RDP Connection Authentication Error

Question

I have a AWS Server running Windows 2012R2. I have been using it for long and it works fine. Today I changed 2 group policy settings i.e.

-Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only - disabled
    -Network access: sharing and security model for local accounts to Guest only

After I restarted the server I am unable to connect to the server using RDP. This happened because of the group policy settings that I changed. How to fix it as I can't connect via RDP?

When I try to connect it gives error: "An Authentication Error has occurred. The local security authority cannot be contacted. This could be due to expired passwords. Please update your password if it has expired."

I have 2 user accounts (admin & standard) and both have passwords.

**Please help as its urgent.**

Thank you

Answer

Hello,

Glad that you were able to resolve your issue by connecting through AWS Session Manager and reversing the registry entry.

For future reference, you can go through the repost article by AWS on same issue here 
> https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/ec2-windows-rdp-authentication-errors

To troubleshoot connecting to your windows instance, you can refer to the below article as well 
> Troubleshoot connecting to your Windows instance -https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/troubleshoot-connect-windows-instance.html

Answer

Issue resolved, just reversed the registry entry by accessing server through AWS Session Manager.

RDP Connection Authentication Error

Relevant content