Problem re-connecting Win11 Pro client to WinServ22S w Essen

I thought that I had followed all the instructions for using the Connector (Not able to connect computers to network via connector) , but I encounter the error: “The Server is not available. Try connecting the computer again”:

Server static IP address fixed at 192.168.19.6
Server’s preferred IPv4 DNS address set to 127.0.0.1 and its alternate IPv4 DNS server address is set to 192.168.19.1, the address of my network router
Server’s .NET Framework security settings have enabled “SchUseStrongCrypto” and “SystemDefaultTlsVersions”
Server’s four registry entries SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols for Client and Server set to enable TLS 1.2 and disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.3
Server’s Windows Services, “SSDP Discovery” and “UPnP Device Host” enabled, set to “Automatic Start,” and running.

For each of my five Windows 11 Pro client computers:

Clients’ preferred DNS set to server’s fixed IP address and their alternate IPv4 DNS server address set to 192.168.19.1. By the way, these settings break my connection to Work Folders, until after these addresses have been returned to the ‘automatic’ setting.
Clients’ .NET Framework security settings have enabled “SchUseStrongCrypto” and “SystemDefaultTlsVersions”
Clients’ four registry entries HKLM\SYSTEM\ Current‌‌‌ControlSet\ Control\ SecurityProviders\ SCHANNEL\ Protocols set for Client as enabled for TLS 1.2 and disabled for TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.3
Clients’ registry entry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\ClientDeployment) missing and not set to ‘skip domain join’

After each Connector failure, I uninstalled the Client Connector and rebooted, but the server remains unavailable.

I am running Windows Server 2022 Standard and Windows 11 Pro on the two problematic clients. I have three other Windows 11 Pro client computers properly connected to the Essentials server. Microsoft’s Firewall and Defender are running, as is MalwareBytes on all six machines. I’ve never needed to turn these off for the Connector.

What am I missing? Is there some log that shows where the not-finding-the-server error occurs?

Not Applicable / Other / Unknown

AKolstad asked 4 days ago

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Answers (2)

You’ve pretty much covered all the bases there and so I’m not exactly sure why those particular Windows 11 client computers aren’t able to locate the server (when your others can). Maybe you can try enabling NTML on them as Jeremy suggests to see if that helps any:

Win 10 to Win 11 upgrade and WSE connection errors fix

Mike answered 4 days ago

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I found some additional information by running Robert Pearman’s Essentials Tester Powershell script on three clients, and got the same answer on each one.

Powershell reported that my server’s fixed IPv4 address is 192.168.19.6. My client’s IP Address is: 192.168.19.88, and it’s designated DNS Server is 192.168.19.6

The script asked for the name of the server, and then resolved the address of the server using an IPv6 address, rather than its IPv4 address:

“Enter the hostname of your Essentials Server : p20server22
“Connecting to… p20server22
“IP Address Resolved: fdea:f9f9:e054:6c4d:4276:59b5:bd42:eec2

The script then reported that that client’s address didn’t match the server’s address as resolved.

“Client DNS Server : Error

I’ve set the server’s IPv6 address to the loopback you recommend, but I haven’t set any client IPv6 addresses. Does this help?

Screenshots

AKolstad answered 4 days ago

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