I recently deployed a Windows 8.1 VM in Microsoft Azure. I now needed to add my Microsoft account as an Administrator to my VM. This seemed like a simple enough task, right! I added the user to the list of users on the VM and then made the user an admin. When I attempt to log into my VM using my @outlook.com (Microsoft) account, I get a logon failed.

You actually need to make a few changes in the VM to allow remote connections. Go to Settings –> PC Info –> Remote Settings on the VM and uncheck “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended)“. See Screenshot 1.

After that connect to the VM from Microsoft Azure Portal again, download and save the RDP file. Edit the RDP file and replace “prompt for credentials:i:1” with “enablecredsspsupport:i:0“. After the change, the RDP file should look like what you see in screenshot 3. Save the RDP file and use that to login into the VM. You will be able to log into the VM and now you can choose the account that you had added above (see Screenshot 4).

Once you have logged in, you can check “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended)” option which you had disabled earlier. Once you do that, you will need to do the exact opposite action. Edit the RDP file and replace “enablecredsspsupport:i:0” with “prompt for credentials:i:1“.

Once you do the above, you will be able to log into your VM with MicrosoftAccount\email address as user name in the remote desktop dialog.

Reference:

http://visualstudio2013msdngalleryimage.azurewebsites.net/windowsclient.htm