All Answers
Thanks for your time and answer mike.
So I’ll inform my customer to use Server 2016 Essentials
I do an offer now and I hope that I can win it.
Best regards
Dominik
- nettop answered 6 years ago
We use a Drobo 5C here, which combines all of its individual drives into one giant drive pool, and then we create individual VHDX virtual hard drives on it for each of our storage drives that are required by Essentials. This works great for us.
Basically, we use the “Disk Management” applet on the server (or the “Hyper-V Manager” if you’re using Hyper-V) to create the individual VHDX files (dynamically expanding to the desired size and encrypted via BitLocker), and then we attach them as individual drives (e.g. SERVER_FOLDERS S:\, FILE_HISTORY H:\, CLIENT_BACKUPS X:\, SERVER_BACKUP, etc.). We then use the “STORAGE” page of the server Dashboard to move the server folders over to those attached virtual drives. On the “DEVICES” page of the server Dashboard, we then run the “Customize Backup for the server” task and choose which of those virtual drives we want included in, or excluded from, our server backup (and obviously, we don’t include the giant Drobo drive pool in the server backup; only the individual VHDX files that exist on it).
We’ve been doing this for many years now without any issues whatsoever.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
How did you go about uninstalling the WSE WorkFolders add-in from your server (or from your client computer for that matter)? The proper way to uninstall an Essentials add-in is via the “APPLICATIONS” page of the server Dashboard (as is described within the “##### UNINSTALLING WSE WORKFOLDERS #####” section of the ReadMe.txt file that’s included with the WSE WorkFolders add-in’s download).
When an Essentials add-in is properly uninstalled, via the “APPLICATIONS” page of the server Dashboard, then Essentials will automatically remove the add-in’s client-side components from all of your connected client computers for you (i.e. there’s no need for you to manually remove the add-in from your client computers seeing as Essentials itself handles doing all of that for you).
Can you provide a screenshot of the (error) message that your client computer is giving you stating that the add-in can’t be uninstalled?
- Mike answered 6 years ago
Hi,
I uninstalled the ADD-In by using the Application Page.
On my server 2016 Essentials!
The WSE WorkFolders ADD-In uninstalled correctly from the server!
But, it didn’t uninstall from my windows 10 pro client!
So, I uninstalled it from the client!
Uninstalling it in the usual manner!
But, a day later the server said that the Add-in couldn’t be uninstalled!
But, in actuality it’s already been uninstalled!
The server is saying that the add-in cannot be uninstalled!
This shows up in Health Monitoring Tab!
But, the WSE WorkFolder Add-in isn’t installed!
So, what can I do to correct this problem?
Thanks in advance!
Ed-
- Figtree7nts answered 6 years ago
Everything you need to know about installing the Windows Server Essentials Experience (WSEE) on Windows Server 2019 is provided here:
Installing Windows Server Essentials Experience On Windows Server 2019
If you’re interested in using our WSEE Installer package, then you’ll need to purchase a license for one of our software products, and then contact us (with the User Name from the license of your purchased product) and we will send you over the download details for it. The WSEE Installer is provided free of charge to registered users of our software (one server install per purchased product), which is also explained within the “how to” article that I’ve linked you to above.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
It would be most helpful if you could provide a screenshot of the health alert you are seeing within the server Dashboard about the add-in not being able to be uninstalled. I’ve never seen this issue pop up before, and so I’m not exactly sure what’s going on there.
You’ve stated that you’ve uninstalled the client-side component of the add-in from your client in the “usual manner”, but the client-side WSE WorkFolders add-in was not really designed to be uninstalled from the client manually. Here’s how we normally suggest that you uninstall it from your clients (in such a case where it does not get automatically removed from the client by Essentials itself):
1. On the client PC, open the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and go to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{0EE586C6-D2D1-48A8-93BB-F65370763415}
2. Double-click on the “NoRemove” value, and change its value data from 1 to 0.
3. Open the Control Panel and go to the “Programs and Features” applet (NOTE: don’t using the modern Settings panel here).
4. Select (i.e. highlight) the installed “Client Connector for WSE WorkFolders 2016” application, and then click on the “Uninstall” button.
If you’ve already done that (and the uninstall succeeded), then I’m not exactly sure why the Dashboard is giving you a health alert stating that it’s not able to be uninstalled (and hence why I’d like to see a screenshot).
