Mac M3 frequently disconnects from Windows systems via Microsoft Remote Desktop.

Hi Leo Jones,

The recurring disconnections and application freezes on your MacBook Air M3 are caused by a failure in the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) fallback mechanism. While RDP attempts to use UDP for high-performance data transfer, network fluctuations often cause the macOS client to lose synchronization. When the client attempts to switch to the more reliable TCP protocol, the session frequently deadlocks, leading to the unresponsiveness you described. To resolve this, you must force the Windows host to stop using UDP for remote sessions. On your office PC, open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named fSelectNetworkDetect and set it to 0. This modification tells Windows to bypass the automatic network detection that often triggers the unstable UDP connection.

In addition to the protocol change, the freezing is often triggered by the overhead of local resource redirection. Open the Microsoft Remote Desktop app on your Mac, right-click your connection, and select Edit. Under the Devices & Resources tab, uncheck the boxes for Printers and Clipboard. This prevents the application from attempting to sync complex background data between macOS and Windows, which is known to cause thread-locking on Apple Silicon hardware. Finally, ensure your connection remains active by adjusting the Power Management settings for your network adapter in the Windows Device Manager. Unchecking the option that allows the computer to turn off the network device to save power ensures the hardware does not enter a sleep state during periods of low activity. These steps together create a dedicated, stable TCP tunnel that is far more resilient for long-term remote access.

Hope this answer brought you some useful information. If it did, please hit “accept answer”. Should you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

VP