Windows 10 1809 related bugs

As system administrator I always prefer to be the first one who upgrades to new versions (if there are some bugs, I know them in advance). Of course, also in this update, there are some bugs…
In my upgrade, I found these problems:

  1. Unable to edit Local Computer Policy: – this is not difficult to solve and will take just a second and a computer restart:
    1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the folder C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy (it is hiden; you have to type it)
    2. There you will find a folder Machine. Rename it to something else (Machine.old for example)
    3. Try to open Local Computer Policy again
    4. Restart the computer just to be sure that all policies are applied.
  2. Microsoft Edge is not able to connect to almost any page (Cannot securely connect to this page). Here it can be more complicated and you should try more things. Let’s start in the right order:
    1. Review if TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 are enabled:
      1. Open Control Panel and then Internet Options
      2. Go to the tab Advanced Settings
      3. In Setting window search for Security and check if TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 are enabled. I believe that everything is OK, because it worked before the upgrade; but just in case…
    2. Antivirus. Can be a course of the issue. Try to disable or better uninstall antivirus services (disabling is not always enough). Look also on the knowledge base of antivirus company. It was my case. If you have Sophos, here is an article about this issue.
    3. Check the network drivers and update them to the latest version (yes, in some cases this can be a source for the issue; Edge depends on this drivers)
    4. Disable, than reenable IPv6 and after this execute also ipconfig /renew.
    5. Change the setting in Local Computer Policy.
      1. Start mmc.exe as Administrator and add snap-in Group Policy Object Editor
      2. Select Local Computer
      3. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > App Package Deployment
      4. Change the Allow deployment operations in special profiles to Enable.
    6. Reinstall Microsoft Edge:
      1. Open PowerShell as Administrator
      2. Run the following cmdlet: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register ‘$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml’
      3. You may receive some errors during the installation, but don’t care about them.
    7. If nothing of this will works, Microsoft recommends reinstalling Windows.

Hope that I helped someone on time. Tomorrow will be a patching date.

How to establish VPN before Windows login

In some cases, you need to establish VPN before you login to Windows. As some VPN clients offer this method (not all of them, of course), I had a requirement to create this option with Windows build in client.
Here I found a trick; If you want to create VPN connection thru Windows settings, it will not appear on logon screen and this is not useful for me. If you create VPN thru network and sharing centre it is different – VPN connection appears on logon screen. Makes sense? No, but if you need it, is good to know how to configure it.
So, here you can follow the step by step instructions:

  • Open Control Panel
  • In Control Panel click View Network status and Tasks
  • In Network and Sharing Centre you will find a wizard to create a new VPN connection by clicking on Set up a new connection or network. It is almost the same as in other ways, but if you create VPN here, it will appear on the start screen. It is important, that you create VPN for all users!
  • On the Set up a Connection or Network wizard you have to choose Connect to workplace
  • On the next step you can use an existing VPN connection or create a new one. If you already have a VPN configured, you can just modify it. In my case I will create a new one (I prefer always to create a new connection). If I have an old configuration, I always delete it and recreate a connection from the scratch
  • On How do you want to connect, choose Use my Internet connection (VPN)
  • Write the name or IP of the VPN endpoint, destination name and do not forget to check Allow other people to use this connection. Then click on Create
  • If you want to do additional setting on this connection (specify protocol, add certificate …), you have to open the ncpa.cpl (Network Control panel) and from there you can review or change all settings you want

A connection done in this way will appear on logon screen and it is possible to establish VPN before you login in Windows.

Disable TLS 1.0 thru GPO

Lately I had a lot of problems with TLS 1.0 standards, which have changed. For a lot of secure applications you have to disable TLS 1.0, if you want the connection to work.
Well, set settings for any user it makes no sense and the only acceptable way it is thru GPO settings. There is no real setting for change-enabled protocol (you have to do it in Internet Explorer settings). The only way I found was changing the registry value of SecuredProtocol, located in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.
But here is only a numerical value and I had to find how is it calculated. I found some values in an article and from here you can calculate the desired value. The basic numbers are:
0 = Do not use secure protocols
2 = PCT 1.0
8 = SSL 2.0
32 = SSL 3.0
128 = TLS 1.0
512 = TLS 1.1
2048 = TLS 1.2
If you want to enable more protocols, just sum the desired numbers. For example, to enable TLS 1.1, TLS 1.2 and SSL 3.0 is 512 + 2048 + 32 = 2592. This is a decimal value for a registry key SecuredProtocol. Deploy a registry value true GPO and the setting is done.

Huge Intel chip bug – some advices

On January 4th, Intel processor vulnerability was published. It is a vulnerability that affects not only Microsoft systems, but also all other systems, including iOS, Android, Linux etc.

I won’t spend the same words as you can read them in many published articles about the vulnerability and how serious it is. I just want to share two links, where is it possible to find tools / patches for Microsoft systems:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4072698/windows-server-guidance-to-protect-against-the-speculative-execution (PowerShell must be 5.1 or higher)

http://www.essential.exchange/2018/01/04/windows-speculative-execution-client-server-patches-mitigations-detection-summary/

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Virtualization-Documentation/blob/live/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/CVE-2017-5715-and-hyper-v-vms.md

 

Windows Server 2016 may fail to boot after October update KB4041676

Some of my customers and friends had a problem: after installing KB4041676, VMs on Server 2016 didn’t boot. The problem is in update – Microsoft releases the update with a mistake and correct this update immediately the same afternoon, but in some cases the old update remained in cache on devices or WSUS servers. To be sure, that you have the right update, check this link and retrieve the right delta update.
What if you are already there and your VM is not booting?
To solve the issue, follow this steps:

  • Start the VM from the media (DVD, ISO…)
  • At the installation menu, select Repair computer and in Advanced options select Command prompt
  • In command prompt, you have to execute this commands:
    • reg load hklm\temp c:\windows\system32\config\software
    • reg delete “HKLM\temp\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\SessionsPending” /v Exclusive
    • reg unload HKLM\temp
  • After correcting the registry, we still need to remove the update with commands:
    • Use dism /image:c:\ /get-packages to list all installed packages to check if the package is really installed
    • When you find the package, you can uninstall with command: dism /image:c:\ /remove-package /packagename:packageidentity /scratchdir:c:\temp (package identity is an identity reported in output from previous command)
  • Reboot the server

Hope it is helpful.