Recent Discussions
Windows Admin Center.exe exception (0xe0434352)
I have installed an Azure Local 23H2 one-noded stack and enabled Windows Admin Center (Preview) extension via Azure portal. Solution version: 10.2503.0.13 Node OS Build: 25398.1486 Node Azure Arc Agent version: 1.46.02809.1841 however the WindowsAdminCenter service on the node will not start: Extension Message: Executing Enable operation, SettingDnsRecords: Creating/updating DNS records, GetDataFromMetadataService: Getting data from Azure metadata service, GetInstanceMetadataForArc: Retrieving the virtual machine instance metadata information, GettingWacPort: Getting Windows Admin Centers configured port, GettingCSPFrameAncestors: Getting Windows Admin Center configured CSP frame ancestors, UpdatingWindowsAdminCenterConfiguration: Updating Windows Admin Center Configuration, StoppingWindowsAdminCenterService: Stopping Windows Admin Center service, UpdatingInstallationTypeSettings: Updating Installation type for Windows Admin Center, UpdatingCSPSettings: Updating CSP Frame Ancestors for Windows Admin Center, UpdatingCORSSettings: Updating CORS origins for Windows Admin Center, UpdatingPort: Updating port for Windows Admin Center, UpdatingWebSocketValidationOverride: Updating WebSocket validation override settings, UpdatingTokenAuthenticationEnabled: Updating token authentication setting, UpdatingAutoUpdate: Updating auto update setting, SettingProxy: Updating proxy for Windows Admin Center, GettingWacPort: Getting Windows Admin Centers configured port, UpdatingWindowsAdminCenterConfiguration: Updating Windows Admin Center Configuration, GetDataFromMetadataService: Getting data from Azure metadata service, GetInstanceMetadataForArc: Retrieving the virtual machine instance metadata information, TestWACAppServiceReachability: Testing reachability of Application Web Service of Windows Admin Center, GetAccessTokenForArc: Getting access token from Azure Arc's identity endpoint, GetDataFromMetadataService: Getting data from Azure metadata service, GetInstanceMetadataForArc: Retrieving the virtual machine instance metadata information, WriteCertificateThumbprint: Storing certificate thumbprint for future reference., RetrieveCertificate: Retrieving certificate from key vault using app service, ImportingCertificate: Importing Certificate to Certificate Store, StoppingWindowsAdminCenterService: Stopping Windows Admin Center service, UpdatingSubjectName: Updating WAC certificate subject name, UpdatingCertificateACL: Updating WAC certificate ACL, UpdatingServicesEndpoints: Updating WAC endpoint FQDN, StartingWindowsAdminCenterService: Failed to start Windows Admin Center service In Event viewer (system) I can see that the service starts and then stops again right after with the following error: Windows Admin Center.exe exception (0xe0434352) I have tried to reboot node and remove and reinstall extension. But the error persists. I know it is in preview but I would like to get it to work. Any suggestions?Solved135Views0likes2Comments
Server 2022 WMI Issues
Hi there, I have a Server 2022 with WMI problems affecting the server in a few ways. The server is a domain controller, RD Broker and hosts some files also. The server actually operates ok for the users day-to-day. I discovered the issue when opening AD Connect, getting an Invalid Class error message. When running various fundamental commands at the command prompt (e.g. tasklist) I get the same error. When looking at the WMI Control in Computer Management again - Invalid Class. I have tried various fixes found online such as verifying the WMI repository (it comes back as consistent) but I think I've reached a dead end. I don't want to restore the server from backup as I believe this issue has been ongoing for a couple of months before it was discovered. I can't get in to the Remote Desktop part of server manager to replace the certificate, and the certificate expires next week. Does anyone have any ideas please? Any help greatly appreciated, thanks. ChrisSolved162Views0likes2Comments
Windows Server 2025 DC Won't Install / Uninstall MSI packages, NIC Domain Category issue.
