If you can't connect with Remote Desktop, or something just seems wrong, open Fix my server first. It checks your server in a few seconds and tells you in plain words what's going on.
What it checks
- Switched on: is the server running?
- Remote Desktop answers: can our network reach the Remote Desktop port?
- Windows is running: is Windows responding, and for how long has it been up?
- Remote Desktop settings: is Remote Desktop switched on, its service running, and allowed through Windows Firewall?
- Disk: is C: nearly full, or not using all of your disk?
One-click fixes
Depending on what it finds, you'll see the right button:
- Start server: if it's switched off.
- Restart server: if it's switched on but frozen. A restart fixes most frozen servers and ones stuck on updates.
- Fix Remote Desktop (or Fix it): switches Remote Desktop back on, opens it in Windows Firewall and starts its service. It never changes your port or password.
- Extend C:: if your disk was upgraded but C: is still the old size, this grows it to use the whole disk.
- Free up space: if C: is almost full. See Free up disk space.
If it says everything is fine but you still can't connect
The problem is most likely on your side: your internet, your PC's firewall or antivirus, or a VPN. Click Test from my PC for a one-line test to run on your own computer, which tells you whether your PC can reach the server.
Still stuck?
- Use the screen console to see the server's screen directly, even when Remote Desktop doesn't work.
- Click Copy details, then Open a ticket, and paste the details in. We can start straight away without asking you for them.
Online in the last 7 days
At the bottom, each square is an hour: green online, yellow online for part of it, red offline. It also shows times Windows was frozen.
