Using Windows Server 2016 Essentials setup with the standard (Microsoft provided) <server>.remotewebaccess.com domain for remote access - for the past few days DynDNS has been failing. Are there wider issues with supporting services? If I try to remove the current domain so that I can setup again or setup a manual domain it prompts for my user name, checks password but then fails. If I try to simply setup my own domain, then the request certificate process just hangs. Are we seeing the deprecation of remotewebaccess.com and the related services, or are there just issues around it at present?

Maybe the solution from this thread works for you too: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/319165/remotewebaccesscom-down-again.html?page=2&pageSize=10&sort=oldest There are some powershell comands to run, explained here: https://sbsland.me/category/computers-and-internet/troubleshooting/

Thanks, this was helpful for getting reconnected to <myserver>.remotewebaccess.com. I only noticed the issue when the dynamic IP changed and was not updated--no dashboard warnings. It's interesting that the registry fix here--enabling secure TLS when the Essentials server acts as a client --is the same that must be employed on the desktops after one hardens TLS server-side: https://www.theofficemaven.com/news/enabling-tls-1-2-on-windows-server-essentials My hunch is that whatever services Essentials connects to for dynamic DNS turned off TLS 1.0 and 1.1. The registry fix allows the server to connect with TLS 1.2.

Hi everyone, mu csutomer's 2016 Essentials server was working ok until i noticed a notification about direct access and vpn setup not complete, i clicked on it and next thing you know, all computers on the domain went offline. I removed the role from the server which we don't use anyways and all computers were back online. Shortly after i realized users are no longer able to connect to shared ressources, i did some research and found this post...I applied the registry mods but no change :( I'm out of ideas, i called the customer to go in and restore the server from backups, can anyone help me on this? The whole thing blew up on my face when i doubt i did anything to corrupt the server this badly.

Is anyone else experiencing this again? I applied the registry fix which worked previously but now as of yesterday I am encountering the same issue.

If there was a way of manually entering the public IP we may be able to string some life out of this. Does someone have an easy guide on how to give VPN access using a different DNS server? I am happy to pay a little to keep this important function. I don't care for the remotewebaccess.com website but has been handy at times, really just want the VPN to backup systems/data from other sites

Are the problems with remotewebaccess.com domain and Dynamic DNS service?

Andrew Macaulay 141

Using Windows Server 2016 Essentials setup with the standard (Microsoft provided) <server>.remotewebaccess.com domain for remote access - for the past few days DynDNS has been failing.

Are there wider issues with supporting services?

If I try to remove the current domain so that I can setup again or setup a manual domain it prompts for my user name, checks password but then fails.
If I try to simply setup my own domain, then the request certificate process just hangs.

Are we seeing the deprecation of remotewebaccess.com and the related services, or are there just issues around it at present?

David JonesIII 1 Reputation point

2021-05-31T07:34:05.227+00:00

Where do you put the xxxx.REG file. I'm having the same problem with 2012 after upgrading my router.
.
Andrew Macaulay 141 Reputation points

2021-05-31T08:07:22.41+00:00

Either double click on the file and it will run the import of the file using the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) or run regedit and File/Import the .reg file
Sean Connolly 1 Reputation point

2021-07-01T22:17:10.187+00:00

This issue has been plaquing me for days since i clients cert expired. This thread was life saver. Thank you!
Tom Cahill 6 Reputation points

2022-05-11T14:35:07.443+00:00

I really hope Microsoft has not depricated this service without any kind of heads up to partners and users.

Thankfully I only have 3 clients still using this and so far none of them are affected.

Accepted answer

Tobias Widmayer 146 Reputation points

2021-03-23T06:53:22.903+00:00

Maybe the solution from this thread works for you too:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/319165/remotewebaccesscom-down-again.html?page=2&pageSize=10&sort=oldest

There are some powershell comands to run, explained here: https://sbsland.me/category/computers-and-internet/troubleshooting/
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5 people found this answer helpful.
Justin Vestrand 16 Reputation points

2021-03-22T23:09:35.463+00:00

I am having the same issue with a server 2016 essentials. Most of my clients aren't having known issues because their IP hasn't changed yet if on DHCP. I've fully patched my system.

Andrew Macaulay 141 Reputation points

2021-03-23T07:58:57.62+00:00

Yes, this also worked for me also! Need MS to be made aware of the bug AND the fix so that they can include it ASAP. Must admit that I made a .REG file using the info instead of the PowerShell commands (just a preference, but I find them more readable for me to check before applying) but after applying them and rebooting, repair worked finally.

