Upgrade Azure AD Connect

Posted on 27/02/2023 by PeteLong

Upgrade Azure AD Connect KB ID 0001813

Problem

On 15th March 2023 support for the following Azure AD Connect sync versions will be removed;

2.0.91.0
2.0.89.
2.0.88.0
2.0.28.0
2.0.25.1
2.0.10.0
2.0.9.0
2.0.8.0
2.0.3.0

So plan in some maintenence and upgrade yours, at time of writing the current version is 2.1.20.0, so you can still upgrade if you running an older version.

Upgrade Azure AD Connect: Solution

Before you start it’s worth taking a few minutes to see how your current connector is configured, by simply running the shortcut it will stop replication and give you the option to look at how its currently configured.

Find Azure AD Connect Version

To check what version you are actually running;

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Import-Module ADSync
(Get-ADSyncGlobalSettings).Parameters | select Name,Value

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Note: Above you can see I’m running 2.1.16.0 so I would still be OK, but let’s upgrade it anyway.

Test Azure AD Connector Health

Open the Syncronisation Service Manager, and have a look in your 365 portal, to make sure everything is running healthily.

Upgrade Azure AD Connect

This could not be simpler, download the new software, run it and supply an administrative account for your subscription, the upgrade will take about 10 – 15 minutes, go grab a coffee.

Once complete, rerun the same command you used above, to ensure the version number is now updated.

Then force a sync with the following command, and watch the service manager while it runs though each stage (it may take a few minutes, and look like it’s doing nothing, be patient!)

[box]

Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta

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Note: You can use PolicyType Initial that will take a LOT longer, (and sync everything). Usually a delta sync will be absolutely fine.

A Reboot From a Previous Installation is Pending

Posted on 09/07/2021 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001755

Problem

You may see the “A Reboot From a Previous Installation is Pending” error when either attempting to install Microsoft Exchange or apply a cumulative update, (which is basically a reinstall anyway!) You may also see this if you are only installing the management tools.

At command line;

A reboot from a previous installation is pending. Please restart the system and then rerun Setup.

Or if you are running the install upgrade from the GUI;

A Reboot From a Previous Installation is Pending : FIX

Before we go any further, I’m assuming you have rebooted the server in question, this post is for the good folk who have already done the obvious, and are still getting prompted with the above error!

This happens because the setup procedure checks TWO registry keys, though to be fair the first one is for older versions of the OS so don’t be surprised if you look for it, and the key does NOT exist, there’s nothing wrong!

Open the registry editor and navigate to;

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\UpdateExeVolatile

[/box]

If the key exists either delete it completely or set its value to ‘0’ (Zero).

Then navigate to;

[box]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations

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This is a string value which means it can contain multiple values, as you will probably see most of them will be corrupt links to things. Many sites will tell you to delete the entire string value (PendingFileRenameOperations), but you don’t need to simply empty out all the values like so, before;

After

Then retry.

GIMP: Post Upgrade Tools Missing?

Posted on 06/01/2021 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001726

Problem

I’ve been running an older version of GIMP for a while, it’s been a bit ‘flaky’ since the Big Sur upgrade, so yesterday I took the plunge and updated it. As expected I had to recreate my custom arrow brushes and things. But the problem that hit me the most was ‘Where have all the tools gone!‘

Solution

I know it’s open source software and I’ve no right to complain, but come on? After some investigation it seems the tools are there, they are just grouped together so they are more difficult to find? Why was this considered a good thing? The resolution on my mac is staggering I’m not exactly pushed for screen space?

Anyway, to put things back the way you are used to then, navigate to Preferences.

Disable GIMP Tool Groups

Interface >Toolbox > UNTICK Use tool groups > OK.

Relax

VMware Fusion: Not Enough Physical Memory

Posted on 18/11/2020 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001715

Problem

I upgraded to macOS Big Sur this week, and was surprised everything still worked! That was until I tried to start up my Windows 1o Virtual machine.

“Not enough physical memory is available to power on this virtual machine with its configured settings.”

