Windows – The connection was denied because the user account is not authorized

group-policyremote desktopwindows 10windows-domainwindows-server

I am trying to use Remote Desktop to another PC on our domain. If I use an administrators account this works fine, however when I use a normal user it gives the error:

The connection was denied because the user account is not authorised
for remote login.

As per these questions I have:

  • Set "Allow Log on through Remote Desktop Services" (adding the Remote Desktop Users group).
  • Added the user to the remote desktop services group
  • Set "Allow users to connect remotely by using Remote Desktop Services"
  • Done gpupdate /force several times on the RD host machine

If I go in to Remote Settings > Select Users on RD host and add the domain user "walter.white" that user can then login to the machine from the other PC.

RD Users Settings Screen

I don't want to have to do that on every machine. I want to set it by GP object which I thought would be "Allow Log on through Remote Desktop Services" – as you can see above this group doesn't appear in this dialog (and I guess is the cause of the issue).

I know the GP has taken effect as if run "secpol.msc" and look at "Allow logon through Remote Desktop Services", I do see Remote Desktop Services (as well as Walter White which I added to the GP object).

Local Security Policy taking effect

We have Windows Server 2012.

Best Answer

Instead of editing the User Rights Assignment on your workstations, consider using a Group Policy Preference (GPP) setting to modify the membership of the Remote Desktop Users group. By default, anyone that is a member of this group will be granted permission to establish a RDC connection to the machine.

Edit the membership of the Remote Desktop Users group with a Group Policy Preference (GPP) setting as follows:

  1. Create a new Security Group such as My Remote Desktop Users. Members of this group will be granted permission to make Remote Desktop connections.
  2. Edit a Group Policy Object and navigate to Computer Configuration/Preferences/Control Panel Settings

  3. Right-click Local Users and Groups and choose New > Local Group enter image description here

  4. Set Action: to Update

  5. In the Group name: drop-down choose Remote Desktop Users (built-in)
  6. Click Add...
  7. In the Local Group Member dialog box click the ... box and find your group (don't type it in manually)
  8. Confirm Action: is set to Add to this group enter image description here
  9. Click OK two times then close the Group Policy editor.
  10. Apply the Group Policy object to computers to which you want users to be able to access.

The advantage of this method is that you can easily grant/revoke Remote Desktop permissions by modifying a user's membership in the My Remote Desktop Users group, instead of having to edit Group Policy to set a new User Rights Assignment policy then wait for it to propagate to your workstations.

Further, edits to the User Rights Assignment policy are not cumulative. In other words, if you have two Group Policies that modify that policy, only one will have an effect. On the other hand, multiple GPPs can be specified to modify the membership of the Remote Desktop Users group.

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