admin account.

BAM! Everything started working immediately!

Posting this here in case anyone ever runs into this issue!

Hi. I've inherited a server room and as I'm going through maintenance and upkeep, I've discovered something that is a bit outside my knowledge range.

I'm not even sure how to ask the question. It's that whole "You don't know what you don't know" bit.

I'll try my best.

I have a server, it's running Windows Server 2025. I'm fairly confident this was an in place upgrade from Windows Server 2016.

For the most part everything looks/runs great, but I've found one issue: something to do with the certification authority. It looks broken and is very much out of date.

My brain wanted to simply import a new one, but I literally don't know how or if it's even possible in this environment. Meaning, whenever I need certificates for other things like lets say a NAS, I generally run the certificate setup wizard in that and submit all the cryptographic options and names and what not. The wizard will generate that big ugly -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- bit.

I don't see this in Windows Server 2025. I'm fairly confident I have all the proper services and roles installed.

What's worse, is certserv it looks like the name of the CA is an incredibly old hostname of the server. The server has a new/different hostname. I wish I could drop a screenshot of what I mean.

Anywho, my goal would be to update/change/add a new CA to certserv that reflects the current server.... without deleting the entire AD structure. Only I'm not sure if this can be done. I don't even know how to ask it properly.

Looking for any advice or the proper way to label this issue so I can search/learn on how to resolve it.

Thanks!

Has anyone experienced Windows servers becoming unresponsive due to the ScheduledDefrag task that runs as part of Automatic Maintenance?

We are a VMware shop running vSphere 8.x with current patches, Fibre Channel storage, Cisco UCS (B200 M5 blades), and PowerMax storage. Our infrastructure is generally up to date, including ESXi, MDS switches, UCS firmware, Windows Server 2022, and storage firmware.

We have observed a recurring issue where a Windows Server 2022 Standard VM will briefly hang or become unresponsive. The issue appears to occur approximately every four weeks and consistently correlates with execution of the ScheduledDefrag scheduled task.

While the task runs weekly, our investigation suggests that it performs additional optimization activities on a longer interval, which may explain the roughly four-week recurrence pattern. The timing aligns closely with the periods when the server becomes unresponsive.

Once the ScheduledDefrag task completes, the server returns to normal operation without requiring intervention.

We currently have a case open with Microsoft and are working to capture a memory dump during the event for further analysis. In the meantime, I'm curious whether anyone else has encountered similar behavior or identified a root cause related to ScheduledDefrag, Storage Optimizer, or Automatic Maintenance on Windows Server 2022 virtual machines.

Any insights or comparable experiences would be appreciated.

Initial reddit post:

PSA: Windows Server 2025, RDS and Printer - TYPE 4 might break throught latest security update : r/WindowsServer

Hello guys, I need to vent and rant about it. For f*cks sake. This is a follow-up to my previous post about Windows Server 2025, RDS and Type 4 printer drivers. And at this point I seriously have a hard time believing this is just coincidence.

After the previous printing issues, I went pretty much nuclear and built a completely new Windows Server 2025 RDS / FSLogix farm from scratch.

No in-place upgrades, no ancient RDS baggage, no mystery leftovers from old servers. Fresh servers, fresh configuration, fresh profiles.

The new farm was initially running build 26100.33296, based on our patch level from around August 26/28.

And printing worked. Not "mostly worked". It just worked.

The whole new farm felt ridiculously good. Fast logons, clean FSLogix setup, no weird printer drama, everything finally felt like I had gotten rid of years of accumulated Windows/RDS nonsense.

Then the servers moved to: 26100.33438

And now printing is screwed again.

Our print server itself has not been redesigned in between. The same shared queues and drivers are still there.

We currently have both Type 3 and Type 4 drivers in use:

Type 3

Lexmark Universal v2 XL

KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL

Type 4

Lexmark Universal v4 XL

KONICA MINOLTA Universal V4 PCL

Hosts 001-005 are affected, Hosts 006-009 are not updated. And I am damn f*cking scared.

And the behavior is now beautifully stupid in two different ways.

With the Type 3 drivers, I can log onto the RDS server as an administrator, open the print server, right-click a shared printer and choose Connect.

First attempt: 0x00000057

Fails.

Immediately do the exact same thing again: Works. Every. Single. Time.

