How to enable passwordless authentication over RDP for RSA MFA Agent For Microsoft Windows 2.3.6 and higher
Originally Published: 2025-09-01
Article Number
Applies To
RSA Product Set: SecurID
RSA Product/Service Type: MFA Agent For Microsoft Windows
RSA Version/Condition: 2.3.6 or above
Issue
Passwordless authentication is not directly supported for RDP in the same way as local logon.
Resolution
For RDP to work with passwordless authentication:
- The source machine (from which the RDP session is initiated) must be RSA passwordless-enabled. Authentication happens locally on the source machine first. Once successful, a smart card logon certificate for the authenticated user is shared with the destination machine.
- The destination machine must have the Smart Card Credential Provider enabled (not filtered out) so that the incoming certificate can be used for authentication.
- The destination machine (to which the RDP session is sent) must either:
- Have the same user account present locally, or
- Be in the same ecosystem/tenant so that Windows can validate the shared Smart Card logon certificate.
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