Can't remote into a computer because "the remote computer requires Network Authentication"

I'm trying to remote into one Windows 7 computer from another Windows 7 computer, and am getting this error:

The remote computer requires Network Level Authentication, which your computer does not support

I believe my computer does support Network Level Authentication, because:

1. I'm on Windows 7
2. I have remoted into the target computer from this computer before, with Network Level Authentication required on the target computer
3. The "About" dialog of mstsc.exe says that it is supported:

Has anyone seen this issue before, or know how I can fix it?

4 Answers

It looks like settings were changed on the remote computer, not yours.

The easiest way to go around this, although not as safe, is to to enable "Allow connections from computer running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)"

It is found in System Properties Win + Pause/Break -> Advanced system settings -> Remote.

Should you not want to allow login to computers without NLA, let me know and we'll sort it out.

1

In my case, it was a problem with a custom RDP file we were using, and also seemed to affect our Windows 10 remote hosts, but not our Windows 7 remote hosts.

The solution was to edit the .RDP file in a text editor and change enablecredsspsupport:i:0 to enablecredsspsupport:i:1 or deleting the line altogether. It didn't seem to matter whether or not requiring Network Level Authentication was enabled on the remote Windows 10 host.

1

Our problem was caused by a corrupted crypto database catalog:

Solution

• Stop Cryptographic Services (cryptsvc) by running "net stop cryptsvc".
• Delete or rename the C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 folder.
• Start cryptsvc by running "net start cryptsvc".
• Restart the computer.
• C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 will be recreated.
• Wait for all the catalog files from C:\Windows\System32\catroot to be imported into the catroot2 database. This may take up to an hour, so be patient.

2

Deleting the computer cert, then requesting a new computer cert fixed the issue for me.

• MMC
• Add Snap-In (Certificates, Computer, Local Computer)
• Certificates -> Personal -> Certificates
• Right click the cert, All Tasks, Request Certificate with New Key
• Remove old cert

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