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Suddenly, cannot RDP to server using DNS names- only IPs

JDMils 51 Reputation points
2022-12-15T04:25:40.57+00:00

We have a mix of Windows servers, one server is a Windows 2012 Datacenter server which has been working well until a few days ago. I try to logon to the server from a jump box (running Windows server 2019 Datacenter) using the server's DNS name (both short & FQDN) and it asks for my credentials but then shows the error "Your credentials did not work". I know my credentials are OK because I can log into the same server using the IP and strangely if I add a "." dot to the end of the server's FQDN, I can logon OK.

I cannot see any issues in any of the Windows Event Logs.
PING -a <DNS_Name> shows the correct FQDN name.
NSLOOKUP <IP> shows the correct FQDN name.

Does anyone know what could be the issue?
Why does adding a dot after the FQDN work?

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-15T23:40:17.71+00:00

    I guess my question is more about why does the "." dot after the name work when the FQDN does not?

    Read on here.
    https://superuser.com/questions/1467958/why-does-putting-a-dot-after-the-url-remove-login-information

    --please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-15T13:59:06.61+00:00

    Might check that the clocks are in sync

  3. Marco Brondsema 0 Reputation points
    2023-03-20T19:14:28.5933333+00:00

    Had the same problem.

    flushed the dns on my system solved it for me

    ipconfig /flushdns

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  4. Hector Gomez 0 Reputation points
    2024-05-30T12:11:50.28+00:00

    Kind of old but I recently had this issue on a Network I just took over to manage.

    Most of the time you will not get this if you only have 1 DNS server on your network, when you do have at least 2, the issue is most likely a sync problem.

    As simple as it is, most of the time the issue will be with a machine on DHCP connecting to one with a static IP and the last one using a different DNS server than the one on DHCP. Hence, running an ipconfig /flushdns sometimes will work.

    Now, how do you solve the issue? If you are not an Administrator... talk to one and/or run the ipconfig /flushdns and try again. If you are an Administrator, I will start by reviewing the DNS setup of the NICs of each DNS server. The primary DNS IP should another server and not the current IP, the secondary IP can be either another server or the current one, then manually go and add a loopback 127.0.0.1 .

    As a test, to now everything is ok, take a machine and place a static ip on it, flush the machine DNS and register the machine (ipconfig /flushdns, ipconfig /registerdns). Check you DNS servers for the machine once all your servers have the same info, swap the machine to DHCP and run a refresh on the scope the machine have to be found, if doing this on all your servers shows the machine with DHCP then your issue is solve, if not then you should have to start checking the way the zone is getting updated.

    In my case, after reviewing and changing the DNS IP servers settings on each DNS server fixed the issue and they take only a few seconds to be synchronized.

  5. Daniel Rifton 0 Reputation points
    2025-04-30T09:58:03.5266667+00:00

    I ran into the same problem and didn’t find a solution. But it ended up resolving on its own about a week later when a new Windows Server patch came out. In the meantime, I got by using HelpWire a free remote desktop tool.

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