Microsoft Fixes Remote Desktop Freezes in Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025

Microsoft has recently addressed a significant issue affecting Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) functionality in both Windows 11 version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. The problem, which began with the February 2025 Security update (KB5051987) released on February 11, 2025, caused Remote Desktop sessions to freeze shortly after connection. When affected, users experienced complete unresponsiveness of mouse and keyboard input within the RDP session, forcing them to disconnect and reconnect to regain control.

This Remote Desktop freezing issue is just one of several RDP-related problems that have plagued these latest Windows versions since early 2025. A separate issue also caused RDP sessions to disconnect after approximately 65 seconds when establishing UDP connections from Windows 11 24H2 systems to older Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts running Windows Server 2016 or earlier versions.

These problems have caused significant disruption for businesses and IT professionals who rely heavily on Remote Desktop capabilities for system administration, support, and remote work arrangements.

 Severity of the Issue

The severity of these Remote Desktop freezing issues is high, particularly for enterprise environments and IT professionals who depend on RDP functionality for daily operations. Several factors contribute to the significant impact:

1. Operational disruption: The complete freezing of keyboard and mouse input during RDP sessions required constant disconnection and reconnection, severely hampering productivity and creating a frustrating user experience.
2. Widespread deployment: Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 have seen significant adoption in enterprise environments since their release, meaning a large number of systems were potentially affected.
3. Business continuity risk: For organizations relying on Remote Desktop for critical operations, including system administration and remote support, the freezing issues posed a substantial risk to business continuity.
4. Security update dilemma: Since the issue was introduced by security updates, organizations faced the difficult choice between installing needed security patches and maintaining functional Remote Desktop capabilities.
5. Persistence across multiple updates: The issues continued through multiple update cycles before being fully resolved, extending the impact period from February through April 2025.

The compounding effect of these factors made this a particularly troublesome issue for IT departments already dealing with the complexities of managing remote and hybrid work environments.

 How It Occurred

The Remote Desktop freezing issues stemmed from problematic code introduced in Windows updates released in early 2025. The timeline and progression of these issues unfolded as follows:

1. In January 2025, Microsoft released the KB5050094 preview update, which first introduced some Remote Desktop connectivity issues in Windows 11 24H2 systems.
2. On February 11, 2025, the KB5051987 security update was released, which introduced the more severe freezing issue where Remote Desktop sessions would become completely unresponsive to mouse and keyboard input shortly after connection.
3. This issue affected both Windows 11 version 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 systems, though the fixes were released at different times for each platform.
4. For Windows 11 24H2, a fix was provided relatively quickly with the KB5052093 optional update released on February 25, 2025.
5. However, Windows Server 2025 users had to wait significantly longer for a resolution, which finally came with the KB5055523 Patch Tuesday cumulative update released on April 8, 2025.

The technical root cause appears to have been related to how the operating system handled RDP session management after the February security updates, though Microsoft has not disclosed specific details about the underlying code issue.

 Who Is at Risk

Several groups were particularly impacted by these Remote Desktop freezing issues:

1. IT administrators managing Windows Server 2025 deployments, especially those who needed to connect to these servers remotely for management and support.
2. Organizations that had deployed Windows 11 24H2 to their workstations and relied on Remote Desktop for support, training, or collaborative work.
3. Remote and hybrid workers who use Remote Desktop to access their work computers or company resources from offsite locations.
4. Managed service providers (MSPs) and IT support companies that use Remote Desktop as a primary tool for providing client support.
5. Organizations with mixed environments containing both newer (Windows 11 24H2/Server 2025) and older Windows Server versions (2016 and earlier), which experienced additional connectivity issues when establishing RDP sessions between these systems.

The impact was most severe for businesses that had promptly applied the February 2025 security updates without waiting for potential issues to be identified and addressed in subsequent patches.

 Remediations

Microsoft has now provided complete fixes for the Remote Desktop freezing issues in both Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025. The following remediation steps are recommended:

1. For Windows 11 24H2 systems: The issue was initially fixed in the KB5052093 preview update released on February 25, 2025. This fix has since been incorporated into all subsequent updates, including the most recent April 2025 security update (KB5055523).
2. For Windows Server 2025 systems: The fix was delivered with the KB5055523 cumulative update released on April 8, 2025, as part of the regular Patch Tuesday cycle.
3. For organizations experiencing the 65-second disconnection issue when connecting to older RDS hosts: This was resolved by installing the KB5053656 update released on March 27, 2025, for Windows 11 24H2 devices.
4. For environments where immediate patching is not possible, Microsoft also released a Known Issue Rollback (KIR) configuration via Group Policy that temporarily disables the problematic changes while maintaining other security improvements.

Microsoft’s official guidance is to install the latest available updates for affected devices, as these include both the fixes for the Remote Desktop issues and other important security and functionality improvements.

How CinchOps Can Help Secure Your Business

At CinchOps, we understand the critical importance of maintaining stable and secure remote access capabilities for your business. Our comprehensive approach to managing Windows updates and Remote Desktop infrastructure can help prevent disruptions like those caused by the recent Windows 11 24H2 and Server 2025 issues.

Our team of experienced IT professionals offers:

1. Controlled Update Management: We implement a strategic approach to Windows updates, testing them in controlled environments before wide deployment to identify potential issues before they affect your production systems.
2. Remote Desktop Infrastructure Optimization: We design, implement, and maintain robust Remote Desktop solutions that incorporate redundancy and failover capabilities to minimize the impact of any single component failure or software issue.
3. 24/7 Monitoring and Support: Our monitoring systems continuously check the health and performance of your Remote Desktop services, allowing us to quickly identify and address issues before they significantly impact your operations.
4. Alternative Remote Access Solutions: We can implement complementary remote access technologies alongside RDP to ensure business continuity even when primary systems experience issues.
5. Proactive Issue Resolution: We stay current with Microsoft’s release notes, known issues, and community reports to anticipate potential problems and implement workarounds or fixes as soon as they become available.
6. Regular Health Checks: We perform comprehensive assessments of your Windows infrastructure to identify potential vulnerabilities or configuration issues that could impact stability or security.

Don’t let Windows update issues disrupt your business operations. Contact CinchOps today to learn how our proactive IT management services can help maintain the stability and security of your Windows environment while minimizing the impact of issues like the recent Remote Desktop freezes.

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For Additional Information on this topic: Microsoft fixes Remote Desktop freezes caused by Windows updates

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