Troubleshooting Windows Server 2012 Issues [Complete Guide]

Dashboard

In this post I will tell you how to Troubleshoot Windows Server 8. You can also check out my previous post: Complete Guide To New Features Of Windows Server 2012. This post currently contains the troubleshooting information for the latest Windows Server 8 Developer’s Build. I will update this post with more guidelines for newer versions as they become available.

Activation Watermark

When Windows Server 8 s activated you may get a watermark over the desktop warning that Product Activation is required. Ignore this message as it will not affect your usual tasks.

 

Active Directory Domain Services

Active Directory Domain Services for Server Core installations may fail. To avoid this, run the following command prior to installing the role:

Dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:ActiveDirectory-PowerShell /source:<\Windows\winsxs_directory_of_full_server_installation>

Where <\Windows\winsxs_directory_of_full_server_installation> is, for example, a mounted VHD of a Full server installation.

 

adirectory

 

File Transfer Protocol

If you change the data channel port range for FTP Firewall within Support feature of Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, then the new range is not used until you restart the FTP service.

 

ftp

 

Server Manager

Using Server Manager on a virtual machine such as VirtualBox with a VHD or to manage a VHD from a physical machine (which is booted from a VHD), may result in the VHD affected by Server Manager to become unbootable. To recover the VHD, mount it with the following command at a command prompt:

Dism.exe /mount-image /imagefile:<vhd path> /mountdir:<mount dir> /index:1

Run the following commands (in this example, the VHD is mounted with drive letter I:):

bcdedit /store I:\Boot\BCD /set {bootmgr} device hd_partition=I:

bcdedit /store I:\Boot\BCD /set {default} device hd_partition=I:

bcdedit /store I:\Boot\BCD /set {default} osdevice hd_partition=I:

Dismount the VHD with the following command:

Dism.exe /unmount-image /mountdir:<mount dir> /commit

 

Server-Manager2

Server roles and features

If you attempt to install a server role or feature on a remote computer which has not joined a domain, you will receive an error. To avoid this, add the remote computer to the trusted hosts lists from Windows PowerShell cmdlet using the below command:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value <machines> –Force

Power-Shell2

USB Peripheral issues

Currently, some devices may not function as expected when connected to a USB 3.0 port. Connecting these devices to a USB 2.0 port should resolve the issue until updated drivers are available. This may be the case for mouse, keyboards or other devices.

fotolia_3637630_XS

Windows Update

If Windows Update is enabled on Windows Server 8  to automatically download updates, the computer running on battery power, may not be able to fetch certain updates. To avoid this, ensure that your computer is using AC power.

Windows-Update8

Application Coding

Share Target applications which do not hold on to the Share Operation object get terminated. To avoid this, ensure that all of your applications maintain a reference to the ShareOperation object from Share Target Activated Event Args (when activated).

Direct Access

If you deploy a Remote Access server with only one network adapter with an internal IPv6 network, client access through Direct Access will fail, if the IPv6 prefix used for IP-HTTPS is included in the internal network IPv6 prefix. To avoid this, verify and modify the IPv6 prefix. You can modify this prefix from the 2nd page of the Direct Access Server wizard, in IPv6 prefix used to assign to remote client computers.

Please Note: The current Windows Server 8 Developers preview Build should not be used for deployment. This is merely a raw developer’s build and therefore many features are not fully functional. It is also possible that you may not be able to perform many usual server management and network connectivity tasks due to lack of driver compatibility and issues associated to under development or bugs in pre-beta versions.

Download Windows Server 8 Developers Preview Build