RDPdd.dll failed to load

Loaded up a brand new machine yesterday for one of the developers (that new Gateway I mentioned the other day, in fact). Fresh install of XP and Service Pack 3 and things were looking good.

The developer was using Remote Desktop to finish installations and general configuration before moving it to his office. Suddenly he shoots me a text message: He can no longer connect!

Turns out that I couldn’t connect either. Start remote desktop client, enter machine name and hit enter. It would blink for a second and then reset.

All other network functions worked. In fact, I was able to use ChrisControl (via VNC) to remotely do my trouble-shooting and fixes today. Just no remote desktop.

I started with a look at his event viewer to see if anything helpful was getting logged.^[1]
Once connected, I saw lots of of the same message:

Event Type:    Information
Event Source:    Application Popup
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    26
Date:        7/30/2008
Time:        7:17:49 AM
User:        N/A
Computer:    HANSWAY
Description:
Application popup:  : \SystemRoot\System32\RDPDD.dll failed to load

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 02 00 6c 00   ......l.
0008: 00 00 00 00 1a 00 00 40   .......@
0010: 17 00 00 c0 6c 02 00 c0   ...Àl..À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........

My initial searches turned up lots of tips to run SFC and/or upgrade my ATI drivers. I ran sfc /scannow and nothing happened (well, I got a 30 minute respite while it trundled along…). The video card is nVidia, so the ATI tip seemed like a red herring as well.

However, when I re-started my research/google searching this morning I found a helpful post at  the Brad Rutkowski’s Blog  that happened to mention nVidia which is the card that we have on this Gateway. He has some great comments on that post and updated the post accordingly — and that’s where I found my solution:

Update from comments:

D) A solution found at http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=67147&hl=remote%20desktop&st=60 worked for me (and others.)

It’s a registry fix that increases the size of the session image space.  Add the following key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

“SessionImageSize”=dword:00000020

Where 00000020 is hex for 32

The troubled machine didn’t have that key, so I added it and rebooted. Working great now and problem solved.

[1] Quick Tip: it is very easy to remotely connect to other machines’ event viewer if you have the appropriate permissions

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2. Belt and Suspenders With ChrisControl
3. More on Remote Desktop: Royal TS
4. XP Service Pack 3 — Remote Desktop Change
5. In Which I Confess to Duncity