Microsoft Remote Desktop gets laggy over time on OS X El Capitan

0

I have an issue with Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac OS X on a MacBook Pro 2015.

Mac OS X version: 10.11.6
Remote Desktop version: 8.0.42

Over time the RDP session becomes very laggy. Keypresses are sometimes delayed up to several seconds. The lag seems to appear every 5 seconds and lasts around 2 seconds (kind of pulsating lag). CPU usage is normal. The only workaround I've found so far is to reboot the OS. This helps for a day or two, then lag becomes severe enough to force me do another reboot.

I started noticing this laggy behavior a long time ago. Several OS updates and Remote Desktop updates were installed since then, but nothing helped.

I also have a 7 year old PC notebook which is not fast nowadays but the same RDP session works perfectly smooth and fast on it when compared to the MacBook.

Maybe someone else has observed a similar issue and can advise as to what can cause such a strange issue? I haven't found a solution on Google yet.

Roman

Posted 2017-09-14T20:11:55.817

Reputation: 161

Answers

1

I'm going to sound like a broken record on this, but for any MS RDC issues, I always say - try the beta from MS Technet

Remote Desktop Client Preview for Mac supports multiple monitors and more

It's been in beta for a long time now, is pretty stable & is just a whole deal better than the release. It also periodically reminds you of, or auto-updates, just like a release. I haven't needed to go back to the release for any reason since the first beta, in 2016.

Its memory footprint does climb over time, but I have at least one machine connected 24/7 & I only relaunch RDC every week or two, which then sets it back to something respectable for a while. [Just checked, Mac uptime 9 days, RDC memory 1.1GB - I tend to relaunch it when it hits about 6 or 8GB. YMMV, I have 64GB RAM in this Mac]

Tetsujin

Posted 2017-09-14T20:11:55.817

Reputation: 22 456

Hi Tetsujin. Last 4 days I was using Remote Desktop Client Preview thanks to your recommendation. The good: I didn't noticed lags. The bad: after I task-switch from RDC to MacOS or notebook goes to sleep and later awakes RDC starts using > 120% of CPU (more that one core) which drains battery rather quickly, notebook gets very hot. This is no-issue when connected to power supply but huge problem when working on battaries. Did you observe the same issue? – Roman – 2017-09-19T06:59:08.810

My machine never sleeps, so it's not something I would notice, sorry. After 12 days uptime, it's still only doing 0.3% CPU [ though it has managed to eat 5GB RAM. – Tetsujin – 2017-09-19T17:37:27.353

Asked: 2017-09-14T20:11:55.817

Viewed: 1 023 times

Active: 2017-09-15T09:40:46.240