- Mike answered 6 years ago
Hi Mike,
Here is a screen shot!
I’m going to look at the registry!
Lets see what I see!
And the problem still persist!!!
- Figtree7nts answered 6 years ago
If there’s nothing in the Registry, then I assume that the client-side components of the WSE WorkFolders add-in were indeed successfully removed from the client computer then. You can double/triple check this by looking to see if the following file exists on your client computer:
C:\Program Files\Windows Server\Bin\WSEWF.Client.exe
If the file doesn’t exist, then the add-in has indeed been successfully uninstalled.
I’m still not sure what that health alert is all about… Can you click on the alert so that its details show up in down in the lower window pane, and then grab another screenshot for me? With your first screenshot, I can’t see any additional information about the health alert other than its “An add-in cannot be removed” title (and I can also see that you have other add-ins installed on your server such as “My Movies”, “HSS 2015”, etc., so I just want to make sure that the alert is not from one of those instead).
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
The Windows Server 2019 Essentials SKU is an abomination!
Not only has Microsoft stripped the Windows Server Essentials Experience (WSEE) server role from it, but they have also stripped all of the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server roles from it as well. As a result, the Remote Desktop Gateway server role is not available for use by the Anywhere Access/Remote Web Access features of Essentials when you go that route. For this reason, you should NOT attempt to install WSEE on the Windows Server 2019 Essentials SKU. Do yourself (and me) a favor, and just use Windows Server 2019 Standard (or Windows Server 2019 Datacenter) instead (as doing so will save you a whole lot of grief in the long run).
That being said… While our WSEE Installer is locked down so that it CANNOT be used on the Windows Server 2019 Essentials SKU, you are always free to go it on your own and manually install WSEE on Windows Server 2019 Essentials by following the manual install instructions that I’ve provided over in the main how-to article that’s posted here (if you don’t have any need for the Anywhere Access/Remote Web Access features of Essentials that is):
Installing Windows Server Essentials Experience On Windows Server 2019
However, I highly recommend that you don’t waste your time doing so (and I will provide no help if folks opt to go down that road seeing as doing so just creates a big ol’ mess!).
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
Hi Mike,
Please clarify the relationship between WSE RemoteApp and Duo 2FA. Does Duo need RemoteApp to work correctly? Or does RemoteApp basically make it easier to use? I’m not familiar with RemoteApp. It seems like Duo should work without RemoteApp if it is setup properly.
Thank you,
- eugp answered 6 years ago
Yes, that’s perfectly acceptable. However, the Registration Key that you receive for the WSEE Installer (which is associated with the User Name from the license of one of our software products) will lock itself to the hardware that it is initially installed on (just like Microsoft’s Product Key locks itself to the hardware that Windows Server is initially installed on). Therefore, you’ll simply need to contact us when you’re ready to move over to the production environment so that we can reset the Registration Key for you so that you can then proceed with the final install.
EDIT: As for the WSE WorkFolders 2016 license… When you install it on the new (production) server, it will inform you that it is already being used on another server (i.e. the test server), and it will ask you if you want to move your license over to the new server instead. You can simply answer Yes to that question, and you’ll be good to go.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
No you do not. You only need to own one of our software products in order to be able to gain access to the WSEE Installer. It doesn’t matter if the software product that you own has a valid “Updates and Support” option on its license (or not) in order for you to be able to continue using the WSEE components that it installed on your server.
That being said… Please do be aware that the WSEE Installer can only be used on a single server. The WSEE Installer uses a Registration Code (that is associated with the User Name from the license of your owned software product) that is “locked” to the underlying hardware that you initially install WSEE on (just as your Product Key for Windows Server is “locked” to the underlying hardware that you initially install Windows Server on). While you can use the WSEE Installer to (re)install WSEE on the same underlying hardware as many times as needed, you cannot use your Registration Key to install WSEE on multiple servers. Rather, each new server install would need to have its very own unique Registration Key that is associated with one of our software products.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
I’m not a Microsoft licensing expert, and so I can’t really speak to the licensing part of your question (although from a straight “licensing” perspective, the answer would surely be no since Microsoft would never support you installing WSEE on Windows Server 2019).
However, from a “will it work” perspective, then the answer is yes, it’ll work just fine. Your Product Key for Windows Server 2019 Standard will allow you to activate two instances of 2019 Standard installed on two separate VMs or bare metal machines (e.g. one instance of 2019 configured as your primary domain controller running on one, and one instance of 2019 with WSEE installed on it and running as a member server where it is joined to your primary domain controller running on the other).
