It happens at the worst possible moment. You’re about to start a critical work session, access a file on your office PC from home, or manage a server halfway across the world. You open the Microsoft Remote Desktop client, enter the credentials, and instead of a smooth connection, you’re greeted by a nondescript, frustrating message:

If the IP address works but the hostname consistently fails, you can manually map the name to the IP.

On the remote server, press Win + R , type certlm.msc , and hit Enter to open . Navigate to Remote Desktop > Certificates .