[German]I'm picking up on a topic that has come to my attention in fragments from my blog readers as comments as well as on Twitter. I have received several reports about problems with a freezing Windows taskbar or Start button on Windows Terminal Server (RDS). Seems like another bug caused by Microsoft with the latest updates.
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A user notification
German blog reader Franz contacted me on Twitter and describes there his experiences with the hanging Windows taskbar as follows (I've translated the German tweet):
Have quite funny effect on Terminal Server (serv 2022). If you are in Edge and then click on Startbar there is a pause of about 1-2 seconds. Probably since update to 20348.1487 Any idea?
Franz has the effect that the Start button freezes for 1-2 seconds on Windows Terminal Server, hosted on Windows Server 2022, when using the Edge browser. He suspects the update to build 20348.1487 (see Patchday: Windows 11/Server 2022 Updates (January 10, 2023)). Regarding the question from Franz, the comment mentinoned below came to my mind.
Another user report
In my German blog post Windows 10/11: Microsoft bestätigt Taskbar-Probleme mit Barco ClickShare-App Kalenderintegration (as well as in the cross linked English edition) I had reported about problems with an unresponsive taskbar – but there a slightly different error pattern occurs. But German blog reader Michael had left the following comment (I've translated the text):
Since the last Windows update the taskbar on a terminal server freezes for about 5 to 60 sec. Utilization, memory etc is all in dark green. When it occurs, no process has a high load either.
Barco ClickShare is not present. There are already a few messages on the net about this. (incl. server restart and then goes for a few days).
The whole thing is user independent, even administrator is affected. I could recognize connections in connection with Edge.
This coincides with what Franz had described on Twitter. Michael states that restarting the server fixes the problem for a few days. Franz then followed up with the following German comment.
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Identical problem
However, the pauses in the taskbar are up to 20 seconds. Opened programs can still be operated. With time delay the clicks in the taskbar come then.
At Administrator.de is also a report about it [GB: I suspect it is the post Terminalserver 2016 Start- bzw. Taskleiste friert sporadisch ein meant].
Also at answers.Microsoft.com (bape hoodie8) there is a reference to Taptip or TapTip32.exe. But Taptip Kill did not bring any improvement.
The mentioned programs Taptip.exe or TapTip32.exe seem to be the TabletInput service.
A Microsoft Answers forum post
Franz mentioned about the Microsoft Answers forum post Windows 2022 Server RDS – TaskBar regularly lags, is slow, or freezes, dated January 16, 2023, that contains the following description:
Windows 2022 Server RDS – TaskBar regularly lags, is slow, or freezes
Taskbars on Windows 2022 Remote Desktop servers freeze for RDP users
When attempting to click on the taskbar, for example to switch between apps or right-click for task management, we are noticing that there is a delay of between 30 and 45 seconds (varies) in all sessions, including admin and local.
On Windows Server 2022 RDS, there are problems with the task bar and sporadic task bar freezing.
If you click back into your application after the taskbar has lost focus, it will take a little while for the taskbar to respond when you try to click on it again.
Both of our 2022 RDS servers are experiencing this, and a clean boot does not fix the problem. They are also properly patched.
So also there you can find this error pattern that on Windows Server 2022 the taskbar for RDP users freezes for a certain time when clicked. There is a reference to the blog post Windows Server 2022 Freezing/Very Laggy Taskbar from December 2022, where the mentioned programs Taptip.exe or TapTip32.exe are disabled by renaming them. Doesn't seem to be any improvement with Franz though.
More reports
In the Microsoft Techcommunity there is a user entry Windows 2022 Server RDS – TaskBar Laggy/Slow/Freeze frequently with a similar description of the bug.
Windows 2022 Server RDS – TaskBar Laggy/Slow/Freeze frequently
Windows 2022 Remote desktop servers taskbar freezing in RDP users
We are finding the task bar in all sessions (including admin/local) suffer from a delay of 30-45 seconds (varies) when trying to click on the taskbar i.e. to change applications or right click for task manager.issues with the task bar/random task bar freezing on Windows Server 2022 RDS
Once the taskbar has focus its responsive as usual, but once it loses focus i.e. you click back into your application, when you try to click on the task bar its delayed to respond again.This is happening on both our 2022 RDS servers – clean boot doesn't resolve the issue, they are fully patched to date.
