Fix Azure AD login issues in Azure Virtual Desktop
UPDATE: On April 18, 2023, Microsoft released a Public Preview of the new Azure Virtual Desktop app in the Microsoft Store. This should fix the issues noted in this post. Download the new app here: http://aka.ms/AVDStoreClient
I recently had an issue with an Azure AD Joined host pool in Azure Virtual Desktop where users could not successfully login using their Azure AD credentials.
In our environment, both the client computer and the Azure Virtual Desktop host computer are Azure AD Joined. The user was able to log in to their Azure AD Joined computer, but when they tried to log in to the Azure Virtual Desktop host computer, they would get an error message:
Couldn't connect. Something went wrong when we tried to connect. If this keeps happening, ask your admin or tech support for help. Error code: 0x9735 Extended error code: 0x0 Activity ID: {e194ae11-b2ed-4d33-9520-c1d5ed140000}
The error message the users received came after a loop of unsuccessful logins using a combo of azuread\user or user@domain.com that would say “Establishing Connection”, “Configuring Gateway”, “Securing connection to remote PC” and then fail with the following error: “The username and password used to connect to the remote resource didn't work. Enter a different account and try again.”
As a note: Connections to Host Pools in a different AVD environment that are joined to Active Directory work fine. The issue seems to occur when the client computer and the AVD host computer are Azure AD Joined.
Currently, as of February 2023, the official Microsoft package for the Remote Desktop app in the Microsoft Store installs an old version of 10.2.3000.0 that has bugs connecting to Azure AD Joined Azure Virtual Desktop Host Pools. This buggy version impacted our organization because we deploy the Microsoft Remote Desktop app using an Application Deployment in Intune. We've tested this issue using the Microsoft Store for Business, Microsoft Store (Legacy), and the new Microsoft Store (WinGet) deployments and all of them have the same issue and run the same version:
The workaround for this error is to uninstall the Microsoft Store version of the application and install the latest version of the Remote Desktop app from the Microsoft website at this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/whats-new-client-windows
I manually installed Public Release version 1.2.3918.0 and it fixed my connectivity issues. To get this rolled out to your Intune devices, you will need to package the MSI file from the Microsoft website and deploy it using an Application Deployment in Intune.
I hope this helps someone else who is having this issue. Microsoft should really update the Microsoft Store version of the Remote Desktop app to the latest version to avoid this issue.
References
- https://www.anoopcnair.com/avd-azure-ad-joined-vm-login-issue-error-0x9735/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/users/connect-windows
