PowerShell to Stop Server Manager Loading

WindowsOne of the things that annoys me about Windows Server 2012 and later, is that the Server Manager launches automatically whenever you log in. This wouldn’t be a problem, if it didn’t take so long to fully launch.

Well, I did some exploring and investigation, and it turns out that the Server Manager is being launched at user log on by a Scheduled Task:

Scheduled Task to Auto Launch of Server Manager

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Hands On With MDGP 2018 RTM: Installing the .NET Prerequisite

Microsoft Dynamics GPMicrosoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM has now been released. In this series of posts, I will be stepping through the installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP and additional products and then will move on to taking a look at the new functionality which has been introduced.

The series index for this series of posts is here and will automatically update as posts go live.

Before Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM, or any of the related additional products, can be installed there is one prerequisite which cannot be handled by the installer process. This is the .NET Framework 3.5 feature which is installed using the Add Roles and Features Wizard available via Server Manager on Windows Server or using Turn Windows features on or off accessible via Program and Features on Windows.

If the PC or server you’re planning to install Microsoft Dynamics GP 2018 RTM onto has an Internet connection, then the .NET can be installed simply by using the wizard. However, if, for whatever reason, you don’t have an Internet connection available, the install process isn’t quite that smooth.

On both server and PC you can do an offline install and I have blogged about this previously:

  1. Offline install on Windows.
  2. Offline install on Windows Server.

Both of the above posts were for previous versions of Windows, but both are still relevant for the later versions.

Click to show/hide the Hands On With MDGP 2018 RTM Series Index

Configuring Permissions to RDP to Server

Microsoft Dynamics GPThis is only something I need to do occasionally so am posting this as a reminder.

Most of the demo VMs I create are on my local Client Hyper-V, but occasionally I make one available to a prospect or client and need to give them a user other than the administrator account.

Creating the user account itself is easy, but the bit I usually fail to remember how to do, is to give the user the rights to sign in remotely.

When this right has not been granted, an error message like the below will be displayed:

To sign in remotely, you need the right to sign in through Remote Desktop Services. By default, members of the Administrators group have this right. If the group you

To sign in remotely, you need the right to sign in through Remote Desktop Services. By default, members of the Administrators group have this right. If the group you're in doesn't have this right, or if the right has been removed from the Administrators group, you need to be granted this right manually.

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Stop Windows Server 2012 Server Manager Loading Automatically

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralWhen you log into Windows Server, the Server Manager opens automatically, but I rarely want to use it. In Windows Server 2008 R2 there was a checkbox on the main window which would allow you to dismiss the window and prevent it appearing again.

This option still exists in the Windows Server 2012 Server Manager, but it is no longer front and centre.

To prevent Server Manager loading automatically when logging into Windows, click Manage and then Server Manager Properties:

Server Manager

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Trust Relationship Between This Workstation And The Primary Domain Failed

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralThis perhaps isn’t the best time of the year to be posting about trust relationship breakdowns, but this is the only post I have ready to go (I have a couple of series of posts I intend to do soon).

I make quite a lot of use of virtual machines for testing and writing because of the flexibility and ease of taking a snapshot before doing something risky so the machine can be reset. After doing so one day, I ran into a problem I hadn’t seen before after restoring one virtual machine to a snapshot:

The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failedThe trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed

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File Not Found: VBA6.DLL

Microsoft Dynamics GPWhile VBA is falling out of favour with Microsoft Dynamics GP (by dint of not being supported in the web client) it is still useful for those clients who do not use, and have no intention of using, the web client.

One such client was recently installing some new XenAPp servers using Windows Server 2012; when they tried to open a window with a VBA customisation they received the following error:

File Not Found: VBA6.DLLFile Not Found: VBA6.DLL

Fortunately, Beth Gardner posted the answer to the Developing for Dynamics GP blog.

Extending IIS With ASP.NET 4.5 On Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft Dynamics GPThis is not something I need for the series of posts I am currently writing on the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment as my web server is running Windows Server 2012, but you may be performing the install on Windows Server 2008 R2 so I thought I would include this for completeness.

If you are running Windows Server 2008 R2 then extending a website with ASP.NET 4.5 required the use of the command line.

Open a Command Prompt with Administrative permissions and type the following and then hit Return:

cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\

Then type the following and hit Return:

aspnet_regiis —i

Once the command has finished running, the website will be extended with ASP.NET 4.5 and be ready for the Session Control Service to be installed.

Click to show/hide the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment Series Index

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment: Extending IIS With ASP.NET 4.5 On Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Dynamics GPExtending a website with ASP.NET 4.5 required the use of command line (which I will cover in the next post), but Windows Server 2012 requires this be done using the Server Manager (there may be a PowerShell command to do this, but, if so, I don’t know what it is).

As I mentioned in a comment in the last post, if you’re installing IIS to configure the web client then you don’t need to treat this step separately, but merely add the step to the installation options for IIS.

To extend IIS on Windows Server 2012, you need to open Server Manager and click Add roles and features:

Server Manager

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Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment: Installing IIS On Session Control Server

Microsoft Dynamics GPBefore we can start installing the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client, there are a few steps which need to be completed.

The first of them is to install the IIS Web Server on the machine which will operate as the Session Control Server. In my case, this is the SC1 machine which is running Windows Server 2012. IIS is installed via Server Manager by clicking Add roles and features:

Server Manager

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Offline Install Of dotNET 3.5 On Windows Server 2012

Windows ServerI recently encountered a problem trying to install the .NET Framework 3.5 in a virtual machine on my test server which is not connected to the Internet (I wish it was but I am currently renting and don’t have a broadband connection). I am used to dealing with Windows Server 2008 R2 where the install just happens, but in Windows Server 2012 the Add roles and features wants to download the install files from the Internet.

In this post I’m going to do a step by step guide to installing the .NET Framework 3.5 on Server 2012 when there is no Internet connection available; many to serve as a reminder to me next time I try to do this.

The first step is to open Server Manager and click on Add roles and features;

Server Manager

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