Remote Desktop to Windows 2008 hosted in VirtualBox makes host unresponsive

I have installed Windows 2008 R2 SP1 in a VirtualBox VM. It works fine, except that if I Remote Desktop (RDP) to the VM from the host (machine running VirtualBox, Windows 7 SP1), after a minute or so the windows shell becomes unresponsive.

I can no longer start task manager, open the start menu or switch applications. Keyboard input also drops some keys. Mouse movement is not affected.

Any idea what is causing this?

NB: This is Windows RDP, not the remote display built into VirtualBox

Robert Wagner

Posted 2011-03-04T04:06:37.767

Reputation: 151

So you can use the mouse to stop the remote connection and regain keyboard? – Daniel H – 2011-03-04T04:13:21.663

No, because Remote Desktop UI is unresponsive. I can however log off the VM which makes the computer available again after a few mins. – Robert Wagner – 2011-03-04T05:23:43.550

Answers

There are different versions of RDP available from Microsoft's download centre. I've had odd problems with RDP at a few client sites that were resolved by using an older version of RDP.

As a backup, I recommend you also install UltraVNC so that you have an alternative when RDP fails.

UltraVNC
http://www.ultravnc.org/

Randolf Richardson

Posted 2011-03-04T04:06:37.767

Reputation: 14 002

Ah ok, I might try an older version. I could just use the VM UI instead of UltraVNC, I prefer Remote Desktop due to the seemlessness. – Robert Wagner – 2011-03-04T05:24:49.740

If the VM is local, then the UltraVNC suggestion isn't needed, but it sure does come in handy when working remotely even though it has a different feature-set. Please add an update on how the older version of the RDP client works out for you. – Randolf Richardson – 2011-03-05T15:56:02.643