Windows 10 Professional remote desktop error 0x4

Question

Hello,

I have been connecting to a computer at another location (Windows 10 Professional) using my Mac for quite some time now. Suddenly, last week the remote desktop program gave an error code "0x4". I tried connecting with the previous version of the RDP client to no avail. I also tried connecting with iPhone and another Windows 10 Professional – nothing seems to work.

The connection is over the public internet and I do know the correct IP for the device. No changes have been made to the network structure (e.g. port settings, or such). The environment in which the target computer resides is exactly the same as before.

How could I fix the problem? I'd like to note it is extremely hard for me to access this computer physically, so if it is possible by any means to fix this remotely I'd love to give it a try. I have not allowed other connection than RDP to the computer so I cannot SSH or use other measures to change the target computer.

Answer 1

Can you get someone physically there to restart Windows 10 computer?

Its possible something changed in the Remote Desktop settings on the remote computer or the router the machine is connected to needs to be reset.

Answer 2

I have seen updates after they run disable RDP.

Have you looked at that?

Can you connect to the machine using Powershell remotely?

https://www.howtogeek.com/117192/how-to-run-pow...

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Answer 3

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I can get someone to start the machine physically, however, I'd like to avoid this option due to the extremely remote location of the computer.

I can access the router/modem remotely and I tried restarting it and checked the port forwarding/firewall settings. This did not help so I suspect it is about the setting of the remote computer. The computer posts its IP to an internal file once an hour and every time there is a change in its power state (battery/UPS/plugged in) so we know it is still connected and has not been assigned another IP for weeks.

Answer 4

Thanks for your reply.

We have disabled any updates from downloading/attempting to restart the computer so those should have not had any effect to the device.

We have also disabled remote Powershell, so it is not possible to connect via Powershell.

According to our logs (posted to an internal server by a program that monitors the power state of the computer), the computer has been online for several months (so no restart).

Answer 5

The only thing i can suggest at this point is to either reset that PC or use something like teamviewer.

Because you are stating nothing has changed so very hard to determine what is going on really. Sorry can't be more help.