When experiencing a black screen during RDC to a fully functional Windows Server 2008 R2, we're typically dealing with a display driver or session management issue. The server continues running background processes normally, but the graphical interface fails to render properly during remote sessions.

# PowerShell command to restart the graphics subsystem
Restart-Service termservice -Force

# Alternative command to reset display drivers
rundll32.exe display.dll,ExportDriverStore

# Check active RDP sessions
query session /server:localhost

Modify these registry values (backup first):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp]
"fEnableWinStation"=dword:00000001
"fEnableAutoReconnect"=dword:00000001
"MaxMonitors"=dword:00000004
"MaxXResolution"=dword:00000800
"MaxYResolution"=dword:00000600

Update or reconfigure display drivers remotely using PowerShell:

# List display drivers
Get-WmiObject Win32_VideoController | Format-List *

# Reinstall basic display driver
pnputil.exe -f -d "Your_Display_Driver.inf"
pnputil.exe -i -a "C:\Windows\INF\display.inf"

Check Event Viewer logs remotely with this command:

wevtutil qe System /q:"*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager']]]" /c:10 /f:text

Create a scheduled task to periodically reset the RDP components:

$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'powershell.exe' -Argument '-NoProfile -Command "Restart-Service TermService -Force"'
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 3am
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "RDP Maintenance" -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -Description "Daily RDP service reset"

When connecting to Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Edition via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), users occasionally encounter a completely black screen despite the server functioning normally. This issue typically occurs after the server has been running for extended periods or following certain configuration changes.

Before resorting to a hard reboot via KVM/IP, consider these common causes:

• GPU driver conflicts in remote session
• Terminal Services session corruption
• RDP display settings misconfiguration
• Pending Windows updates affecting display protocols

Try these solutions in sequence:

1. Reset the Remote Session

From an administrative command prompt:

query session /server:localhost
reset session [ID] /server:localhost /v

2. Modify RDP Display Settings

Create a custom RDP file with these parameters:

screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:0
desktopwidth:i:1024
desktopheight:i:768
session bpp:i:32

3. Registry Fix for Display Drivers

Apply this registry tweak remotely via PowerShell:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName SERVERNAME -ScriptBlock {
    Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" -Name "fEnableWinStation" -Value 1
    Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" -Name "fDenyTSConnections" -Value 0
}
Restart-Service TermService -Force

GPU Acceleration Workaround

Disable hardware acceleration in the RDP client:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client]
"EnableHardwareMode"=dword:00000000

Session Reset Automation

Create a scheduled task that runs hourly to reset stale sessions:

$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute 'cmd.exe' -Argument '/c query session /server:localhost | findstr /i "disc" && for /f "tokens=3" %i in (''query session /server:localhost ^| findstr /i "disc"'') do reset session %i /server:localhost'
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At (Get-Date) -RepetitionInterval (New-TimeSpan -Hours 1)
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "ResetStaleRDP" -Action $action -Trigger $trigger

To avoid recurrence:

• Regularly update display drivers on the host
• Implement Group Policy to limit maximum RDP session duration
• Monitor for memory leaks in terminal services
• Consider upgrading to newer Windows Server versions if possible