In the last week I have set up a Win 2025 Server Std Hyper-V host with 2 VMs, one being a domain controller. I have discovered that once the machine is promoted to a DC I can no longer install any .msi packages. .exe packages seem to work fine. My scenario: After setting up the VM (before promotion to DC), I installed my RMM package (.msi - NinjaRMM) and all was fine at that point. I can see and access the VM in my RMM console. After promoting the machine to a DC, I noticed later that the status in my RMM was offline or disconnected. I soon discovered this problem with installing / uninstalling packages. Somehow I was able to uninstall the NinjaRMM, but could not re-install it. Also when Ninja installs the agent it also installs Splashtop. At this point I cannot uninstall Splashtop. Using something simple like the Putty 64bit .msi for testing. Can't install that neither. Any .msi I have tried just hangs for about 30 minutes then times out. Main error code in the .msi log is 1603, which is supposed to be closely related to permissions, but I have found no issues with permissions. Check GPO and have found nothing there either. I have Win 2022 DCs in the same domain and have no issues installing / uninstalling these packages. Internet search has found similar issues, but no answers. Secondly, when rebooting the 2025 DC, the NIC initially gets assigned the Public network category. Disabling / Re-Enabling the adapter the Domain category is immediately assigned. Secondly, I attempted to create a PS script to restart the adapter at startup (task manager...set to run as SYSTEM), and while the tasks starts, it never runs the script. After working with ChatGPT it was suggested to change the script to have a simple one line command 'Exit 0' statment. That doesn't run either. Seems that this problem has relations to being run as SYSTEM, which I believe is also related to the install issue. Internet searches found others stating they have encountered similar issues, but no resolutions. For the install issue, some have stated that if they demote the DC to a member server, .msi installs run successfullly (which seemed to be my case before I promted it a DC). I haven't tried demoting it to a member server, but I did spin up a second Win 2025 Server VM, joined it to the domain and at that point I have no issues installing / uninstalling anything...including .msi packages (oops, I did state this in an earlier paragraph). Tried contacting MS. Seems with no support plan they won't talk with me. That's awesome, you pay for a product, and they won't provide support for it. Such a joy. Hoping that someone might have seen these issues as well. LThibxSolved1.8KViews0likes4CommentsNo support for Protected Users in Microsoft Entra Domain Services?
I have been loooking into mapping best practices about configuring hardening / tiering model from on-premises Active Directory to Microsoft Entra Domain Services (MEDS). I'm well aware that MEDS is NOT a replacemenet for AD DS and have many restrictions and missing features, but that does not stop me from wanting to make it as secure as possible for member servers to be joined to. Since MEDS is a PaaS in Azure, deployed from within Azure and managed in another way than Active Directory, of course there are different ways of implementering a good tiering model. In my study I wanted to see if I could enable Protected Users feature (join users to Protected Users Group). However I find this group to be present but not possible to add members to (feature greyed out). I have a member server in the MEDS instance and have installed AD DS Tools. My user is member of AD DDS Administrators group. I would like to know if anyone have some knowledge on the subject to share?Solved84Views0likes1CommentIncrease the size of user profile disk in my remote desktop server
Hi all experts. I have a server for remote desktop services purposes, Windows 2016 standard, and domain joined. It is configured using User Profile Disk, and the maximum limit is set to 5GB. I want to increase the maximum limit but I can't do it under the collection's properties because that field is grayed out. My questions: How to increase the maximum limit? Please guide me and let me know how. Can I increase the maximum limit for 1 single user only? If yes, please let me know how. I found some info from the web that this can be done by the Diskpart command, is it true? If I follow the Diskpart method, do all user profiles encounter data lost? I need your guidance and input, I appreciate it. Here are some images:Solved1.7KViews0likes6Comments
Windows Server 2022 or 2025 Data Centre edition- concurrent editing of Microsoft office documents
