Remote Desktop Connection - An Authentication Error has Occurred (Code: 0x800706be)

Issue Type
Bug Report
Status
On-Hold
Description

Users receive a Remote Desktop Connection error when connecting with the Remote Desktop button from the Connection Bar under Computer Management. The specific error details are: "An authentication error has occurred (Code: 0x800706be)".

Comments

This issue is a bug in Microsoft's MSTSC.exe (Remote Desktop). The issue occurs only when running mstsc.exe elevated as a different user account than the currently logged in user account, and only if the "runas" account has never logged in to the workstation.

Organizations SHOULD utilize secondary accounts for their local administrator rights, with their "daily driver" account not having local administrative privileges at all. It's also recommended to never log into that secondary account on workstations so that the account credentials aren't cached anywhere on the network. If your organization follows good security practices such as these, you will run into this issue due to EMU launching mstsc.exe as the secondary account while the main account is the account actively logged in to the workstation.

I have submitted a bug to Microsoft about this issue - if you would like to help it get some traction with an upvote, you may do so here: https://aka.ms/AAkm0o2

As a workaround for now, you can log in to the secondary admin account on the workstation you are running EMU from, then log out and log back in to your normal account. RDP will work from EMU after this.

Issue ID
1