"In some environments, RDS might become unstable, resulting in RDP connections failing after several minutes, sign‑in issues, or servers hanging at 'Please wait for the Remote Desktop Configuration'," Microsoft said on Friday.
Microsoft confirms impact across Windows Server 2012 and later, Windows 10 and Windows 11
Microsoft has acknowledged that the September 2026 security updates are causing Remote Desktop Services (RDS) failures on affected systems. According to the company's release health update, the known issue affects Windows Server 2012 and later releases, as well as Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. The confirmation followed widespread reports from Windows administrators that installing this month's Patch Tuesday updates prevents users from connecting to RDS in many environments.
How the failures present themselves for administrators and users
Administrators have reported multiple failure modes. In addition to RDP connections failing after several minutes, Microsoft noted sign‑in issues and servers that hang at the on‑screen message "Please wait for the Remote Desktop Configuration." The company also warned that related management tools can become unresponsive: "Related tools, including Microsoft Management Console (MMC), RDS Licensing Diagnoser, and File Explorer might also become unresponsive. Additionally, the Windows Update page might stop responding and continuously display a loading indicator."
Other reported effects include existing Remote Desktop sessions that do not disconnect or log off properly, and new connection attempts that hang during the connection process. In some cases administrators have reported needing to perform a hard reset to restore server functionality.
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Get a security leadMicrosoft-published Group Policy mitigations and the affected builds
Microsoft published a set of Group Policy objects intended for enterprise-managed devices to mitigate the problem. The company mapped specific Group Policy packages to affected builds; the published list in the release health update includes:
- Windows 11 26H1: Windows 11 26H1 KB5124012 260912_00471 Group Policy
- Windows 11 25H2 and Windows 11 24H2: Windows 11 24H2, Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 KB5124008 260911_19322 Group policy
- Windows 11 23H2: Windows 11 22H2 KB5122880 260912_00473 Group Policy
- Windows 10 21H2 and 22H2: Windows 10 20H2, 21H1, 21H2 and 22H2 KB5122878 260911_18476 Group Policy
- Windows Server 2025: Windows Server 2025 KB5122871 260911_18472 Group Policy
- Windows Server 2022: Windows Server 2022 KB5122882 260911_18471 Group Policy
- Windows 10 1809 and Windows Server 2019: Windows 10 1809 and Windows Server 2019 KB5122876 260911_18474 Group Policy
- Windows 10 1607 and Windows Server 2016: Windows 10 1607 and Windows Server 2016 KB5123099 260911_18473 Group Policy
- Windows Server 2012: Windows Server 2012 KB5123065 260911_18475 Group Policy
- Windows Server 2012 R2: Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 KB5123066 260911_18477 Group Policy
Temporary workarounds: virtual machine restart and update rollback
Microsoft indicated that administrators who cannot access virtual machines through RDP may be able to temporarily restore RDS connectivity by stopping and restarting the affected virtual machine. Windows administrators have also restored Remote Desktop functionality by rolling back the problematic updates; Microsoft cautioned that removing the updates also removes the security fixes included in this month's Patch Tuesday release.
The company said it remains possible to ship a permanent fix for the issue, but until that fix is delivered teams must choose between the published Group Policy mitigations, VM restarts, or rolling back updates—each with tradeoffs Microsoft itself outlined.
How IT teams, enterprise operations, and end users are affected
- IT teams: will need to deploy Microsoft’s Group Policy mitigations or perform VM restarts where feasible, or accept the security trade‑offs of rollback if immediate availability is required.
- Enterprise operations and administrators: face potentially hung servers, unresponsive MMC, RDS Licensing Diagnoser, and File Explorer, and in some cases the need for hard resets to restore functionality.
- End users relying on Remote Desktop: may experience sessions that fail after minutes, sign‑in problems, or an inability to establish new RDP connections while the issue persists.
Microsoft previously fixed a similar known issue that triggered Remote Desktop and RDS connection failures in March 2025 after installing Windows updates released since January 2025. That history is part of the record administrators will weigh as they evaluate mitigation, rollback, and the timeline for a permanent fix.
