WDS ImageUnattend does not run - windows

We've successfully set-up WDS (Windows Deployment Services) and had it all working (it's serving an unattended Windows 7 x64 installation, the user only has to F12 then wait for the install to finish) but it no longer works the way it did before.
We're trying to F12 the exact same machine where it used to work. The WDS part of the installation is still automatic (unattended) but ImageUnattend.xml does not seem to run on the client at all now, it gets stuck at the language selection (everything after that is manual as well which is supposed to be automatic).
Inspecting C:\windows\panther on the client machine shows that WDS pops up with an error: WDS CallBack_WdsClient_CopyPrivatesDone: Failed to process client unattend variables.
Changing "%MACHINENAME%" to "*" in the ImageUnattend.xml file makes it all automatic again, however it then renames the computer incorrectly.
The variable %MACHINENAME% worked before, so why does it not work now? Has anyone else met this issue before?
Using a different user (domain administrator) in the ImageUnattend.xml file does not seem to change anything.

After countless of attempts with at least 15 new ImageUnattend.xml files, I decided to restart the server and use the original files I knew worked before.
This fixed it.

Related

IIS Manager is installed but shows empty page

I hope this is the right place to ask. I was thinking serverfault might not be correct, since the computer in question is not a server. Feel free to migrate if StackOverflow is not right.
I usually install IIS on servers but have installed it on Workstations before. I actually had the same problem with another machine of the same model a few weeks ago but can't remember how I resolved it. I must have installed additional features or run some powershell-command that did not resolve the issue on this machine.
I installed IIS the correct way using the Windows Features, as described in the answers to this question. I've actually removed and reinstalled it since then, but it hasn't resolved my problem.
The WWW publishing service is running and I can open the IIS Manager, but it's completely empty, unlike here where the IIS Manager at least shows the local computer
When I type localhost into a browser I don't see the IIS Startpage, I get the error ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED
You can see that all the required checkboxes are checked:
And the service seems to be running.
I've since tried installing IIS using
DISM:
Powershell:
And I checked the status using the iisreset command which was mentioned in the comments here (second linked question upstairs):
It restarts without any error and says everything is working fine.
Has anyone ever encountered this before or might know what I could try to get IIS actually working?
Edit:
I just noticed, while trying to uninstall IIS, that I can not uninstall it. I used Windows-Features and confirmed to reboot when prompted, but while rebooting Windows does a rollback and IIS is still available. So I can't even uninstall it.
Also just found this similar quesion on SuperUser. I'm still trying some suggestions there. So far to no avail.
Thanks for the comments.
I was on vacation, but a colleague was able to fix the problem.
Unfortunately, the solution was to reset Windows 11. He was then able to install IIS through Windows Features and it worked.
No idea why it didn't work in the first place, or why it got to this unrecoverable state. But now everything is fine.

VM & MS access - ExportWithFormatting PDF not working while in background

I have a problem that i have a difficult time explaining, which makes any online search very hard. Here is my dilema.
I'm migrating a VM. The purpose of this machine is to compile send out daily/weekly/monthly reports. I know there are other ways (like Power BI) but this is the situation we are in right now. The older machine has win10 pro and office 365 installed while the new has win10 enterprise version and office 2016 installed. This machine runs 24/7 in the background running specific tasks (via system scheduler app) at given times, that is it's a Virtual machine and has done so without issues since it was created. The reason for the migration is because we need to domain change and bring the machine under a new corporate policy and we don't want to do this on a live server.
We've set it the VM's the same way, same programs and same settings. Everything seams to be running smooth expect for this one thing, and here is the problem i have a hard time to explain or figure out:
MS Access will update the tables and the computer will run the tasks as set but it will not export the data to pdf unless i have a remote desktop connection open. Will not export the pdf's otherwise. MS Access uses a autoexec macro where the pdf export is set with ExportWithFormatting. This works without issues on the old server.
We thought this to be a permission or user specific issue at first but even re-creating the tasks did not work and changing paths. Otherwise also i expect we would have problems with tables updating, specially since it works when you have an active remote desktop conn running.
I'm lost and therefore hoping this community will be able to help or guide me to a solution.
I believe that we found the reason for this. It was caused by windows easy print and the printer drivers of the machine. It worked for some reason differently between the servers. after reinstalling the printer drivers and a few restarts it started working. It exports now from access again.
This is at least solved.