Does Windows Server 2022 or 2025 Data Centre edition provide real time collaboration or concurrent editing (through workspaces etc) by multiple users on Microsoft office documents hosted on it locally. So for the sole purpose of having concurrent editing feature of office documents, can Windows Server 2022 or 2025 Data Centre edition become an alternative to using Sharepoint server hosted locally or on premise.Solved150Views0likes2CommentsRAM Memory Leak Issue
Good morning. I am experiencing issues with an updated installation of Windows Server 2016. The task manager reports 8.1GB of memory used (which normally tends to grow indefinitely), and I can't figure out what is using this memory. The growth is about 1GB per day. However, no processes appear that justify the 8GB of RAM used. Even using RAMMAP, I can't find anything significant... On the server, additionally, we have SentinelOne as antivirus and Apache-Tomcat. Thank you for your help.Solved200Views0likes2Comments
Windows Admin Center v2.4 will not use SAN Cert
Hello, We've noticed an issue with the new Windows Admin Center Modernized Gateway (v2.4) and SAN certificates, at least in our environment. All of our servers get an autoenroll computer certificate (hostname.domainname.com) -- it only uses a common name, and has no subject alternative names. For webservers, we generate an additional certificate with subject alternative names, so that web browsers do not report an insecure https website. Windows Admin Center v2.4 does not seem to work with these certificates. When installing WAC and selecting the correct SAN certificate in the "Custom Setup" or even setting the certificate manually using Set-WACCertificateSubjectName -Thumbprint 'thumbprintofcert' the website will only use the autoenroll certificate. I deleted the autoenroll certificate from the machine, and tried setting the certificate to the SAN cert and the site will not even load. As soon as I forced a gpupdate /force to get a new autoenroll computer certificate and it will use that one, but never the SAN cert. Just in case it was the subject name of the cert, I generated a new SAN cert with a completely different name from the autoenroll cert: WAC.domainname.com instead of APP-WAC01.domain.com. I then used the Set-WACCertificateSubjectName -Thumbprint and verified that it was using the new SAN cert by running Get-WACCertificateSubjectName and it showed that it was using the WAC.domainname.com certificate. Website would not load at all. So I don't know if it has issues with SAN certs, or anything other than an autoenroll certificate with only a common name, but nothing works. If Windows Admin Center Modernized Gateway still used IIS, we'd be able to get IIS to use the SAN cert like the previous version of Windows Admin Center. Is this a known issue? Anyone else having issues with SAN certs? -JSolved640Views0likes5Comments
Active Directory Functional Level Support
Hi all, This is a first time post for me here but I am struggling to find this information out from MS or MS support themselves. I am currently assisting a customer upgrade some servers from Windows 2012 R2 to Windows 2022 and 2 of the servers are DCs. Now I am well across the recommended upgrade process but I have seen in their current AD that they are running functional level 2008 R2. I am well aware that 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 are no longer supported but what about the AD functional level? Now I have researched this half to death across the MS KBs, tech forums etc. and I am conflicting information. Some MS representatives in forums have said that these functional levels are not supported but they don't supply any official documentation or statement from MS which says this. I just raised a ticket with MS support to ask the question but the responding engineer was confusing as hell and whilst I appreciate English would be their second language, I don't think they understood what I asked. So is there anyone in the discussion forum who knows the answer to this? If you do, can you please point me to the official MS statement backing this up as well. Is AD functional level 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 supported or not supported? Appreciate any help anyone here can provide. Cheers AlexSolved896Views0likes4CommentsISSUE: Windows Server 2025 - OneDrive Shell Folder does not work in File Explorer
Dear Windows Server Insider team, I am seeing this issue for a longer time now and hoped it would be resolved. Will be repeating my tests with 26311 soon and updating this thread by then. I consider this issue of low to medium importance. If this goes live it can harm especially Windows Server based VDI which usually using OneDrive and FSLogix Containers. This one is just tested in easy complexity with OneDrive for Home Use, but I expect it can also affect OneDrive for Business. Overall, I would rate this an UX limitation with an available workaround for advanced users. Thanks! https://aka.ms/AAt80nrSolved655Views1like3Comments
Error Occurred While Enrolling for a Certificate - Certificate Server