Solution

Though it took me a while to ‘fix’, the fix is quite straight forward, I was running version 11 (see Below).

As soon as I upgraded to version 12.

Everything worked correctly. Only version 12 is fully supported on macOS Big Sur.

Your vSphere Client Session Is No Longer Authenticated

Posted on 06/11/2020 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001711

Problem

I updated my vCenter to 6.7.0.45100 yesterday, and since then every time I tried to login to the HTML5 web client, it authenticated, let me in, showed me the error (below), then kicked me out again?

Solution

I assumed, (wrongly) that the upgrade had overwritten the webclient.properties file that controls timeouts. this may be you problem, see the following article If my ‘fix’ does not work for you.

vSphere HTML5 Web Client – Disable the Console Timeout

In the end my fix was quick and simple, go to add/remove programs and locate the vSphere Enhanced Authentication Plugin (in my case version 6.5.0) and uninstall it.

HP iLO Upgrade Stops at 99%

Posted on 14/05/2019 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001553

Problem

While trying to update an iLO on a blade server yesterday, (from 2.07 to 2.33). I uploaded the file it got to 99% then after a while it recycled and repeated the process all over again, and kept going.

Solution

Well I was on a 2016 Server using IE 11, and the iLO2 is VERY OLD, so I’m guessing it’s a browser problem. I reconnected to the iLO using Firefox, and it worked perfectly. (Note: If using a Blade Center – connect to that using Firefox, then open the iLO page from there, you may need to restart the browser before it ‘autofills‘ in the username and password for you.

Exchange: “BuildToBuildUpgrade” Error

Posted on 12/05/2018 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001436

Problem

In the middle of an Exchange upgrade I got a bit stuck with the following error;

“Setup previously failed while performing the action “”BuildToBuildUpgrade” You can’t resume setup by performing the action “Install”.

There are a couple of variations on this error as well, you can also see either of the following;

“Setup previously failed while performing the action “Install” You can’t resume setup by performing the action “BuildToBuildUpgrade”.

OR

“Setup previously failed while performing the action “Uninstall” You can’t resume setup by performing the action “Uninstall”.

That last of those I’ve covered before here.

Solution

As you are probably already aware this is because either an install/upgrade/uninstall has failed, and you are attempting to get the process going again, (or someone else has, and left it ‘broken’!)

This is happening because as Exchange performs installs/upgrades/uninstalls it creates some values in the registry as it progresses. And if you attempt to restart the process, it can see these entries, and that’s what causes the error.

So you simply need to remove them;

Open the registry editor (Windows Key+R > Regedit {Enter}).

Where you navigate to, depends on your version of Exchange;

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HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\ (Exchange 2010)

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v15\ (Exchange 2016 and 2013)

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Within all the sub keys (i.e. below v14 or v15) there will be a ‘Value’ thats within the role that was being installed/upgraded/uninstalled, when the process ‘fell-over’. That value will be called ‘Action‘ locate and delete it.

Also be on the lookout for a value called ‘Watermark’ if you see that, remove it also, and Exchange will start a fresh, install/upgrade/uninstall.

When you have checked all the sub keys, restart your install/upgrade/uninstall.

VMware Fusion: Windows 10 ‘Lost’ Mapped Drive to the Host

Posted on 26/01/2018 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001394

Problem

My Windows 10 VM decided it was going to do a major update last night, so I let it get on with it. However today I can no longer access the ‘shared’ drive that it had back to the host (my MacBook).

Solution

I’m pretty sure this is the second time this has happened, so after berating myself for not documenting the fix last time, this is the fix. Run Regedit (Windows Key+R > regedit {Enter})

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > NetworkProvider > Order

Locate the PROVIDERORDER entry;

Move the ‘vmhgfs‘ entry, so that it is the first one in the list > OK > Exit the registry editor.

That’s it, no reboot or anything, your drive should start working again.

Hyper-V 2016 – Missing VM Hardware Versions?

