FreeRDP RDP session shows a black screen and eventually times out over HTB VPN
17:39 19 Oct 2026

I'm trying to connect to a Windows machine in a Hack The Box lab over the HTB VPN, but the RDP session either displays a completely black screen with a movable mouse cursor or disconnects after a while.

Environment

  • Client OS: Kali Linux

  • FreeRDP version: 3.31.1

  • Target OS: Windows (identified by Nmap)

  • RDP port: TCP/3389

  • Network: Hack The Box VPN

What I've tried

  1. Connected using FreeRDP:

    sudo xfreerdp /v: /cert:ignore /u:administrator

  2. Tried running FreeRDP without sudo. The problem persisted.

  3. Tried Windows Remote Desktop (mstsc) from a Windows machine. The session ended with the following message:

    Your Remote Desktop Services session has ended. The connection to the remote computer was lost, possibly due to network connectivity problems. enter image description here

Relevant FreeRDP output

[ERROR][com.freerdp.core.transport]
[transport_read_layer]:
BIO_read returned a system error 110: Connection timed out

My questions

  • What are the likely causes of a black screen followed by BIO_read returned a system error 110: Connection timed out?

  • Could the issue be related to the HTB VPN transport, MTU, or packet loss?

I'd appreciate suggestions for diagnosing the problem rather than just switching to another RDP client.

Thank you!

windows vpn rdp