I am getting the above error when try to renew or enroll a new certificate. Additional information is The Certificate request could be submitted to the certification authority. Error: The RPC server is unavailable. 0X800706ba (WIN32: 1733 RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE) Our CA was on a domain controller where we were getting this error. I moved the CA to it own server, restored the CA but still getting this. I have searched and followed numerous suggestions on the above topic but none have resolved the issue. This is running on a patched Windows Server 2022. Any additional suggestions would be appreciated.Solved527Views0likes1CommentAD DS Users in Remote Desktop Users group receive not authorized for remote login
Hello, thanks for checking! My AD DS config was lost. I have now built a new PDC for AD DS. I have recreated users and given them remote permissions via remote tab on user details, I have added them to administrators group, and I have added them to Remote Desktop Users group. I have joined "PC1" I can confirm the user can login via console, but when attempting to remote in, is receiving "The connection was denied because the user account is not authorised for remote login." The only user that can use RDP at this time is domain 'administrator'. It was working previously. I have verified that the PC1 has remote desktop enabled, and can connect via domain 'administrator' I would appreciate any insight into this matter!Solved347Views0likes2Comments
SMB over QUIC Client Access Control is inconsistent
We have set up SMB over QUIC on some Windows 2025 file servers and generally it works well. Unfortunately of course, it is not secure by design since there is no MFA or conditional access in the picture. Thus securing the connections falls to its Client Access Control feature where you can allowlist or blacklist connections using client certificates. We implemented this in multiple environments (different domains) and although it works initially, it then starts failing with no changes having been made. The behavior is always the same across various domains once it starts failing - first the connection shows successful: The SMB connection was successfully established. Endpoint Name: FILES Transport: Quic Server socket address: x.x.x.x:443 Client socket address: x.x.x.x:8205 Connection ID: 0xB1D0039C01XXXXXX Mutual authentication: Yes Access control: Yes Then immediately it fails less than a second later: Quic connection shutdown. Error: Mutual authentication failed. Reason: Server close the connection. Endpoint Name: FILES Transport Name: \Device\SmbQUICIpv4_0006_x.x.x.x Guidance: This event indicates that the winquic connection is shutting down by the server. This event commonly occurs because the server certificate mapping is not created. It may also be caused by the server failed to configure the winquic connections.Solved464Views0likes3Commentswof compression not working on Server 2019, compact /exe:lzx
Hi! Got this oddity where it works on some 2019 but not others. It's volumes that support compression. compact /c .\textfile.txt Compressing files in E:\test\ textfile.txt 80510 : 20480 = 3,9 to 1 [OK] Works. But this doesn't compact /c /exe:lzx .\textfile.txt Compressing files in E:\test\ textfile.txt [ERR] textfile.txt: The file system does not support compression. Found another tool that gives a little bit more / other info. https://github.com/wimbrts/WOF_Compress WofCompress.exe /c:lzx /path:textfile.txt Compression using LZX algorithm Error WOF driver missing! Some more info posted as issue at the authors github. https://github.com/wimbrts/WOF_Compress/issues/1 Anyone got a clue why it works on some server and not others? I've compared the output from fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo fltmc filters Not working server: NTFS Volume Serial Number : 0x90e6dd9ee6dd84be NTFS Version : 3.1 LFS Version : 2.0 Number Sectors : 0x00000003feeaefff Total Clusters : 0x000000007fdd5dff Free Clusters : 0x000000000b47a437 Total Reserved : 0x000000000000118d Bytes Per Sector : 512 Bytes Per Physical Sector : 4096 Bytes Per Cluster : 4096 Bytes Per FileRecord Segment : 1024 Clusters Per FileRecord Segment : 0 Mft Valid Data Length : 0x000000000a9c0000 Mft Start Lcn : 0x00000000000c0000 Mft2 Start Lcn : 0x0000000000000002 Mft Zone Start : 0x00000000000ca9c0 Mft Zone End : 0x00000000000d71c0 Max Device Trim Extent Count : 0 Max Device Trim Byte Count : 0x0 Max Volume Trim Extent Count : 62 Max Volume Trim Byte Count : 0x40000000 Resource Manager Identifier : A36B7921-4B02-11E3-80B9-10604B92980C fltmc filters Filter Name Num Instances Altitude Frame ------------------------------ ------------- ------------ ----- WdFilter 5 328010 0 storqosflt 0 244000 0 wcifs 0 189900 0 CldFlt 0 180451 0 FileCrypt 0 141100 0 luafv 1 135000 0 npsvctrig 1 46000 0 Wof 1 40700 0 Working server: fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo NTFS Volume