Problem

There is an issue where remote access (RDP) can stop working all of a sudden to all instances of a deployment that are running in Azure.  The problem is that the process that handles RDP requests has crashed.  If you have Windows Azure Diagnostics enabled and gather the event log files, you will see the following entries in the Application Event log:

Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 3/19/2012 11:42:43 PM
Event ID: 1005
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: RD00155D3A1AF9
Description:
Windows cannot access the file for one of the following reasons: there is a problem with the network connection, the disk that the file is stored on, or the storage drivers installed on this computer; or the disk is missing. Windows closed the program Windows Azure Remote Desktop Forwarder because of this error.
Program: Windows Azure Remote Desktop Forwarder
File: 
The error value is listed in the Additional Data section.
User Action
1. Open the file again. This situation might be a temporary problem that corrects itself when the program runs again.
2. If the file still cannot be accessed and
- It is on the network, your network administrator should verify that there is not a problem with the network and that the server can be contacted.
- It is on a removable disk, for example, a floppy disk or CD-ROM, verify that the disk is fully inserted into the computer.
3. Check and repair the file system by running CHKDSK. To run CHKDSK, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the command prompt, type CHKDSK /F, and then press ENTER.
4. If the problem persists, restore the file from a backup copy.
5. Determine whether other files on the same disk can be opened. If not, the disk might be damaged. If it is a hard disk, contact your administrator or computer hardware vendor for further assistance.
Additional Data
Error value: C000026E
Disk type: 0
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">1005</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-03-19T23:42:43.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>713</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>RD00155D3A1AF9</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>Windows Azure Remote Desktop Forwarder</Data>
<Data>C000026E</Data>
<Data>0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 3/19/2012 11:42:43 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: RD00155D3A1AF9
Description:
Faulting application RemoteForwarderAgent.exe, version 6.0.6002.18314, time stamp 0x4eb31078, faulting module mscorlib.ni.dll, version 2.0.50727.4216, time stamp 0x4e154615, exception code 0xc0000006, fault offset 0x000000000039cd2b, process id 0xa44, application start time 0x01cd016989a1c16d.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-03-19T23:42:43.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>712</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>RD00155D3A1AF9</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>RemoteForwarderAgent.exe</Data>
<Data>6.0.6002.18314</Data>
<Data>4eb31078</Data>
<Data>mscorlib.ni.dll</Data>
<Data>2.0.50727.4216</Data>
<Data>4e154615</Data>
<Data>c0000006</Data>
<Data>000000000039cd2b</Data>
<Data>a44</Data>
<Data>01cd016989a1c16d</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 3/21/2012 1:52:20 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: RD00155D3A2303
Description:
Faulting application RemoteForwarderAgent.exe, version 6.0.6002.18314, time stamp 0x4eb31078, faulting module mscorwks.dll, version 2.0.50727.4216, time stamp 0x4e154582, exception code 0xc0000006, fault offset 0x00000000001a8892, process id 0x%9, application start time 0x%10.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-03-21T13:52:20.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>709</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>RD00155D3A2303</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>RemoteForwarderAgent.exe</Data>
<Data>6.0.6002.18314</Data>
<Data>4eb31078</Data>
<Data>mscorwks.dll</Data>
<Data>2.0.50727.4216</Data>
<Data>4e154582</Data>
<Data>c0000006</Data>
<Data>00000000001a8892</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Looking at these messages, you can see that the RemoteForwarderAgent.exe has crashed.  This means that no connections can be made to the Windows Azure instances through RDP.

Solution

To resolve this, you need to reboot the deployment from the Windows Azure portal.