Now just to get Microsoft to acknowledge the issue, understand the fix and get a patch out ASAP!

Andrew Macaulay 141 Reputation points

2021-03-23T08:00:10.743+00:00

For anyone interested, this is the .REG file that I used, based on the information from https://sbsland.me/category/computers-and-internet/troubleshooting/

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727] "SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001 "SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319] "SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001 "SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727] "SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001 "SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319] "SystemDefaultTlsVersions"=dword:00000001 "SchUseStrongCrypto"=dword:00000001

Chris C 1 Reputation point

2021-03-24T07:17:48.067+00:00

Thank you, this worked for me. SBS 2016. I prefer the reg file option as well.

mark page 1 Reputation point

2021-03-24T17:18:50.087+00:00

Andrew,, Thank you for creating the .reg and solving a problem that microsoft could have easily issued a hot fix for all of us none it professionals that have purchased ms products for our small home office environments to
compete in a digital workspace.

the fix worked great. sb2016 standard

Curtis Corriere 11 Reputation points

2021-03-25T23:17:41.833+00:00

Hi Andrew, how do I download this REG file? I assume I can just copy and paste the entire text above into a text file and rename it to .reg? I have two 2016 server essentials getting this error since 3/15 and one has lost remote access today.

Thank you so much for posting this fix.

Andrew Macaulay 141 Reputation points

2021-03-25T23:33:21.65+00:00

Just copy and paste the text into Notepad and save the file as yourfile.reg
You can then either import the .reg file into RegEdit or just double click on the .reg file from Explorer to import it
It will prompt for a UAC elevation and then check you want to do it, after which it should report success.

Oliver Heggelbacher 11 Reputation points

2021-03-26T08:00:52.597+00:00

SBS 2012 (non-R2).: fix with .reg file works exactly as posted by @AndrewMacaulay-4648

Curtis Corriere 11 Reputation points

2021-03-26T13:46:12.23+00:00

Great thank you, I will try it out on the Server Essentials 2016. I'm always nervous about registry edits, I did one a few years ago to solve a problem and it didn't work. I ran all available updates over night so this will be the next step.
Thanks!

Curtis Corriere 11 Reputation points

2021-03-26T17:11:57.967+00:00

The fix didn't work for me unfortunately, but I did find this in the server manager under DNS. It's listing an incorrect IP address along with the correct one. Any idea how I would remove the incorrect one? .

ViRGEdx 1 Reputation point

2021-03-27T10:09:46.62+00:00

That did the trick on my WS2016E box as well. Thank you for the fix.

Though I have to say, this is one of the dumber bugs I've ever come across with Windows Server. TLS 1.2 was ratified 8 years before WS2016 came out. That we're having to manually enable it with some esoteric registry commands just to (re)connect to one of Microsoft's own services makes my brain hurt.

Chris C 1 Reputation point

2021-03-30T17:03:26.293+00:00

Hi Curtis, Try running the "Repair" button after the .reg fix and a reboot of your server. The Repair should update the DNS servers with your modem/router's public facing IP. Make sure you have a static public IP for better reliability.

Eric State 11 Reputation points

2021-04-05T02:37:56.453+00:00

Andrew, this fix worked perfectly! Thank you for taking the time to post about this issue that I have been working for weeks to try fix and to find a solution for.

Badger 1 Reputation point

2021-04-18T12:00:35.807+00:00

This worked for me on Windows Home Server 2011 which I think is SBS 2008 R2:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/3bf5ecee-e091-49b9-99dc-cf36438b5731/unable-to-install-tls-11-and-12-on-windows-server-2008-sp2?forum=winservergen

The post from gbaker1138

Chris53153 6 Reputation points

2021-06-08T17:50:34.393+00:00

Brilliant, thank you. The .reg worked on our Server 2016 essentials box like a charm. I'd been getting the ddns error for a few weeks then finally it started alarming that the certificate was expiring. Thanks to all on this thread for doing Microsofts job for them.

Tom Cahill 6 Reputation points

2021-06-18T20:51:04.907+00:00

The registry entries below fixed the problem for me on a Server 2012 R2 Essentials install that lost connectivity because of the certificate expiring.

While I was searching for a fix like this I had opened up a ticket with Microsoft because I also had 2 2016 Essentials installs complaining they were unable to update the dynamic dns entry and that their certificates are about to expire.

