How to prevent a VM from logging me off?

Question

I have a remote Azure VM that keeps logging me off after long periods of inactivity. I have a service that needs to be constantly running there so that is a problem.

So far I have the following:

Power:

Sleep and turn off display are set to Never

Group Policies [ Computer Configuration...\Session Time Limits] :

Time limit for disconn sessions -> Never
Time limit for active but idle RDS session -> never
End session when time limit is reached -> Disabled -Time limit for LogOff of RDS -> Disabled
Time limit for active RDS sessions -> never

In Registry Editor [Policies...\Terminal Settings]:

-MaxDisconnectTime = 0

-MaxIdleTime = 0

No luck, if I close the RDS connection, it loggs me off within the next ~24-48 hours, shutting down all running services. Any ideas?

You probably shouldn't be running the services in a way that requires you to remain logged in. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Dec 2, 2024 at 21:22
RDP sessions can be automatically closed due to inactivity or connection policies. You can create a PowerShell script to keep the session active; the script simulates mouse movements to keep the session alive. Follow the link: superuser.com/questions/1503161/… — Venkateswarlu V
– Venkateswarlu V, Commented Dec 4, 2024 at 8:05
Please refer to this MS document - learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/… — Arko
– Arko, Commented Dec 6, 2024 at 8:13
I found few similar issues on the net, please do check them out- - Session timeout - Microsoft Q&A - Azure VM display "shuts off" after closing remote connection? - Microsoft Q&A - Remote Desktop RDP logs out user after disconnect - only since latest Updates - Microsoft Q&A — Arko
– Arko, Commented Dec 6, 2024 at 9:08
- After session disconnected services/Application should keep running - Microsoft Q&A - Windows 2019 sessions auto-disconnect - Microsoft Q&A — Arko
– Arko, Commented Dec 6, 2024 at 9:08

Arko · Accepted Answer · 2024-12-06 09:27:10Z

Since you have already tried the group policy part, will suggest few additional ones

You can try enabling RDP keep-alive at the network level

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v "KeepAliveEnable" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v "KeepAliveInterval" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v "KeepAliveTimeout" /t REG_DWORD /d 60000 /f

Here the keep-alive interval is set to 60 seconds. You can increase it as long as your service needs to run

Apart from this you can disable user account auto-logoff

REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v "InactivityTimeoutSecs" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Restart the VM to apply the changes

enter image description here

As per the MS documentation- Remote Desktop disconnects frequently in Azure VM - Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

Below things are suggested. Check if you have tried them all

Check the turn off display setting enter image description here

This one you already tried

enter image description here

Modify the group policies accordingly under gpedit.msc

Set time limit for disconnected sessions- Enabled, set to Never
Set time limit for active but idle Remote Desktop Services sessions- Enabled, set to Never
End session when time limits are reached- Disabled

enter image description here

Configure keep-alive connection interval- turn it to Enabled, set it to 1

enter image description here

then disable session timeouts and enable keep-alive

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v "MaxDisconnectionTime" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v "MaxIdleTime" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v "MaxConnectionTime" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v "KeepAliveTimeout" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

enter image description here

Update Local Security Policy under secpol.msc -> Local Policies > Security Options

enter image description here

This should fix your logout issue.

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