To solve this problem, you can either disable the screen saver or remove the logon screen on resume. So if Windows detects no activity for 10 minutes, the screen saver will be activated and when we get back to the Remote Desktop Connection, the screen saver is removed and then prompts to login. No wonder setting “Never” for idle session limit in RDP Properties didn’t work.īy default Windows Server activates the screen saver if the computer has been idle for 10 minutes and the setting “On resume, display logon screen” will also be checked. I thought the system was auto logging out when idle but it turns out that it was the screen that was locked. It took a couple of days trying to find the solution because I actually misunderstood the problem in the first place.

Fortunately there is quite a simple solution for how to disable remote desktop auto logoff on idle.

This is very annoying whenever I am reading the log files or the console messages that are displayed on screen. I never have any problems with Remote Desktop and it works as I expect it to, except for only one annoyance which is if I leave it idle for a few minutes, it auto logs off and I have to re-enter the password to login again. If you don’t know what Remote Desktop is, it’s a protocol developed by Microsoft which allows you to view the display and control the mouse and keyboard of another computer at different location, as if you were sitting in front of the computer.

As you might know, there are many other better remote control software such as the free Virtual Network Computing (VNC) or even the popular Teamviewer, but I try to minimize the installations of third party software on the Server machines. I often use the Windows Remote Desktop function to connect and remotely manage another Windows server.

Windows 10 automatic logout