Microsoft is aware of the issue and has 8 .reg files they sent me to fix the problem in case the .reg file that @AndrewMacaulay-4648 shared below doesn't work on a system. I've shared the zip they sent me below:

tlssettings

Josias Martins Jr 1 Reputation point

2021-09-05T01:26:37.04+00:00

This solution worked fine for my 2012 Essentials server. Thanks a lot for forwarding it.

xrdz 1 Reputation point

2021-09-30T01:52:31.037+00:00

Thankyou. This fixed the MS account connectivity issue for me on Server 2016 Essentials (initiated by an expired remotewebaccess.com certificate).

Even after the above was fixed, there were still DNS lookup failures reported in Dashboard.log which were fixed by:

Removing the default DNS forwarder (this was the IP address for an old gateway router)

Temporarily unblocking IPv6 routing connections initiated from the router's WAN.

For those wanting to check Dashboard.log for DNS lookup failures, an example string follows. Note the typo: "conection" [sic]

CoreNet: Internet Conection test using DNS attempt to reach 2001:dc3:2f::f failed.

Historically the Anywhere Access wizard has required temporarily forwarding port 80 to the RDG during setup. This is the first time I've had to unblock IPv6 on the firewall during setup so perhaps it will be of use to others who've gone down the same rabbit hole.

Gavin Simons 1 Reputation point

2021-11-04T13:31:19.917+00:00

This fix absolutely worked for me, you are a life saver. I tried for days to figure this out and losing my mind. thank you for all that you do.
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24 additional answers

mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2021-06-12T22:56:08.287+00:00

Thanks, this was helpful for getting reconnected to <myserver>.remotewebaccess.com. I only noticed the issue when the dynamic IP changed and was not updated--no dashboard warnings.

It's interesting that the registry fix here--enabling secure TLS when the Essentials server acts as a client--is the same that must be employed on the desktops after one hardens TLS server-side:

https://www.theofficemaven.com/news/enabling-tls-1-2-on-windows-server-essentials

My hunch is that whatever services Essentials connects to for dynamic DNS turned off TLS 1.0 and 1.1. The registry fix allows the server to connect with TLS 1.2.
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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Sarv Atam 6 Reputation points

2021-12-29T01:17:23.15+00:00

Hi everyone, mu csutomer's 2016 Essentials server was working ok until i noticed a notification about direct access and vpn setup not complete, i clicked on it and next thing you know, all computers on the domain went offline. I removed the role from the server which we don't use anyways and all computers were back online. Shortly after i realized users are no longer able to connect to shared ressources, i did some research and found this post...I applied the registry mods but no change :(

I'm out of ideas, i called the customer to go in and restore the server from backups, can anyone help me on this? The whole thing blew up on my face when i doubt i did anything to corrupt the server this badly.
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1 person found this answer helpful.
ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2021-12-30T17:48:52.593+00:00

I just signed in to say that stinks especially when it's for a customer. I imagine there is a rush so you don't have the luxury of picking this apart little by little to see what changed and is causing the problem. Perhaps you can take a backup of the bad state of the server and re-create in a VM or something so that even if you restore their (assumed) physical server you can later determine what the issue is for future reference.
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ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-04T19:35:20.103+00:00

Is anyone else experiencing this again? I applied the registry fix which worked previously but now as of yesterday I am encountering the same issue.
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Jesse Flintoff 211 Reputation points

2022-05-05T00:15:30.29+00:00

Not as of yet

Justin Vestrand 16 Reputation points

2022-05-05T03:37:48.177+00:00

I am having the same issue on a 2016 Essentials box. Registry edits do not fix.

Eric State 11 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:18:26.277+00:00

This fix still works for my server, and I am currently running this version: April 12, 2022—KB5012596 (OS Build 14393.5066)

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:34:50.957+00:00

I am also on OS Build 14393.5066 with my last update being KB5012596 on 4/14. I wonder if your ip changes from your provider if you will experience this.

Justin Vestrand 16 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:39:14.857+00:00

There were storms and severe outages in our area. A lot of systems on dymanic IP's lost their previous IP and now the dymanic DNS service is down again too. They surely are trying to deprecate the service as its no longer included with 2019 and up essentials. However this software is still supported so Microsoft should be making sure this all works. Especially with remote worker policy explosion, they are not making a good name for themselves with this.

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:45:18.107+00:00

I realized when they released Server 2016 with a Mac connector that wasn't compatible with the latest version of Mac OS due to a dependency on Objective-C garbage collection that's no longer allowed in Sierra+ that the essentials team was already seemingly checked out.

