All Answers

As far as the WSEE Installer goes everything is in place for Distribution Groups (and the rest of the Office/Microsoft 365 features of Windows Server Essentials) to work. Therefore, if they’re not working (or are no longer working), then that’s most likely due to an issue over on Microsoft’s end. Unfortunately Microsoft seems hell bent on not supporting/updating/fixing Windows Server Essentials any longer. They continually seem to break the backend infrastructure of the Essentials online services features and then they take forever to get them working properly again. For this reason, I’ve personally given up on trying to use any of the Azure and/or online services in Windows Server Essentials. Thus, you’ll most likely need to raise the issue with Microsoft directly seeing as there’s not much I can do about it from my end I’m afraid (i.e. everything the features need to work in Essentials are being properly installed and configured by the WSEE Installer AFAIK, and so if they’re not working as expected, then the issue is most likely over on Microsoft’s end). I’m sorry that I don’t have a better answer for you on this one. :- (

Hi Mike,

thanks for answering, i think server 2022 will work on the gen8, as is the 2016 essentials for some years. We use it here at home only for file storage, and client backups.

so i want to experiment with 2022, and my questions were mainly:

can i install workfolders on 2022 server standard or do i need the wsee first to be installed

when reinstalling, so not additional installation, do i need to contact you guys, or does it work again. As i said i want to experiment with server 2022, and i guess i need some re installations.

and for $25,00 extra for workfolders i got lifetime support (until 2027?)

rgds

patrick

Since WSE WorkFolders is a Windows Server Solutions (i.e. Windows Server Essentials) add-on, it requires that WSEE be installed on your server in order for it to install and function.

That being said… Work Folders itself is a built-in server role in Windows Server and so you don’t actually need WSE WorkFolders in order to use it on a server that isn’t running WSEE. The only reason you need to use WSE WorkFolders on an Essentials server is because Work Folders is in-and-of-itself a web server (that uses the exact same standard HTTP and HTTPS ports as the Essentials server’s default IIS website), and so it conflicts with Windows Server Essentials and cannot be installed without disrupting the built-in Anywhere Access/Remote Web Access functionality of the server without it.

The WSEE Installer license will automatically reset itself if it has been 3+ days since you last installed, or updated, it on your server. If it has been less time than that, then you will need to contact us and request that the license be manually reset for you.

Yes, for an additional payment you can indeed purchase the lifetime “Update and Support” option for WSE WorkFolders that will allow you to receive updates and/or technical support for the lifetime of the product (which is based on Microsoft’s January 12, 2027 end-of-support date for Windows Server 2016 Essentials).

Thanks Mike.

For #1 what I meant by “loophole” is the fact that with this I can keep using the server OS without paying for it, whereas I had expected to have to buy a license some day. It appears to me that it needs the volume keys that MSFT have published publicly to make it work so I wonder why they did that. I looked into the KMS script but it’s a bit beyond my competence. I’ll have to look again and see if I can understand it enough.

For #4 I already saw that there are reputable companies here selling HPE or Dell OEM licenses at a reasonable price. I did read that they are only activation licenses and do not change the OS apart from the restrictions, however I feel much better getting the confirmation from you :- )

Now I have a strategy – I’ll try to learn about the script so I feel competent to try it when my evaluation time finally runs out. If it goes wrong then I have the fallback position of buying an essentials license.

Thanks again!

My system was originally installed using this method: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-essentials/install/customize-and-deploy-windows-server-essentials

This uses the WSE 2016 SKU and creates a Hyper-V host install without WSE and WSE VM. All in a single install and using a single license key. I also own separate licensed to Server 2016 Standard, as well as 2019 and 2022 Standard (and all previous Server version back to 2003) through long term subscription to MSDN Microsoft Partner Program. This makes it simple to export the VM to test upgrade scenarios.