Troubleshotting steps:
-Restart the "Explorer" process
-recreate user profile in RDP
-update the latest windows patch
-Run sfc/scannow
-Disable programs on the Startup tabIf you know anyone please give a solution/feedback.
There is still no reply to this post in February 2023. On spiceworks.com there is also the community post Server 2022 RDS Taskbar and Start menu Lagging and Freezing from January 16, 2023.
Server 2022 RDS Taskbar and Start menu Lagging and Freezing
I have a brand new Server 2022 RDS server and have around 10 users on it. We have has multiple reports that the taskbar and start meny lag or freeze up. I was able to easily replicate this issue but not sure how to fix. I've googled the issue and this is what I've done so far:
1. Created a DWORD key at
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicyand set it to 1
2. Disabled the firewall altogether
3. Temporarily disabled AV (Sentinel One)
4. Set a task to reboot the server every morning at 3am.
Any help on this issue would be appreciated. While it's not a showstopper, it is an annoyance.
The reddit.com post here, on the other hand, is already 8 months older and could have other causes. There seem to be several causes. At this point I'm asking me, whether other users also has the problem and knows a cause and a solution?
Feedback on Facebook
I had posted the link to this post in various private German-language Facebook groups. I received feedback there as well. Joachim B. wrote in a comment:
Yes! Was wondering why this doesn't happen to anyone else. Windows Server vNext has the same problem.
Tom B. posted the following comment (the reference to 2019 is to be understood in the sense that I explicitly mentioned Windows Server 2022 as affected in my post):
Switched to TCP in RDP file, but this also occurs with 2019.
Regarding the switch to TCP, the post Windows 11 22H1: RDP issues fixed by preview update is going around in my head. After all, the preview update is only available for Windows 11 22H1. However, I am unsure whether there is not another error here.
Causes and workarounds
I found interesting the explanation of Rene S. in the server group on FB, as a reaction to my post. There a possible cause including workaround for this problem shimmers through:
Had this once with a customer:
HKLM\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResultslruns full. As soon as one deletes the entries everything runs again.
When I then searched for this key, there were many hits going back to 2021. At Microsoft there is this post with the following content:
Server 2022 and Teams Bloats HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\
Hi, has anyone else deployed MS Teams on Server 2022 and noticed bloating of the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\We need to clear this daily to prevent slow downs. From what I can see, it seems to be only written to by MS Teams.
Microsoft Teams is described there as the cause of a problem that writes the mentioned TestResults key full. However, MS Teams as the culprit is negated in follow-up comments. Someone posted the following screenshot with the key running full.
One user still posted the following script instructions in the comment thread at Microsoft to delete the filled TestResults key.
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\27641008" -Recurse Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\Software\Microsoft\TIP\TestResults\27641370" -Recurse
There was also the hint from a user:
Thanks, I just changed the permission so that the system can't write under TestResults ;)
But it works like a charm – no problems since the keys are gone.
In the replies above, there is also a note from a user who disabled UDP for Remote Desktop Protocol sessions via group policy and writes that it helped (so that's what a Facebook user also touched on above).
At the end of the day, the only thing that helps is to empty the TestResults key entry. A January 2023 update is suspected as the reason. I have reporte this here and here to Microsoft.
Addendum: My report of the above bug on twitter to MicrosoftSupport with the please to forward the link to this article to their support engineers was answered as:
Hi! We got your tweet, and we hope you don't mind us sending you a direct message. Let's continue our conversation here. We encourage you to send your feedback on this issue using the Feedback Hub app (msft.it/60165Pf3r) to send your feedback directly to our engineers. Please include information like screenshots, device details, and an explanation of how your issue occurred whenever possible. Your feedback is very important as it helps us improve Windows performance. Thank you in advance! -Rom
My answer was short: I'm not going to fire up some silly Windows 10/11 to to add something into a feedback hub. Take it (my link) or leave it …
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Hey man, thanks for linking my blog post!