Justin Vestrand 16 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:52:06.683+00:00

We've been advising some clients to prepare and get a static IP, purchase a domain and SSL then do it manually. Its a shame.

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T13:55:30.21+00:00

Yeah after the last outage I set my server up with the noip tool to bubble up the current ip so that I have an alternative method to reach my box should remotewebaccess go down

Eric State 11 Reputation points

2022-05-05T14:46:04.46+00:00

Our IP is dynamic with our provider CenturyLink and we do not pay for a static IP address.

mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T15:23:49.61+00:00

My IP hasn't changed so not sure if I'd be affected. I believe this is the relevant log, which for now looks good.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server\Logs\NetworkHealthPlugin-DomainManagementFeature.log

[52128] 220505.072926.4808: ConnectivityCenter: DDNSUpdateAttemptionInfo.DDNSUpdateStatus: True [50984] 220505.072926.4808: ConnectivityCenter: Job finish. Result: Success [50984] 220505.072926.4808: ConnectivityCenter: Job DDNSUpdateDiagnosticsJob complete, 100% done. [50448] 220505.072926.4964: ConnectivityCenter: DomainNameResolveableInfo.ExternalIP: 162.x.x.x [52428] 220505.072926.4964: ConnectivityCenter: Job finish. Result: Success [52428] 220505.072926.4964: ConnectivityCenter: Job DomainNameResolveableDiagnosticsJob complete, 100% done. [47116] 220505.072926.4964: ConnectivityCenter: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.Analyzers.DomainNameConfigAnalyzer analyze completed. 0 suggestions found. [47116] 220505.072926.4964: ConnectivityCenter: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.Analyzers.DomainNameResolveableAnalyzer analyze completed. 0 suggestions found.

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T15:38:27.123+00:00

Just pulled mine which is failing, trimmed some to fit below. It looks like the last time where the DDNSUpdateAttemptionInfo.DDNSUpdateStatus: True was the value was on May 3rd, the day the issue started. In the logs I can see my server rebooted shortly after and ever since then the issue started.

[5176] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: DDNSUpdateAttemptionInfo.DDNSUpdateStatus: False [10000] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: Job finish. Result: Success [8328] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: Job DDNSUpdateDiagnosticsJob complete, 100% done. [12776] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: Current SQM Data is 1048575. [10000] 220505.103608.6729: ConnectivityCenter: Diagnositcs completed. Status: Success . . . [13664] 220505.103608.7461: DomainManagerObjectModel: DomainSignupManager ctor called. InstanceID=23746812 [9540] 220505.103608.7471: ConnectivityCenter: Suggestion: An error occurred while updating the dynamic DNS information for your server with the information that you gave your domain name service provider. Please try again later. If this problem continues, contact your domain name service provider for support. [9540] 220505.103608.7481: ConnectivityCenter: Overall status: Error [9540] 220505.103608.7481: ConnectivityCenter: Properties updated.

Eric State 11 Reputation points

2022-05-05T16:01:08.15+00:00

Update: I restarted the router and it broke all the access with the DNS updater for *.remotewebaccess.com

mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T16:04:08.293+00:00

Good to know. You don't get the DomainNameResolveableInfo.ExternalIP line with your current IP? Just wondering if it is failing to determine the public IP, or if it is failing to update the IP with the dynamic registration server. You'd probably have to do packet tracing to check and you still might not be able to tell.

Given the recurring hassles, I'm wondering if it's time to give up on remotewebaccess.com. I've done this in the past:

Set up remote.mydomain.com in public DNS. I used DNS Made Easy for DNS, which allows setting a dynamic IP. Then I use a script to update the IP every five minutes. If you don't need it to be on your own domain, you could probably use a public dynamic DNS service like no-ip (haven't tried this).

Buy a 5-year Positive SSL certificate for $20 assigned to remote.mydomain.com or the no-ip URL.

Re-run the Essentials wizard to use the new domain name and cert.

It's a hassle because everyone who accesses the server remotely must change to the new URL. But it may be the only way to squeeze the last few years of life out of Essentials 2016 and RWA.

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T16:30:43.727+00:00

I do if I scroll up a bit in my log, I was limited to characters I can post in the comments. And yes, due to the unreliability I'm thinking I too may want to switch to something other than remotewebaccess.com . The funny thing is I have a Home Server 2011 VM I just spun up for fun to test and sure enough the old homeserver.com domains work just fine which made me laugh. Not sure what WHS11 is doing/accessing that WSE16 is not but was funny to test. Of course I'll be shutting down the WHS11 vm now.