Serial Number : 0x5674e49574e478df NTFS Version : 3.1 LFS Version : 2.0 Number Sectors : 0x000000000fb557ff Total Clusters : 0x0000000001f6aaff Free Clusters : 0x0000000001356a89 Total Reserved : 0x00000000000013ff Bytes Per Sector : 512 Bytes Per Physical Sector : 4096 Bytes Per Cluster : 4096 Bytes Per FileRecord Segment : 1024 Clusters Per FileRecord Segment : 0 Mft Valid Data Length : 0x000000003d880000 Mft Start Lcn : 0x00000000000c0000 Mft2 Start Lcn : 0x0000000000000002 Mft Zone Start : 0x000000000061e7c0 Mft Zone End : 0x0000000000622b20 Max Device Trim Extent Count : 4096 Max Device Trim Byte Count : 0xffffffff Max Volume Trim Extent Count : 62 Max Volume Trim Byte Count : 0x40000000 Resource Manager Identifier : 0F1B4301-B8F1-11EB-BBB6-00155D289A03 fltmc filters Filter Name Num Instances Altitude Frame ------------------------------ ------------- ------------ ----- MsSecFlt 6 385600 0 WdFilter 4 328010 0 storqosflt 0 244000 0 wcifs 0 189900 0 CldFlt 0 180451 0 FileCrypt 0 141100 0 npsvctrig 1 46000 0 Wof 1 40700 0Solved250Views0likes2Comments
Configure RPC packet level privacy setting for incoming connections not show in group policy
Hi, it's about the group policy setting in windows server 2022, I have downloaded Windows Server 2022 Security Baseline.zip from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55319 Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit 1.0 and imported SecGuide.adml and SecGuide.admx. I can see the MS Security Guide folder in local group policy editor, but there is no setting for "Configure RPC packet level privacy setting for incoming connections", I also try to find from All Settings, there is no such setting. Could you advice how to config it to let it show in the group policy editor or GPO. Thanks.Solved3.6KViews0likes2CommentsExcel is creating .tmp files in shared folder without security permissions.
Hello. I have a on-prem 2019 DC that has 2012 r2 server in the same forest. Since the end of July, sometimes when Excel that is used in the workstations, the .tmp files that are created when the excel file is saved are not deleted. If I go to .tmp files' properties, there's nothing in Security and I'm unable to take ownership saying I don't have reading permissions. If I restart the server, I'm able to see the information and to delete them. I have checked the file in virustotal.com, it's clean and it is an Office Open XML Spreadsheet. The servers are both updated, the DNS has no errors and the disk is ok. After some research, I did the following: - Disabled the Microsoft Defender on the Server - Gave full control to the shared folder to everyone - Deactivated the heuristic component of the anti-virus that is installed in the server Despite all this, the .tmp files continue to stay now and then in the shared folder as described earlier. I don't know what can I do to solve this?Solved1.5KViews0likes3CommentsAD FS Role installs but configuration fails with timeout error
I am attempting to install the Active Directory Federation Services role on a Server 2019 VM. The initial configuration wizard fails when installing ADFS (GUI OR PowerShell - same outcome). All checks pass, but the ADFS service takes roughly 75 seconds to start, so the wizard times out failed. The database is built, the service account and certificate are verified, and the service is ACTUALLY STARTED. Once it fails with "timeout" error, it never builds the APP Pool objects in IIS, and it never builds the objects to populate the AD FS MMC. I have verified that the certificate is built correctly per multiple articles. I followed https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-fs/deployment/manually-configure-a-service-account-for-a-federation-server-farm to set up the GMSA service account I have followed the guidance at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/system-management-components/service-not-start-events-7000-7011-time-o.ut-error?source=recommendations to add time for the service to start, but the wizard appears to have its own timeout. I have installed SQL Service Management Studio 20, and used it verify that the WID database and the permissions/roles for the service account match guidance. I have verified the SPN and the permissions for the AD FS GUID for the farm. Is there a way to complete the configuration with the long service start?Solved808Views0likes2Comments
Events
Recent Blogs
- 3 MIN READEffective July 16, 2025, Hotpatching for Windows Server 2025 on Azure Arc–connected machines will be generally available (GA) and transition to a paid subscription model. This post provides technical...Jul 16, 2025171Views1like0Comments
- 3 MIN READStarting in Azure Local version 2506, we’re excited to announce Public Preview of Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled by Azure Arc. This release brings cloud-native networking capability of acc...Jul 11, 2025278Views0likes0Comments
