Last updated on March 16, 2023
We analyzed many of the potential causes of slow Windows logon time. And we fixed them all. As a result, we accelerated the speed of Rublon for Windows and RDP logins by up to 92%.
What is Rublon MFA for Windows and RDP?
Rublon MFA for Windows and RDP is a connector that administrators can install on endpoints to enable sophisticated Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Local and Remote Desktop logins of Workgroup Accounts and Active Directory users. Rublon for Windows and RDP supports many authentication methods, including but not limited to Mobile Push, Mobile Passcode (TOTP), and YubiKey OTP.
The connector is designed to work with all major Windows operating system versions, offering compatibility with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and all versions of Windows Server from Windows Server 2012 up to Windows Server 2022. It is also compatible with Windows Server Essentials.
As a part of Rublon Multi-Factor Authentication, the Rublon MFA for Windows and RDP connector supports all cutting-edge features available in the Rublon Admin Console. This means that administrators can control how users authenticate to the endpoints, including whether and for how long users can remember their devices, which authentication methods they can use, and more.
You can download the newest version of Rublon MFA for Windows and RDP from the Rublon Downloads.
For more information & installation instructions, refer to the Rublon for Windows documentation.
How We Tested Windows and RDP Login Speeds
We measured how long the connector takes to read the user’s email address and phone number.
To do that, we set the values of ShouldTryToGetEmailFromAD and ShouldTryToGetPhoneFromAD to 1 in Windows Registry.
We did not measure the entire authentication process time because the duration of the login time varies depending on multiple factors, including:
- How long the user takes to select an authentication method on the Rublon Prompt.
- Which method the user selects and how quickly they complete authentication.
- How long it takes to reach the Rublon API.
We did our test on an Oracle VM VirtualBox machine. A host processor was used, and the virtual machine received only 2 cores from it. The host machine’s processor was Intel® Core™ i5-11gen ~2.4.GHz with a 100% execution cap.
We tested 100 logins on the 3.3.0 version of the connector and then tested 100 logins on the new 3.4.0 version.
The difference was astounding.
But let’s first look at the results separately.
The first connector we tested was Rublon for Windows Logon & RDP 3.3.0.
Fetching user data was considerably slow on Rublon for Windows Logon & RDP 3.3.0, averaging 31.93 seconds.
The fastest speed was 18 seconds, and the slowest was 52 seconds.
Let’s now see how good our performance optimization was. The following are the results of the same test for Windows Logon & RDP 3.4.0.
Fetching user data was lightning fast on Rublon for Windows Logon & RDP 3.4.0, with an average speed of 2.47 seconds.
The fastest speed was 0.1 seconds, and the slowest speed was 4.9 seconds.
Let’s now superimpose both test results to better see the difference in performance.
The difference between how long it took to read data on 3.3.0 versus 3.4.0 is humongous.
User data reading on 3.3.0 took noticeably longer than on 3.4.0, with multiple readings exceeding the 30 seconds cap.
In contrast, after 100 user data fetches, none of the readings on 3.4.0 took longer than 5 seconds.
Key Windows and RDP Login Test Results
- The average speed on the 3.3.0 version was 31.93 seconds.
- The average speed on the 3.4.0 version was 2.47 seconds.
- The speed boost was a whopping 92.26%.
- The 3.4.0 version was almost 13 times faster than the 3.3.0 version.
Improving Windows and RDP Login Speeds by up to 92%
With the 3.4.0 version of our connector, we dramatically sped up login time by up to 92%. The changes we made resulted in a huge performance boost.
Login speeds on the 3.4.0 version of the Rublon connector were almost 13 times faster than the login speeds on 3.3.0.
With the latest version of the Rublon MFA for Windows and RDP connector, you can be sure that you’ll experience fast logins with every connection.
Also New in 3.4.0: MFA for User Account Control (UAC)
Apart from improving the performance of user logins, Rublon Multi-Factor Authentication for Windows and RDP 3.4.0 also enables MFA for User Account Control (UAC) Elevation.
Starting with 3.4.0, administrators can make Rublon challenge users for MFA every time the UAC elevation prompt appears.
To download the latest version of Rublon MFA for Windows Logon & RDP, refer to Rublon Downloads.
To learn about all changes and improvements in 3.4.0, refer to the Release Notes.
Security and Speed With Rublon
If you are looking for a secure and fast Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Windows Logon and RDP, there is no better than Rublon. Install our Rublon MFA for Windows connector to experience fast and secure logins whenever you access your Windows endpoints.
Enable robust Multi-Factor Authentication today with our Free 30-Day Rublon Trial.
