Solved Windows Remote Desktop Between Windows 10 & Windows 11?

For the last few years I've been using a Windows 10 laptop to access my Windows 10 PC. But a couple of weeks ago the laptop died. However a generous neighbor gave me an old Lenovo Thinkpad T470 with Windows 11 Pro already installed. I'd like to try to use the Windows 11 laptop to access the Windows 10 PC via Windows Remote Desktop.

I'd be grateful for some help with this. Have you ever managed to use Windows Remote Desktop to connect between a host computer running Windows 10 and a client computer running Windows 11?

CluelessInSeatl said:

I'd like to try to use the Windows 11 laptop to access the Windows 10 PC via Windows Remote Desktop.

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I did that for several years between my primary Windows 11 Pro machine and my Windows 10 file server. It was the primary way I administered the server, which I normally kept headless so no monitor/input devices for direct interaction. I still do it, but I updated the i5 4670 server to Windows 11 a couple months ago using Rufus to override the system requirements deficiencies.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 are compatible with each other for RDP connections. In theory, anyway.

CluelessInSeatl said:

I'd be grateful for some help with this

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This out-of-band update fixes Remote Desktop issues that some are experiencing...

Improvements​

This OOB update includes quality improvements. This update is cumulative and includes security fixes and improvements from the January 13, 2026, security update (KB5074109) in addition to the following:

• [Remote Desktop] Fixed: After installing the January 2026 Windows security update (KB5074109), some users experienced sign-in failures during Remote Desktop connections. This issue affected authentication steps for different Remote Desktop applications on Windows such as the Windows App.

If you installed earlier updates, your device downloads and installs only the new updates contained in this package.

Click to expand...

I just tried to use Windows Remote Desktop from my client laptop running Windows 11 and I was amazed that it had no trouble finding the host PC running Windows 10.

But then it prompted me for the User Name and Password of the host PC. It's been something like ten years since I originally set up the Remote Desktop connection on my now defunct laptop. And I had it set up so that all I had to enter was the host computer's name, so I never had to enter a password in all those years.

And when I boot up my Windows 10 PC each morning, I've never been asked for a password. So I if there is one, I've completely forgotten it. (It's no help that over a year ago I suffered a concussion in a bicyling accident, and my memory has been spotty at best ever since).

Any ideas on how I can get past this prompt?

Problem solved! Here I am, logged in to this forum from my Windows 10 PC, while typing this post via Windows Remote Desktop on my Windows 11 laptop.

So, what was the problem? It was actually a couple of problems:

First, back when I set up the old Windows 10 PC a year or more ago I got mixed up on the distinction between user name, device name and password. So I had entered the name of the PC as the password in my Remote Desktop connection.

And then, Second, to add to the confusion, a year or two ago my hard drive on the Windows 10 PC crashed, and the guy who replaced the HD with an SSD didn't know what my user name was so he just put in my first name.

So I ended up with a compounded mix-up.

I solved it today by just patiently trying the few possible combinations of those three variables one at a time, and bingo! Here I am!

So, now, how do I mark this thread solved?

Refreshing to hear it wasn't a windows problem, for a change. There have been a lot of reports about updates breaking Remote Desktop.