I have a new PC and attempting to install the connector I get: cannot connect this computer to the network the server is not available. Try connecting this computer again. This is after fetching the installation package from the server and starting the dialogue. There are multiple systems already connected, mostly W10 but one is W11. I am able to ping the server and use RDP to sign into the server.
Any suggestions? I'm at a loss. I did capture the logs from the ProgramData subfolder if those might help.
Daryl, most of the time this fails due to TLS settings on your server
Ah! I had forgotten about posting this item. I just now found the notice that it had been approved.
Having found various posts here and elsewhere, I did come to an understanding that SSL/TLS was involved. And, it felt like a similar problem with WHS and problems with the connector post W10 21H2.
Not being well versed in things TLS, I have learned enough. And not understanding the role that IIS plays in managing things in that regard, I looked and found WSS Certification Web Service Home and in the IIS section in the main portion of the app panel, SSL Settings. I changed the setting for Client Certificate to ignore. The connector was then able to be installed and the new system backed up.
Hmm, that should not be the solution. It is more of a bandage for now.
When I opened this thread, I was putting up a new system and at the same time I stopped using an older one. Stop using meant I disconnected it from the LAN. It sat unused from then until a day or two ago when I reconnected it, let Windows Update catch up. This is a W10 Pro installation. The next day when I expected the client system to be backed up using WSE2016 as it had been in the past, it did not. And I found it was not connected.
Thinking I just needed to uninstall the connector then reinstall it, that is what I did. However, just like the new system I had problems with previously and was the reason for starting this thread, the revitalized system could not connect to the server.
Can you give me any directions about how to find the real problem? If the solution I found within IIS administration is just a work around, where is the real problem and what is the more correct solution?
I think TLS is probably the reason for the issue. Did you enable TLS 1.2 and disable the old ones?
First, my apologies: I found my problem and should have reported it.
As it turned out, it was a self inflicted wound. I run the server in a WORKGROUP configuration, and, when I had the knee-jerk reaction of re-installing the connector, I forgot I needed to update the registry to sklp the domain join. Once i remembered that step, I was able to repeat the connector installation successfully.
As to TLS and V1.2, I've done some work with that situation. It is NOT germane to this thread. It was about 1 year ago when a small business installation I support suddenly had a W10 system not connecting to WHS -- yes, that old but reliable system. Lots and lots of details I am leaving out but the in the end I was never able to resolve the problem. Something changed with the roll out of W10 22H2 and while WireShark got me close, I never could get it to connect. The registry changes were tried but made no difference. My assertion concerning 22H2 comes from a series of tests I did using a test bed where I did clean installations of W10 then did the Windows Update feature updates to each different version, and then install the connector then see if the WHS server could be reached and a backup performed.
You cannot run a WSE2016 in workgroup mode. It is not supported
It works.
It is not supported and against the EULA.
Yes, I have seen those assertions made many times on many different sites. I've read the EULA and I don't find it being prohibited.
And then on this page https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-essentials-sbs/jj713510(v=ws.11)?redirectedfrom=MSDN#connect-computers-to-a-windows-server-essentials-server-without-joining-the-domain
it tells you exactly how to do it.
I find there's a big disconnect between the position that it is not supported and the fact that it IS supported as seen on the page at the link above.
If MSFT really did not desire the product to support such a configuration, I would have thought that by now -- how many years down the road -- the product would have been change so that it could not be done.
But this is a different situation. You mentioned that the server is running in Workgroup mode meaning that it is not a domain controller. Pls, clarify.
I'm sorry, I am unsure what you mean.
The very start of the discussion started August, 2023, when a new W11 system's connector could not reach my WSE2016 system. I eventually found and changed a setting in the IIS manager SSL setting and that corrected the problem.
I updated the message thread when a W10 system that was taken out of service for a number of months was found to not be able to connect to the server. The initial thought was the new problem with the W11 and now the old W10 system were related. As it turned out, I made a mistake when I removed the connector then installed it again and forgot to add the registry item to skip the domain join. Once I remember to update the registry, that problem was resolved.
In both situations it was the same LAN, the same WSE2016 system, running in a WORKGROUP configuration, i.e. no Domain Controller and certainly no Active Directory.
The inclusion of the response to the TLS topic was likely distraction. The hope was that something might be offered which would shed some light on completely different problem I had with a W10 system suddenly unable to connect to a WHS system -- a different problem on another, separate LAN in a completely different location.
The Windows Server MUST be a Domain Controller but clients can connect to that server without being joined to the domain. Can you check your server installation and see if you in Server Manager that AD related roles are installed?