Even if RDP appears enabled, verify that both "Remote Desktop" and "Remote Desktop (WebSocket)" are allowed through the firewall for both Private and Public profiles.
Incompatibility between the client and server authentication requirements. How to Fix Remote Desktop Error 0x904 (Extended 0x7)
Force Windows to rebuild a clean certificate by opening a command prompt as administrator and running: net stop termservice /y net start termservice Use code with caution. Even if RDP appears enabled, verify that both
Unlike general credential validation failures, error 0x904 with extended code 0x7 highlights broken multi-transport routing, severe network packet loss, misconfigured Network Level Authentication (NLA), or corrupted secure sockets/certificates on the host server. Technical Breakdown of the Error
Require user authentication for remote connections by using Network Level Authentication (NLA) Are you connecting to a local server cloud-based virtual machine Unlike general credential validation failures
This combination of codes indicates a specific class of failure: a during the connection handshake. Unlike simple login failures (bad password) or network timeouts, these errors point to a breakdown in how the RDP client and server negotiate security, licensing, or data encryption.
Four core technical conditions trigger this precise handshake failure: severe network packet loss
Enter the following script to rename the corrupt keys folder, allowing Windows to safely rebuild a clean directory: powershell
In some cases, the error appears after a few seconds of "Preparing Windows", indicating a problem with the system's encryption keys.
mstsc.exe /v:<remote_ip> /restrictedAdmin
Corrupted local machine keys can cause the socket to close immediately. Users have reported success by clearing this folder via Azure Run Command or local recovery.