Clickonce App Doesn't start with Windows 1803

I have a Clickonce app from Visual Studio 2015 SP3 that is published to the network server and used in-house only. The program works just fine when launched from Visual Studio. It runs just fine on a Windows machine that does not have the 1803 update. But once a machine updates to 1803, the application no longer starts. I get the "Checking for updates..." window then nothing. On a fresh install, I usually get the Smartscreen telling me the program may be dangerous. It doesn't get that far.
I've created the Clickonce from a computer with the 1803 update and the problem still exists.
I've disconnected the machine from the network. The application starts but then has no database access and it needs the database. It's also written to hide buttons that would use the database to prevent users from trying to do things that require it.
I found a workaround (third paragraph) at https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7cbd16f5-526e-4b0b-a186-3ebf41b7b349/smartscreen-prompt-does-not-show-for-clickonce-app-since-windows-10-update-1803?forum=win10itprogeneral. When I start the application from the directory mentioned, I get the Smartscreen and can tell it to run anyway. Every time I click the desktop icon, it works just fine.
If a new release is published, the new release is downloaded and the program updated, but the Smartscreen no longer appears and the application never starts.
So somewhere between installing the latest update and the Smartscreen, this is failing. Anyone else experiencing this and have an idea as to why?
Yes, frustratingly I also experienced this today. Presumably a security update that they'll release another patch for given this is quite a pain for developers and users of small business apps.
Rather than disable Defender or SmartScreen I chose to add my deployment website to the Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer and that then re-instated the warning dialog and my app updated and ran as before.
Really annoying given the nature of the issue and how long it took to figure out, but at the same time I had to use IE today, which is a rare event nowadays.
This works for me...Warn doesnt warn anymore...
After running in the same problem, I just found that my application was going to halt after a stupid uncaught exception.
Despite the fact that the image below is in Portuguese, Event Viewer shows the right error cause.
In my case, was a corrupted settings file!
It appears as though some subsequent Windows Updates have fixed the issue on several of our PC's that were previously experiencing the issue.
Check for the updates listed here.
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4338548
Running winver.exe will show you which build you have.

The server is stopped

I downloaded the latest version of Appium from the GitHub. I have installed it on two Windows PCs,
On first one it works fine.
But on the second one, just by clicking "Start server v1.7.2" a window appear showing "The server is stopped".
What is wrong with the configuration?
I found the solution for above error.
It was due to firewall modified by an antivirus, it disables all open ports on this PC.
There can be around three solutions:
Format the PC will help us to get open ports, but it is not a recommended solution.
Uninstalling Antivirus can open blocked ports, by recovering firewall to its original state.
If the 2nd solution does not help then Uninstalling Antivirus and create a new User Account on PC, helps me to run Server successfully.

Why does the setup for my ActiveX .exe hang up when "Setup is updating your system"?

I am currently trying to install my vb6 app on a Windows 8.1 computer via TeamViewer (it's kind of like remote desktop). However, the installation always hangs up after all the files are copied and this message is displayed:
Setup is updating your system
We've tried it on our own Win8.1Pro desktop (via Remote Desktop this time) and Win2008Server(both via Remote Desktop), and it installed just fine.
Right now, we've narrowed it down to one culprit - MyProjectInfo.exe the actual ActiveX .exe. Whether it is me trying to run the .exe for the first time to register it to DCOMCNFG or whether it is the setup.exe running the script $(EXESelfRegister) it just freezes up.
What differences should i look for between 1) our win8.1Pro and win2008server and 2) their win8.1? If it some coding/reference/dependency issue, what could be the cause for why it doesn't error in our desktops?
Thank you for all the help.
Uhmm... this is getting embarrassing.
Avast (present in the other person's Win8.1) was blocking MyProjectInfo.exe from running (which is basically what is does with $(EXESelfRegister).
To properly proceed with registering my ActiveEXE program, I had to turn Avast off for a while. And that was that.
This problem may also occur with other anti-virus scanners as well.

Resources