Archive for the ‘Windows Server OS’ Category

Tip: Windows Store Error 0x80240017 vs. Hyper-V

Friday, February 21st, 2014

Hi Folks,

i really could kill some Microsoft developers tonight… Just kidding but this has taken three hours of time to fix a really stupid issue.

Maybe you provide your User a Microsoft based Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 VDI thru Microsoft Remote Desktop Services incl. the Windows Store to download own or company based Apps. By default this should be now big deal but it could… Normally your User browse to the Store and download / buy a new app, depending on the system a App will be shown in the store or not; simple right? …but what happens if this app is already available for the User and he got the App already running on an other device? It will be shown in his Apps and he can select it, now a funny error comes up: “App can not be installed BlaBlaBla… Error 0x80240017”. This error 0x80240017 for Microsoft seams to mean: “Could be everything and we have no clue where it coming from.

There are several Tips and Clues available and i’ve tried everything more than one time (!): Store Reset (wsreset.exe), installing Updates, deleting the Software Distribution Folder, Regional Settings, Time Zone and much more but finally it means: Your System doesn’t fit the requirements for this App! Great.. Why not direct translating it for humans and maybe for the Microsoft Support too (which have also no clue what it could mean)!?!

Ok… Enough blaming, let’s come to my solution for Hyper-V based VDI’s: To fix it just disable the Dynamic Memory Feature for the Windows 8.x based Desktops or/and increase it to min. 1024 or better 2048 (or more) MB of RAM. After this small fix everything works like a charm, it seams to be that the Windows Store can not deal with the Dynamic Memory and the result will be this nonsense error message.

Have Fun!

Michael

P.S.: I checked it also with Windows Server 2012 R2, similar behavior… If you got the issue for a physical device try it on an other “better” hardware.

Tip: Changing Windows Server 2012 R2 Workfolder Port from SSL (443) to an other Port and still keep SSL encryption

Friday, January 17th, 2014

Hello Folks,

currently iam very Microsoft minded because i set up a new “private” Environment at home.

With Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft has introduced the Workfolder feature which is a “private” hosted SkyDrive alternative for Windows 8.1, benefit: All files are hosted in your private cloud and not on a NSA Share (or similar 🙂 ).

By default workfolders are using the SSL Port 443 and are not embedded in the IIS Server, this means if you run a secure website thru SSL on your IIS you will not be able to use the workfolder feature at all.

The workfolder management GUI is currently not very useful and it’s not possible to change the port from there, so you have to do it in the manual way.

Important: After this is done you need to manual setup the workfolder configuration on the client devices or thru domain policies, the auto detection feature by email will not work anymore!

1) Change the Workfolder configuration by open the file c:\windows\system32\SyncShareSvc.config with a text editor and search for the entry: :443: . If you found this there should be a “bindingInformation” in front of the “:443″. Change 443 to the port you want to use and save the file, you might be required to get the file ownership in advance to have sufficient rights to save the modified files.

2) Now open the commandline (not powershell!) with administrator permissions and enter: Netsh http add urlacl url=https://*:*yourporthere*/ user=”NT Authority\LOCAL SERVICE”

Replace *yourporthere* with the in 1) configured port number.

3) Open the powershell with administrative permissions and enter: netsh http add sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:*yourporthere* certhash=*certificatethumbprint* appid={CE66697B-3AA0-49D1-BDBD-A25C8359FD5D} certstorename=MY

Replace *yourporthere* with the in 1) configured port number and the *certificatethumbprint* with the certificate thumprint (without spaces like 0e78323321Ac3….) and make sure the certificate is available in the computer thrusted store.

4) Restart the SyncShare Service

5) Logon into a Windows 8.1 and go to Systemcontrol->Workfolders and select the setup workfolders options, now don’t use the email account and select that you enter the URL by your own, type in: https://yourserver:yourport and continue with the setup. Workfolders should now sync by using the new port number. For domain computers you can also setup a Policy to force the workfolder setup to the correct URL without user interaction.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: For Terminal Services running on a windows server, you can create a workfolder SMB share and create a mapping for smb:\\*yourserver*\*workfoldershare*\%USERNAME% to a static drive letter, this will also make the workfolder available in a  terminal server session for the user quite simple.

