954,255 Members — Technology Publication meets Social Media
Username:
Password:
Lost login information?
Have something to say? Contribute New Article Reply to this Article

MSTSC.EXE errors on startup after windows update

Hi

I'm running Windows XP Pro. SP3. RDP used to work fine but following the SP3 patch (I think) I noticed that the RDP icon had changed in appearence. When I try and use Remote Desktop it launches and then displays an error box saying

"Remote Desktop Connection has encountered a problem and needs to close."

If I leave the error message on the screen I can use remote desktop but the error always stays on top. If I click the close button on the message box it closes remote desktop.

Event viewer shows the following:

Faulting application mstsc.exe, version 6.0.6001.18000, faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x010f7390.


It's very frustrating. Can anyone point me in the direction of a fix for this?

Regards

Alistair

alit2002
Junior Poster in Training
52 posts since Dec 2006
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 3
 

In XP SP3 a change has been made to the RDP client in regards to how to connect to a console session, previously it was nessesary to use the "console" parameter, but now the parameter has changed name to "admin".

A possible solution is

- Stop the process mstsc.exe
- Created a new folder "RDP" in %windir%
- Copy "mstsc.exe" and "mstscax.dll" from "C:\Windows\
$NtServicePackUninstall$" to this folder
- Copy the folder "en-US" "from C:\Windows\System32" to this folder
- Copy the "mstsc.exe.mui" and "mstscax.dll.mui" from "C:\Windows\
$NtServicePackUninstall$" to "C:\Windows\RDP\en-US"
- Change RDP shortcut to ""C:\Windows\RDP\mstsc.exe"

Let me know if it works.
Mikey

magic_mikey
Light Poster
28 posts since Mar 2008
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 4
 

magic_mikey, thanks for your solution.

I have Win SP3 for a few months, but few days ago my remote desktop connection stopped to work, ending with error :
Faulting application mstsc.exe, ....... .

I've followed your solution and it WORKS !

Thanks !

tmodelsk
Newbie Poster
2 posts since Feb 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

In XP SP3 a change has been made to the RDP client in regards to how to connect to a console session, previously it was nessesary to use the "console" parameter, but now the parameter has changed name to "admin".

A possible solution is - Stop the process mstsc.exe - Created a new folder "RDP" in %windir% - Copy "mstsc.exe" and "mstscax.dll" from "C:\Windows\ $NtServicePackUninstall$" to this folder - Copy the folder "en-US" "from C:\Windows\System32" to this folder - Copy the "mstsc.exe.mui" and "mstscax.dll.mui" from "C:\Windows\ $NtServicePackUninstall$" to "C:\Windows\RDP\en-US" - Change RDP shortcut to ""C:\Windows\RDP\mstsc.exe"

Let me know if it works. Mikey

Hi Mikey

Thanks for the tip my RDP now works without any problem. I had trouble finding the "mstsc.exe.mui" and "mstscax.dll.mui" files but it turned out that they were already in the en-US directory!

Thanks again for the help.

Alistair

alit2002
Junior Poster in Training
52 posts since Dec 2006
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 3
 

Thanks Mikey - that worked for me too.

I have XP Pro SP2. I recently updated to XP SP3 but the Windows Installer stopped working so I rolled it back. After the rollback mstsc.exe stopped working (process showed in Tasl Mgr but no window appeared). I used your fix and mstsc is working OK.

Thanks again,
Andy

andyminto
Newbie Poster
1 post since Apr 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

It works!

Thanks Mikey. I owe you a beer.

alnc2004
Newbie Poster
1 post since Aug 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

I've put this solution on my blog, and I've got a lot of valuable comments to this problem.
See http://it.tmod.pl/Blog/EntryId/115/Remote-Desktop-Connection-crashes.aspx
Shortly the problem is caused by SRA64.exe trojan, that is the conclusion from people comments and investigations.

tmodelsk
Newbie Poster
2 posts since Feb 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

Will this also work if running into the same problems with Windows XP and RDC coming up with error 6.0.6001.18000 but a different offset number?

I upgraded to 6.1 and since get an error that RDC has to close due to error. And uninstalling does not help. I need 6.1 in order to utilize some terminal services.

Thank you in advance.

blujason
Newbie Poster
1 post since Sep 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

Mike - gret solution, many thanks! Works fine for me. I guess it amounts to rolling back that part of SP3...

In XP SP3 a change has been made to the RDP client in regards to how to connect to a console session, previously it was nessesary to use the "console" parameter, but now the parameter has changed name to "admin".

A possible solution is - Stop the process mstsc.exe - Created a new folder "RDP" in %windir% - Copy "mstsc.exe" and "mstscax.dll" from "C:\Windows\ $NtServicePackUninstall$" to this folder - Copy the folder "en-US" "from C:\Windows\System32" to this folder - Copy the "mstsc.exe.mui" and "mstscax.dll.mui" from "C:\Windows\ $NtServicePackUninstall$" to "C:\Windows\RDP\en-US" - Change RDP shortcut to ""C:\Windows\RDP\mstsc.exe"

Let me know if it works. Mikey

d_r_dan_c
Newbie Poster
1 post since Sep 2009
Reputation Points: 10
Solved Threads: 0
 

This article has been dead for over three months

Post: Markdown Syntax: Formatting Help
You