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Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"

I'm posting this just in case someone else is as much an idiot as I am.

I use RDC a lot in my home network.  I have 4 or 5 systems, each dedicated to specific tasks.  I know it is possible to use Virtual PC or VMWare to do a lot of what I'm doing, but what the hell.  I have a lot of hardware lying around, so I use it.

I encountered this problem when trying to connect to one of my Vista laptops (which is dedicated to running all of the 'beta' development stuff for Visual Studio 2008).  I've connected to it many times, without a problem.  But now, it insisted that I couldn't connect because I was already on the console.

WTF?  It's supposed to give me access to the console.  I physically moved the machine, sure, but why would that change anything?

The answer?  I switched the names, and was trying to RDC into the laptop I was launching RDC from, not into the remote laptop (if that isn't clear, I was trying to RCD into Laptop A FROM Laptop A.  When I really wanted to RDC into Laptop B).

First rule of troubleshooting: idiocy check.

posted on Saturday, June 07, 2008 4:01 PM
Comments
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
FACT
8/22/2008 11:48 PM
GOD! I make the same unbelievable mistake!Thank you for your remind!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
John
9/9/2008 7:46 AM
Did the samne thing. Thanks for posting this, made me realize I may need to pay more attention to the airline stewardess when she explains how to properly use a seatbelt.
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Andrew Duffin
1/6/2009 3:13 AM
Cripes. I did it too.

To think I restarted my VM twice, then googled the problem, only to find I was trying to connect to my own workstation.

Thanks for the "fix".
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Dumbarse
1/8/2009 5:24 PM
OMG I did that too.. Thank you for the note!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Guy
2/12/2009 12:18 PM
I was working with the IP's of the computers and all day i'm trying to connect without success...
after i read your note I just found that the router DHCP was released and i'm trying to connect to my computer!
I hope Microsoft will forgive me for all the curses... :)

Thanks a lot!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Paul
2/13/2009 7:05 AM
Thank you - This gave me the clue I needed to solve my issue. I am on a public wireless network and using a VPN to Remote Admin to a Server in my Work Domain. I was getting this error because the IP address allocated by the wireless router to my laptop was the same as that Server I was trying to access via the VPN and Remote Admin!!!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Patrick
3/6/2009 2:16 PM
oh god, I'm such a tard!

I forgot to plug the network port into the laptop I was remoting into, and coincidentally the ip address of the hostname was the same as the ip address as the workstation I was using (DHCP assigned, cached hostname of disconnected system I was remoting to), so I was trying to connect to myself without knowing it.

ping myself
ping remotehost
same IP :(

Plugged the network into the laptop, got reassigned a new IP, and voila!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Shankar Acharya
3/12/2009 4:32 AM
i have xp & also in my network xp os. i want to connect by RDC without lock that user session as like working in WinSer2003.
Thanx for the proper solution !
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
JR
3/22/2009 2:11 PM
I made the same FU also after a router reboot and IP change.
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Rob
4/10/2009 3:07 AM
Thanks - I have soo been doing the same thing for a few weeks now... Duh!
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
CIO2Go
5/6/2009 3:50 PM
Just saw the same thing, only in this case the person I was helping was unable to RDC using the computer name so they used the IP address. Now the IP addresses have been changed. Of course we're now trying to connect to the host computer. Oh well
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Paul Feakins
5/24/2009 10:52 AM
I too was attempting to connect to myself when the router swapped the IP addresses of my two machines!

The second problem I came across was an over-zealous setting in ZoneAlarm.
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
Arun
11/17/2009 4:13 AM
My story is little different from yours.

I made an entry in host file for the server name which I was trying to connect using remote desktop.

Took me almost 2 hrs to figure out.

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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
ralf
6/7/2010 3:50 AM
@Guy +1

Thanks for the article
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
WKS
9/4/2010 3:03 PM
Doh, me too. How sad that I had to Google to find the obvious. Thanks for the posting...
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# re: Remote Desktop Connection Error : "you are already connected to the console of this computer"
eyad
5/9/2011 10:24 PM
OoOoOoh
really the first rule of troubleshooting is idiocy check .
thanks alot :)

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