 

Tip: Fix Windows Server 2012 R2 can’t add RemoteFX GFX Card to a VM

Monday, January 13th, 2014

Hi Folks,

Windows Server 2012R2 seams to have an issue with the RemoteFX Graphic Card, if you have an RemoteFX supporting GFX-Card inside of your server (GFX Card is shown in the Hyper-V settings) you might be not able to add this card to a VM with an error “Error appliying RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter changes”.

This is mostly not related to the GFX Card, the VM or whatever… It’s related to an issue in the Hyper-V Management console, in all my cases i was able to fix it thru the powershell.

1) Open the Powershell with Admin rights

2) Make sure the VM where you want to apply the RemoteFX Video Adapter is not running!

3) Enter and execute “Add-VMRemoteFx3dVideoAdapter -VMName *your vm name*” and execute the command (replace *your vm name* with your VM Name shown in the Hyper-V console).

4) That’s it, start the VM now.

Cheers

Michael

Info: Most important Remote Desktop Services changes in Windows Server 2012 R2

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Hi Folks,

i’ve looked out for all changes related to the changes in the Remote Desktop Services coming with Windows Server 2012 R2 compared to Windows Server 2012.

After looking around a little bit i found the most important ones:

1) RemoteFX Media Streaming improved to use up to 50% less network bandwidth.
2) RemoteFX Codec improvement to require less bandwidth for non-video content.
3) Full support for transparent windows like used in Office 2013.
4) Dynamic monitor and resolution change support.
5) DirectX 11.1 support for RemoteFX
6) Quick reconnect time, improved from up to 70 seconds to less than 10 seconds.
7) Session shadowing for a virtual machine-based desktop and RemoteApp.
8) Remote Desktop Services roles are now supported on a Domain Controller.
9) Nested RDP support (Session in Session)

Not directly RDS related:

1) Data Depuplication will now also support in use VHD(x) files.
2) Network Card Teaming will increase the total bandwidth.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: The registry tweak to show the Desktop session and also the RemoteApps in the RD Web Interface, if only one Desktop collection is used, will still work ([HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\CentralPublishedResources\PublishedFarms\Desktop\RemoteDesktops\Desktop] -> ShowInPortal set to 1).

Tip: Fixing Windows Server 2012 upgrade to Server 2012 R2 Data retrieval issue in Server Manager

Friday, September 27th, 2013

Hello Folks,

very often after an upgrade from Windows Server 2012 to Server 2012 R2 it can happen that you will receive an issue in the Server Manager telling you that you got an Data retrieval Error for one or more upgraded Servers.

This issue has, from my Point of view, nothing to do with User Rights or similar… It’s more related to a bad upgrade Routine (by the way, Windows 8.1 has the same issue after a upgrade but it’s not so annoying like in the Server Manager).

To verify that the fix will work for you open the EventViewer and browse to Administrative Events in Custom Views, if you now get an error pointing to Microsoft-Windows-DxpTaskRingtone/Analytic then you got it….

Open Regedit and search for: Microsoft-Windows-DxpTaskTone/Analytic

Delete all entries that are located in a /WINEVT/Channels path in the registry and related to Microsoft-Windows-DxpTaskTone/Analytic like HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WINEVT\Channels\Microsoft-Windows-DxpTaskRingtone/Analytic  (make sure that it really is Microsoft-Windows-Dxp/Analytic!), you can export the entries before you delete it as backup.

Reboot the System or restart the Eventlog and WMI Service open the Server Manager and verify that the issue is gone now.

If not, check in the EventViewer again… If you got now a message pointing to Microsoft-Windows-Dxp/Analytic proceed like for DxpTaskTone.