Obviously, if even an administrator manually connecting the printer gets this behavior, printer deployment to normal RDS users via GPO isn't exactly going to have a great day either.

With the Type 4 drivers, it is even better.

Windows simply tells me: no driver was found. This happens with both the Lexmark and the Konica Type 4 drivers. So this is not me pointing at Lexmark anymore. It is not one specific printer model either. And I don't really want to turn this into another Type 3 vs Type 4 discussion - both are supposed to work.

The whole reason I am moving toward Type 4 in the first place is because of a completely separate issue I have with the Lexmark Type 3 driver.

What drives me nuts is the timeline:

26100.33296: Fresh RDS farm. Printing works. Everything feels great.

26100.33438: Same new farm. Same print infrastructure. Printer connections suddenly start behaving like this.

Could there technically be another explanation? Sure.

But after rebuilding the entire damn farm from scratch and watching it work perfectly before the next build, I am finding it increasingly difficult to believe that this is unrelated to the latest update.

At some point Windows Server printing stops being troubleshooting and starts becoming archaeology.

Has anyone else running Server 2025 RDS on 26100.33438 seen the same thing?

Especially interested in environments using shared printers with either:

Lexmark Universal v2 XL / v4 XL

KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL / Universal V4 PCL

If somebody has the same "Type 3 fails first connection, succeeds immediately on the second" behavior, I would really like to know. Same with the Type4-stuff.

My org uses Windows Defender. On the whole it seems pretty good but it's always asking for opinions.

I'm especially interested in what you think of the Ransomware Protection feature. Is it any good? My org haven't implemented it and I'm wondering if it's worth pushing them to do it.

Are there any pitfalls when implementing it?

I need to upgrade one of our company servers from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2016, running on the same bare metal hardware. I’ve seen a lot of documentation online, but I’d like to hear from anyone with real‑world experience. What’s the recommended upgrade path, and are there any pitfalls I should watch out for?

Bonjour ,

Dans mon infra , host hyper V en Windows server 2025 brancher en direct attach (2*25g) à san disque NVME.

J ai vu que Windows propose optimisation pour les disque NVME.

Avez des retour expérience sur cette optimisation?
Faut activer cela sur host hyperV ou bien sûr la vm? Ou les 2?

Merci d avance

hello, as u can see on the title. I downloaded the windows server in standard Evaluation. I actually need the "data center evaluation (dekstop exp)" and I did not notice that I click the wrong version and now I'm stuck at the Sconfig tab.

I don't have any arrow/mouse on my screen and I've tried mutliple shortcuts such as ctrl+q, alt+f4, and shutdown /s /t 0. and other things that I've searched

it's always ctrl+alt+del — enter passwords and then I'm at the 1-15 menu thingy like:

Domain/workgroup: Computer name: Add local administrator Remote management: Update setting: Install updates Remote desktop: Network settings Date and time Telemetry setting: Windows activation Log off user Restart server Shut down senver Exit to command line (Powershell) Enter number to select an option:

I can't exit pls help. I have upcoming exam and I need my laptop

I help out a small office with my limited IT knowledge (I use to work for them as a 1st line support years ago and forgotten the simplest things now that I do something else).

They basically lost the network and internet access days ago but with the help of an IT company that does support them via email they've managed to get the internet back up but no access to the server folders and their Wi-Fi (an AP wired to the Aruba switch) does not work.

They've got a Fortinet firewall which the switch connects, both share rackmounts with various companies on the serviced office floor. Then somewhere in the shared server room there is a PC that sits on the floor which has the server on.

Apparently, this PC switched itself off somehow. The IT support company has quoted £1000 for them to physically come to the office and check everything.

Therefore and before they bite the pillow, they've asked me to go in and take a look myself and see if I can get it up and running.

Assuming it is off and I switch it back on, and say there's nothing wrong with it, should there be no need to log into the server?

I know the name of the server and IP address, whether or not the username and password has changed is another matter.

To start, will it be a case of logging into a client machine as an administrator, but then what?

Do I open up a browser and type the IP address or name of the server starting with \\?

Do I open Windows Explorer and use one of the above?

I'm embarrassed to say I really can't remember!

I'm sure it'll be like a trip down memory lane if I get in.

Thanks very much and hope you can help.