Microsoft’s Latest Patch Tuesday Updates Cause Remote Desktop Service Failures on Windows Server Systems
In a surprise move, Microsoft has confirmed that its September 2026 security updates are causing widespread failures of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on Windows Server systems. The issue affects multiple versions of Windows Server, including Windows Server 2012 and later, as well as Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.
According to Microsoft’s release health update, the problem is that installing this month’s Patch Tuesday updates can cause RDS connections to fail after several minutes, leading to sign-in issues or servers hanging during the Remote Desktop Configuration process. Additionally, related tools such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC), RDS Licensing Diagnoser, and File Explorer may become unresponsive, while the Windows Update page may freeze with a continuous loading indicator.
The issue is particularly troublesome for organizations that rely on remote access to their systems through RDP connections. When a server starts failing, existing Remote Desktop sessions may not disconnect or log off properly, making it difficult for administrators to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. New connection attempts may also fail after hanging during the connection process, further exacerbating the issue.
Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a mitigation strategy in the form of Group Policies that can be applied on enterprise-managed devices managed by IT departments. These policies can help prevent the RDS failures but do not offer a permanent fix for the underlying problem. As a temporary workaround, administrators may be able to restore RDS connectivity by stopping and restarting the affected virtual machine.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft has faced similar issues in the past. In March 2025, the company fixed a known issue that triggered Remote Desktop and RDS connection failures after installing Windows updates released since January 2025. This latest issue is a reminder of the importance of carefully testing software updates before deploying them to production environments.
For organizations affected by this issue, it’s essential to prioritize the restoration of remote access to their systems as soon as possible. This can be achieved by rolling back the buggy updates or applying the provided Group Policies. However, removing the updates will also remove the security fixes included in this month’s Patch Tuesday release, leaving systems vulnerable to other potential threats.
To prevent similar issues in the future, administrators should consider implementing a more robust testing and validation process for software updates before deploying them to production environments. This can include conducting thorough testing on non-production systems, as well as monitoring system logs and performance metrics after deployment to quickly identify any potential issues.
Source: Bleeping Computer — 2026-09-14