I read your comments at the link you provided regarding 2019 forcefully removing WSE during an in-place upgrade. I’ve used ADK with Windows 7 and 10 so far. And with my prior use of DISM to create the customized WSE 2016 server install, I’m wondering why those tools (ADK and DISM) can’t be used to modify a 2019 Server’s ISO to remove the uninstallation steps, and/or mitigate them by apply the registry entries, enabling roles, and running the scripts necessary to reimplement WSE during an in-place upgrade.

Also, on a side note (I don’t need a reply to this paragraph as it’s probably a settled matter): But I don’t understand the logic behind thinking that there is some copyright issue in providing a WSE installer, if the installer extracts the relevant registry entries, scripts and packages from a running and licensed WSE 2016 (or ISO) and applies them to a 2019 Standard ISO using ADK/DISM. It’s been well established (at least in the US) that content shifting is not a copyright issue. But I do accept that you should be compensated for your know-how in some way. However, although I may buy WSE RemoteApp or WSE WorkFolders in order to get the installer, I have no need for them and until a point in time that I do, I do not want any custom binaries for those features running on the upgraded server.

I don’t have any experience using a drive of that size with WSEE and so I don’t have a good answer for you on that one I’m afraid. As for the backup… WSEE’s backup feature is based upon Windows Backup and so you should be able to search out the maximum drive size supported by it in order to obtain an answer. Otherwise, we would indeed appreciate hearing about your experience when you test that large drive out in WSEE running on Windows Server 2019.

Feel free to try using the ADK, DISM, etc. to add the Essentials bits from 2016 to 2019. I attempted doing just that in the early days when I was first working all of this stuff out and it didn’t pan out too well for me back then (don’t recall exactly why now seeing as it’s been way too many years since I first attempted doing so). That being said… I think that Microsoft will still forcefully remove all of the Essentials bits from the server even if you were successful at recreating an ISO with the WSEE server role seeing as that behavior is simply hard coded into the Windows Server installer I believe (unless it’s a package that you can identify and remove from it that is). Personally, I didn’t want to spend any more of my time and resources chasing rabbits down their holes and so I took a completely different (and arguably much more difficult) approach instead.

Besides that, there are many challenges that still need to be overcome when attempting to use WSEE (successfully and securely) on newer versions of Windows Server (seeing as Microsoft only designed it to run on 2016) that can’t be overcome by simply dumping its assemblies, etc. onto a newer version of Windows Server. Thus, it was just better in the long run for me to build the WSEE Installer instead (which has nearly five years of my experiences wrapped up into it now). Lastly, how are you going to keep it automatically updated (and secure) down the road for the folks using it, and how are you going to be able to support doing in place upgrades to newer releases of Windows Server when doing it that way??? The WSEE Installer/WSEE Updater packages that I’ve built handle doing all of that for folks natively now. They just work, and work really well.

As for the copyright stuff… I’m not a Microsoft license specialist nor a copyright attorney and so I don’t even want to attempt to decipher what’s allowed and what’s not when it comes to copyright law. I’d rather just leave that to the lawyers and go on the simple assumption that everything infringes on Microsoft’s copyrights and so you have to proceed “at your own risk” when attempting any of this kind of stuff. If folks aren’t okay with that, then they should simply stick with using 2016 Essentials until Microsoft stops supporting it on January 12, 2027 (as it still works great anyway).

I haven’t tried it yet but it looks like I found the answer on line:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1192292/windows-server-backup-volumes-greater-than-16tb-fa

Drives larger than 16 tb will yield an error.  I might test it anyway since I already have a 20 tb drive ready to go.

Hmm… I’m not seeing that happen over here ATM. Can you tell me what version of Windows Server you’re running WSEE on so that I can see if I can replicate the issue.

Windows Server 2022.  Can I provide any other information that could help like logs?

Yes, that did it.  Windows update is working again, thank you for the quick response!

Thanks for the reply Mike. I did not run the configuration wizard after installing the WSEE role. I was worried that it might cause problems by overwriting existing domain configuration information. If that’s not going to happen, then I’ll run the configuration wizard.