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
So signing in remotely via the server’s Remote Desktop Gateway is working fine, but signing in locally via the WSE RemoteApp connector is not working… I’m afraid that I’ve never come across that one before. Have you tried rebooting BOTH the server AND the domain-joined client computer just to see if that happens to shake things loose for you?
- Mike answered 6 years ago
Hmm… WSE Launchpad says the server is offline and I’m not logged in, but I have access to the server folders.
- SomebodyInGNV answered 6 years ago
Did the client computer recently get updated to Windows 10 v2004 via Windows Update (to check, just run WinVer.exe on it)? If so, then that probably caused the client to disconnect from the server (seeing as this is a known issue/common problem when installing the big Windows 10 “feature updates”). You’ll probably just need to reconnect the client to the server again by going to http://<YourServerName>/connect and then downloading and running the Windows Server Essentials Connector software setup program on it again in order to fix the issue.
Just be aware that since your client computer is domain-joined, you’ll probably want to add the following registry key to it, BEFORE you run the connect software again, and then delete it afterwards:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\ClientDeployment
SkipDomainJoin = 1 (DWORD)
Doing that will stop the connector software from joining the domain all over again, and blowing away your current user profile.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
Rebooting fixed it on one, but not on another. The computer that worked was already updated to 2004. The other just updated yesterday. After attempting to connect it showed as connected but, when I attempted to open WSE RemoteApp Launcher, it switched to offline. I then ran the connect utility again after setting the reg key as above. Same result, even after rebooting the laptop again.
It’s a drastic approach but I may rebuild the server. I was thinking of doing that, anyway. When I first set it up I used domain.local as the domain and that interferes with remote connections. I’ll recreate it without the .local suffix.
It’s not hard for me to redo the server because I use DrivePool for data storage. I can reinstall on the OS drive without data drives, then reinstall DrivePool. When I put the drives back in, DrivePool will recognize them and rebuild it. All I have to do is rearrange the drives. (That’s how I recovered the data from WHS after installing WSE 2016.)
I don’t expect it to be plug and play but I won’t lose anything, and I have plenty of time on my hands.
I’ll make sure I have a screen shot of my drives and shares so I can rebuild them as the same, and keep copies of the few software keys I have on the server.
- SomebodyInGNV answered 6 years ago
Alas, I’m afraid that I’ve never gone down that road before (seeing as I ALWAYS recommend that folks start off with a brand new/clean out-of-the-box installation of Windows Server 2019 Standard/Datacenter for the best results). From the sounds of it, you are going to need to do an in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016 first, and then another in-place upgrade from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2019 after that. From there, you can then install WSEE on Windows Server 2019.
For more info on why you need to in-place upgrade from 2012 R2 to 2016 to 2019 see what I’ve said over here.
However, you might be better off doing a domain-migration instead. Microsoft has the steps that you will need to take in order to do that listed over here:
Step 2: Install Windows Server Essentials as a new replica domain controller
And, another user has very kindly posted the steps that he took for doing a successful domain migration here.
I hope that helps you out some.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
Alas, I’m afraid not. It’s probably time that you start thinking about moving away from the now unsupported (and insecure) Windows Home Server 2011 platform. Windows Server 2016 Essentials is a great upgrade to WHS 2011 and it properly handles all modern UEFI (BIOS) client computers.
- Mike answered 6 years ago
The RemoteApp programs that you publish via WSE RemoteApp 2016 MUST be installed directly on the Essentials server itself (i.e. they cannot be installed on a separate member server).
You can run multiple Essentials servers (set up via the WSEE server role) on the same domain as long as they are deployed as member servers.
i.e. You CANNOT have two Windows Server Essentials SKUs running on the same domain, but you CAN have two Windows Server Standard/Datacenter with the Windows Server Essentials Experience (WSEE) server role added both running on the same domain (running as member servers). Or, you CAN have one Windows Server Essentials SKU and one Windows Server Standard/Datacenter with the Windows Server Essentials Experience (WSEE) server role added (running as a member server) both running on the same domain.
For more info see:
Enabling multiple instances of Windows Server Essentials Experience in your environment
- Mike answered 6 years ago
- last active 6 years ago
