Lion OS and Remote Desktop Connection. What are my options?

@dan, I had the same problem for last days on Lion 10.7.4 + MS RDC 2.1.1 + MS Server 2008 with terminal services... It's not surprising that MS app can not work with systems of MS, just a fact.

The solution is called CoRD –> here you have a link. I'm testing it on my local network (1 Gb) and is working perfectly. No lags, no hang-ups, no crashes so far.

Microsoft version of RDC went to trash definitely.

This solved my problem - same issue.

• Close Remote Desktop Conneciton (not just the connection prompt, but also the program by going to the menu RDC, select quit RDC
• Open your mac finder window
• Open Documents, and open the folder RDP Connections
• Delete default.rdp and any other files (note this will delete saved passwords and username info from other remote desktop connections you might have setup).
• Open Remote Desktop Connection program (RDC)
• Connect to your server IP (i.e.) 192.168.2.69
• Enter username as: xxxxxx
• Password as: (your password)
• Domain: MUST LEAVE THIS BLANK.

You will get a message that says The server name on the certificate is incorrect. Do you want to connect to this computer anyway? Click CONNECT -> done!

If it doesn't connect, try one more time.

I had the same problem, but just fixed the problem with this:

• Close Remote Desktop Conneciton (not just the connection prompt, but also the program by going to the menu RDC, select quit RDC
• Open your mac finder window
• Open Documents, and open the folder RDP Connections
• Delete default.rdp and any other files (note this will delete saved passwords and username info from other remote desktop connections you might have setup).
• Open Remote Desktop Connection program (RDC)
• Connect to your sever IP (i.e 192.168.4.69)
• Enter username as: (yourusername)
• Password as: (your password)
• Domain: MUST LEAVE THIS BLANK.

You will get a message that says The server name on the certificate is incorrect. Do you want to connect to this computer anyway? Click CONNECT -> done!

If it doesn't connect, try one more time.

MiB4 wrote:

i have a brand new Lion MacBook Pro and Lion iMac. RDC 2.1.1 crashes , i put in the server ip and i get this error:

Remote Desktop Connection cannot verify the identity of the computer that you want to connect to.

This problem can occur if:

• The remote computer is running a version of Windows that is earlier than Windows Vista.

• The remote computer is configured to support only the RDP security layer.

Contact your administrator, or the owner of the remote computer for assistance.

Do you want to connect anyway.

then when i do, it errors out

if i go back to 2.0.1 it works, however it will kick us out once in a while. i've redownloaded 2.1.1 and still happens that it won't even go as far as 2.0.1. Any ideas? the Windows server is pretty old. it's 2003 but it's listed under the requirements and works on listed for 2.1.1 and 2.0.1.

Check the configuration of the target, allow remote connections (from any version of RDC) should be checked.

I am using MS RDC for Mac v 2.1.1 on both Lion and Mountain Lion. At first it wasn't working...I felt sad. However, by clearing out the fields on the Login tab and unchecking the Add user information to your keychain option, then typing in the computer information, and when prompted to save to my Keychain I unchecked the option...it worked. I felt happy again.

I have two Macs, one running 10.5.8 and one running 10.7.5 (Lion). The RDC runs on 10.5.8 but not on 10.7.5. All of the Remote Desktop Connection setups are exactly the same for each and yet the Mac with Lion will not connect. So, I followed the instructions above to leave the domain blank and the "Add user information to your keychain" unchecked. It still doesn't work on Lion. Any suggestions?

Try to use CoRD. I changed RDC with CoRD more then year ago having similar problems with connection to Windows Server. Microsoft do not support RDC any longer. CoRD is for free of charge.

Thanks for your response. I downloaded CoRD but it doesn't work. The documentation states that it doesn't work with VNC servers. I'll have to check with IT to find out if that's the type of server I'm trying to connect to. It's a hospital VPN. Thanks again!

Hi,

this is the question you should ask your IT support at the beginning. Maybe they could suggest best software or assist you with configuration. Let me know where the problem they will find.

And one more thing. Why you don't use RDC to connect VNC server? RDC uses native MS remote desktop protocol... Did you try system tool "Connect to server"? Being in Finder press CMD+K, new window appear, type VNC://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx in Server address field and press.... I'm sure you know which button. ;-)

CoRD is for connecting to Microsoft's RDC protocol and does not work with VNC. If you need to connect to a VNC server, you'll neeed a VNC app.You cannot use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac nor CoRD with a Mac client.

Regards.

The other better solution that I found by luck and it works 100% with Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 is the new RDP client from Microsoft which is only available via the App Store:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id715768417?mt=12&affId=2064962

Cheers

Willo

PS: What's better is NO workarounds. 🙂