Posted on 10/01/2018 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001382

Problem

I was helping a colleague with a Hyper-V upgrade this week, he asked if I would upgrade the hardware versions on the guest VM’s

[box]Get-VMHostSupportedVersionl[/box]

However I could not get the cluster to accept a hardware version above version 5 (Server 2012 R2)

Solution

As it turns out the cluster had had all its nodes upgraded to 2016, but the cluster functional level was still at version 8 (Server 2012)

[box]Get-Cluster | select ClusterFunctionalLevel[/box]

So I upgraded that first;

[box]Update-ClusterFunctionalLevel[/box]

Something strange happened at this point: The node I’d upgraded the cluster on, didn’t show me the additional hardware versions , but all the other nodes in the cluster did. I had to wait 40 mins to an hour before all nodes reported supporting all the newer hardware versions!

Then I could shut down the guest machines and upgrade them;

[box]Update-VMVersion “{vm-name}“[/box]

Cisco ASA: Updating and Copying files from USB

Posted on 05/12/2017 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001377

Problem

Cisco ASA firewalls have had USB sockets on them for a while, but a dig into the documentation only yielded, ‘for use in future releases’. Well they are working now!

Note: Firewall shown is a 5516-X (running version 9.8(1))

Solution

Your drive needs to be formatted as FAT (not NTFS), I’m going to update/install some AnyConnect client software, but there’s nothing to stop you uploading a new IOS or ASDM images.

Your drive will get mounted as ‘Drive1’ (unless you have a secondary flash drive onboard already).

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PetesASA(config)# show disk1
--#--  --length--  -----date/time------  path
  394  20130794    Sep 13 2017 10:52:40  anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg
  395  4096        Dec 05 2017 09:40:28  ._anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg
  396  22997589    Sep 13 2017 10:53:14  anyconnect-macos-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg
  397  4096        Dec 05 2017 09:40:36  ._anyconnect-macos-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg
  398  35122744    Sep 13 2017 10:54:12  anyconnect-win-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg
  399  4096        Dec 05 2017 09:40:46  ._anyconnect-win-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg

2004582400 bytes total (1926103040 bytes free)
PeteASA(config)#

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Note: I have seen drives not get recognised like so;

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Petes-ASA# Extra storage device is not supported.

Petes-ASA# show disk1

--#--  --length--  -----date/time------  path

No files in directory

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If that happens to you, you will need to reload the ASA (assuming the drive is formatted correctly) before it will be recognised.

You can then copy the files to the main flash (disk0:).

[box]

PeteASA(config)# copy disk1:/anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg disk0:

Source filename [anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg]? {Enter}

Destination filename [anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg]?{Enter}

Copy in progress...CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
INFO: No digital signature found
20130794 bytes copied in 1.560 secs (20130794 bytes/sec)
PetesASA(config)#

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To prove the file is in the main ‘flash’.

[box]

PetesASA(config)# show flash
--#--  --length--  -----date/time------  path
   96  104489760   Sep 13 2017 14:11:34  asa981-lfbff-k8.SPA
   97  26916068    Sep 13 2017 14:11:54  asdm-781.bin
   98  33          Dec 05 2017 02:29:03  .boot_string
   11  4096        Sep 13 2017 14:15:24  log
   13  500         Dec 05 2017 01:59:00  log/asa-appagent.log
   21  4096        Sep 13 2017 14:16:16  crypto_archive
   22  4096        Sep 13 2017 14:16:18  coredumpinfo
   23  59          Sep 13 2017 14:16:18  coredumpinfo/coredump.cfg
   99  41848832    Nov 15 2017 07:01:54  asasfr-5500x-boot-6.2.2-3.img
  408  20130794    Dec 05 2017 02:44:59  anyconnect-linux64-4.5.01044-webdeploy-k9.pkg

7365472256 bytes total (3948736512 bytes free)

[/box]

Problem

Upgrade Azure AD Connect: Solution

Find Azure AD Connect Version

Test Azure AD Connector Health

Upgrade Azure AD Connect

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Problem

A Reboot From a Previous Installation is Pending : FIX

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Problem

Solution

Disable GIMP Tool Groups

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