Update: This has solved the issue for me after an upgrade in 4 of 5 cases. i the 5th case i was required to reinstall nearly every installed Serverrole… Iam not really sure to recommend a upgrade at all, until now i got 0 (zero) upgrades without any required interactions/issue at all.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: Do only use this fix if you really got the DxpTaskRingtone message in the EventViewer, the fault can be also  related to other issues and in this case the solution will not help you!!!

Tip: Upgrading a Windows 8 VM to Windows 8.1 on Hyper-V

Thursday, September 26th, 2013

Hello folks,

maybe this one is useful for you..

First of all, Windows 8 to go running from a VHD(x) can not be upgraded and you have to add a VHD file to a Hyper-V VM if you want to upgrade it.

1) Make sure you have the correct language pack installed in advance (if you download a upgrade Pack from the MSDN). Windows 8.1 will switch to the installation pack language automaticly, if you want to upgrade Server 2012 to R2 you are required to set and install the language pack in advance by your own.

2) Do not assign dynamic memory to the VM, it seams to be that the Windows 8.1 upgrade has a problem with dynamic memory and/or not enough memory is available during the boot time upgrade. This will create a “We couldn’t update…” Error after reboot.

3) If you’re using a KMS activated Windows 8 VM’s (which is common for company’s), make sure that the KMS Server is prepared for Windows 8.1 in advance and to update the KMS Productkeys for/in the VM’s (see also http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx).

4) If you are using Windows App’s, before you can install or upgrade Windows App’s from the store you are “required” to set a temp folder for the Internet Explorer, sounds crazy but it’s really the case. (For Server 2012 -> R2 i got a similar error with code 0x8024600e, same like on Windows 8.1 but in this case it was not the temp folder; i need to resync the licenses in the Windows Store Option settings… Quite funny again.)

5) After the upgrade don’t forget to run the disk cleanup tool to remove ~6GB unused previous Windows 8 files (remove previous os) and upgrade log files, if you want you can also run a full clean up to keep the master VHD as clean as possible.

Update:

6) I forgot: The old language Packs and the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 8 are not compatible to Windows 8.1 (this includes Server 2012 R2 language Packs) and you have to reinstall it!

Cheers
Michael

Release: Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 are now available for MSDN subscribers!

Thursday, September 19th, 2013

Hi Folks,

you have a MSDN Account? Don’t forget to download Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows 8.1 today… 🙂
Cheers

Michael

Tested: IGEL Universal Management Suite running on Windows Server 2012 / 8

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012

Hello Folks,

today i tested the IGEL Universal Management Suite Version 4.02.200 together with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and also Windows 8. I did not test the HA Feature but the general UMS works like a charm for me and i was not able to discover any issues. I´ve used the embedded database but i will also check out Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP 1 during the next days…

Of course this is without any guarantee but it looks quite good currently…

Cheers

Michael

Tip: IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS Hostnames are not available in a Microsoft DNS Server

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

Hello,

sometimes i’ve been asked why the Hostname of a IGEL Linux based Thin Client is not entered in a Microsoft based DNS Server. The reason for this is mostly quite simple, the DHCP Server is not configured to handle none Windows devices and to update the DNS records for these devices. Means you need to provide credentials to the DHCP Server to update the DNS records, see also here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc775839(v=ws.10).aspx

Cheers

Michael

Tip: Max. resolution for IGEL Universal Desktop OS (UDC) running as VM in a Microsoft Hyper-V

Monday, October 29th, 2012

Hello,

if you’re using a IGEL Universal Desktop OS VM in a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment (Windows 2008R2, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012) the max. possible Resolution for this VM is 1152×864.

Running a IGEL Universal Desktop OS VM in a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment is a very useful tool for tests, demonstration’s or to have a very secure desktop in place for Windows 8.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: Assign a legacy network card to the IGEL Universal Desktop OS VM, otherwise you will not get a working network connection.