Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

[Guest JasonSinclair]

Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

 

I am currently having this same problem and have almost pulled my hair out

trying to get it to work...did you happen to find a solution without

reverting back to service pack 1 ? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

Jason

 

"ChrisRoad" wrote:

> I did some more tests and now I'm almost certain it's the video buffer that

> got reduced by a very big amount.

>

> I found out, that it will automatically reduce the color depth down from

> 24bit to 16bit and 8bit, as higher the resolution ist. (the "max resolution"

> you refered)

>

> These are my findings on a Windows2003 SP2 Server:

>

> 1600*1200: 24bit

> 1604*1200: 16bit

> ...

> ...

> ...

> 2400*1200: 16bit

> 2404*1200: 8bit

> ...

> ...

> ...

> 4096*2048: 8bit - max supportet resolution

>

>

> When I try the same thing on a Windows 2003 SP1 Server I can go up to

> 4096*2048 in 24bit color depth.

> So, I'm almost sure something got tweaked here in SP2.....

>

>

>

> "Dave Dopson [MSFT]" wrote:

>

> > The color depth behavior didn't change in SP2. Many times, customers have

> > an issue when their 'limit color depth GP' is set wrong. it may have been

> > reset on upgrade. can you check the value of this GP? 1600x1200 is close to

> > our max resolution. What resolution are you running at?

> >

> >

> >

> > "ChrisRoad" <ChrisRoad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> > news:EC2F85B0-4E6D-4B26-8A33-B3922B03EC50@microsoft.com...

> > > Did anyone else notice that the service pack2 for windows 2003 disables

> > > the

> > > usability of color depths greater than 8bit (256 colors) when using

> > > resolutions greater than 1600x1200?

> > >

> > > I didn't find any specific notes on this topic in the release notes of

> > > service pack2, but Microsoft obviously changed something (buffer size?) in

> > > the terminal service - and that's what happened.

> > >

> > > Is there a fix for it, without doing a rollback to service pack1?

> >

> >

[Guest Munindra Das [MSFT]]

Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

 

Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

 

There is a difference between (RTM, SP1) and (SP2). The color depth was

capped based on the resolution. Unfortunately, there is no current fix for

this issue.

 

--

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"JasonSinclair" <JasonSinclair@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:02AF8AC6-8540-4EC0-962F-9E65B059D48D@microsoft.com...

>I am currently having this same problem and have almost pulled my hair out

> trying to get it to work...did you happen to find a solution without

> reverting back to service pack 1 ? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

>

> Jason

>

> "ChrisRoad" wrote:

>

>> I did some more tests and now I'm almost certain it's the video buffer

>> that

>> got reduced by a very big amount.

>>

>> I found out, that it will automatically reduce the color depth down from

>> 24bit to 16bit and 8bit, as higher the resolution ist. (the "max

>> resolution"

>> you refered)

>>

>> These are my findings on a Windows2003 SP2 Server:

>>

>> 1600*1200: 24bit

>> 1604*1200: 16bit

>> ...

>> ...

>> ...

>> 2400*1200: 16bit

>> 2404*1200: 8bit

>> ...

>> ...

>> ...

>> 4096*2048: 8bit - max supportet resolution

>>

>>

>> When I try the same thing on a Windows 2003 SP1 Server I can go up to

>> 4096*2048 in 24bit color depth.

>> So, I'm almost sure something got tweaked here in SP2.....

>>

>>

>>

>> "Dave Dopson [MSFT]" wrote:

>>

>> > The color depth behavior didn't change in SP2. Many times, customers

>> > have

>> > an issue when their 'limit color depth GP' is set wrong. it may have

>> > been

>> > reset on upgrade. can you check the value of this GP? 1600x1200 is

>> > close to

>> > our max resolution. What resolution are you running at?

>> >

>> >

>> >

>> > "ChrisRoad" <ChrisRoad@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> > news:EC2F85B0-4E6D-4B26-8A33-B3922B03EC50@microsoft.com...

>> > > Did anyone else notice that the service pack2 for windows 2003

>> > > disables

>> > > the

>> > > usability of color depths greater than 8bit (256 colors) when using

>> > > resolutions greater than 1600x1200?

>> > >

>> > > I didn't find any specific notes on this topic in the release notes

>> > > of

>> > > service pack2, but Microsoft obviously changed something (buffer

>> > > size?) in

>> > > the terminal service - and that's what happened.

>> > >

>> > > Is there a fix for it, without doing a rollback to service pack1?

>> >

>> >

[Guest ChrisRoad]

Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

 

Re: ServicePack2 disables color depth >8bit in high resolutions :(

 

Dooo, after some more pressure of my cuctomers I finally took some time and

crunched it down to a solution, a quite simple one in the end.

 

First of all, the problem lies in the RDP "Graphics Card Driver", it seems

that MS limited the screen resolution there, as this is easy to do and like

any other real graphics card in the system it has its limits wat it can do

and what it can't do.

 

So, all we have to do ist to replace this virtual RDP graphics grad driver

with a version that's working - i.e. the one from Win2k3 RC or SP1.

 

The appropriate file we have to replace is

%windir%\system32\drivers\rdpwd.sys.

Normally you can take a working version of this file from

%windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$.

 

Now, the replacement is abit tricky, as this file is protected by the

WindowsFileProtection, so you either mount your windows drive (needs to be

offline) from another System (I prefer ERD commander for such operations) or

you'll use a utility like WfpReplace that you can get from

http://www.bitsum.com/aboutwfp.asp

 

I tried both methods and they work very well, but the later is much more

comfortable.

 

After you have replaced this file, just reboot your system and you got it.

 

But remember, Microsoft will not give you any support for this, and you may

have to replace this Workaround every time an MS update overwrites this file

again. (though this may happen with ServicePacks only)

 

Christoph

 

"JasonSinclair" wrote:

> I am currently having this same problem and have almost pulled my hair out

> trying to get it to work...did you happen to find a solution without

> reverting back to service pack 1 ? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

>

> Jason