[5564] 220505.103608.6689: ConnectivityCenter: DomainNameResolveableInfo.ExternalIP: 24.177.x.x [14304] 220505.103608.6699: ConnectivityCenter: Job finish. Result: Success [14304] 220505.103608.6699: ConnectivityCenter: Job DomainNameResolveableDiagnosticsJob complete, 100% done. [12776] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.Analyzers.DomainNameExpireAnalyzer analyze completed. 0 suggestions found. [7072] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.Analyzers.DomainNameNearlyExpireAnalyzer analyze completed. 0 suggestions found. [5176] 220505.103608.6709: ConnectivityCenter: DDNSUpdateAttemptionInfo.DDNSUpdateStatus: False

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-05T19:56:45.53+00:00

RIP :(

mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2022-05-09T16:38:59.74+00:00

Essentials is dead. Long live WHS 2011! ha ha

I'm sorry to say that I can confirm the issue. I forced an Essentials 2016 install onto a different public IP (cell phone hotspot) and sure enough, dynamic DNS broke. Note that External IP is blank, which would seem to indicate failure retrieving the public IP address:

[61048] 220507.135925.7819: ConnectivityCenter: DomainNameResolveableInfo.ExternalIP: [61500] 220507.135925.7919: ConnectivityCenter: Job finish. Result: Success . . [62104] 220507.135925.9009: ConnectivityCenter: Suggestion: An error occurred while updating the dynamic DNS information for your server with the information that you gave your domain name service provider. Please try again later. If this problem continues, contact your domain name service provider for support. [62104] 220507.135925.9009: ConnectivityCenter: Overall status: Error [62104] 220507.135925.9009: ConnectivityCenter: Properties updated. [62264] 220507.135925.9099: ConnectivityCenter: DomainNameResolveableAnalyzer: Domain name could not be resolved to router's external IP address, should be manual fixed . . [62264] 220507.135925.9099: ConnectivityCenter: Overall status: Error [62264] 220507.135925.9099: ConnectivityCenter: Properties updated.

I'm going to try a Wireshark trace to see if I can figure out what the problem is, but at some point, the cost of compensating for Microsoft's lack of support outweighs the benefits.

mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2022-05-09T18:45:20.727+00:00

Didn't get too far with the Wireshark trace. Possible issue with an SSL certificate of a server that Essentials is contacting. Blogged here:
https://www.mcbsys.com/blog/2022/05/debugging-remotewebaccess-com/

ChrisWY27 126 Reputation points

2022-05-09T18:57:19.667+00:00

Appreciate the looking into it. I may play some more with a 2016 Essentials vm as well to see if I can figure anything out not wanting to compromise my actual server.

Dan Hansen 11 Reputation points

2022-05-10T20:22:50.057+00:00

I'm having the same issue with Server Essentials 2012 R2 since May 3, 2022, "Dynamic DNS cannot be updated". Had the same issue a little more than a year ago and applying registry entries to force use of TLS1.2 resolved it. They've been applied again via PowerShell and dynamic DNS update still failing, showing IP address from May 3 (it has changed due to router reboot).

Anyone have any ideas??

Oliver Heggelbacher 1 Reputation point

2022-05-11T08:00:46.047+00:00

I can only confirm I see the problem, too with our 2012 Essentials server. Germany here, no outages recently...
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Chris Heyworth 6 Reputation points

2022-05-11T09:15:36.573+00:00

If there was a way of manually entering the public IP we may be able to string some life out of this.

Does someone have an easy guide on how to give VPN access using a different DNS server? I am happy to pay a little to keep this important function.
I don't care for the remotewebaccess.com website but has been handy at times, really just want the VPN to backup systems/data from other sites
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1 person found this answer helpful.
mcbsys 126 Reputation points

2022-05-11T14:24:43.12+00:00

If you have control over your own domain, and a way to do dynamic updates, you can set up e.g. remote.yourdomain.com and continue to use Anywhere access (including VPN). Extensive instructions: https://www.theofficemaven.com/news/how-to-manually-set-up-a-custom-vanity-domain-name-in-essentials.

Pretty sure you can also manually set up a VPN server and VPN client with standard Windows functions, but there's a lot of ways to make that break.

I'm thinking it may be time to look at setting up a VPN either on the router/gateway or on another box, e.g. Synology.
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