If you’re finding that mstsc.exe the Remote Desktop Connection software built into Windows 8 crashes on you after establishing a connection, a simple enough work around is to download Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection Manager Software:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21101
Not only does it not crash, but it also gives you a great way to manage multiple Remote Desktop connections.
You can create groups and save passwords at the group level for example that just get used automatically for any other servers that you define under that group. These features are great time savers and also allow you to organize multiple open remote desktop connections.
Want to split a particular connection off onto a different screen? Just right-click it and choose the Undock option.
Don’t want the list of computers tying up screen real-estate? Go to the view menu, choose Server Tree Visibility, and choose the Auto-hide option.
Great tool. Highly recommended. (And it doesn’t crash on Windows 8).
Darren Myher's Blog 
Actually I’ve found quite the opposite on Windows 8. RDP is very reliable on windows 8 while the remote desktop connection manager crashes all the time. After opening about 10 connections new ones fail with random memory/COM errors and help about terminates the application. Is anyone else having these problems?
works on about 6 computers except for my only windows 8 machine…. so thantks for this post
Thanks for the suggestion. It is a really good option for me.