• JVH Consulting
• January 2, 2022
• 11

2016 Essentials – Anywhere Access setup fails

When setting up new 2016 Essentials or really any version of Essentials and you’re trying to create/add a domain to append to the remotewebaccess.com domain name the UI wizard fails with this error window:

“An error occurred while setting up your domain name: The domain name was not setup for your server. Wait a few minutes and run the wizard again. An unknown error occurred.

No matter how much time you wait, the same error pops up each time. The problem isn’t DNS, or the server itself but rather the Cert revocation checks for .Net Framework!!

To fix this you have to create a .reg file (call it what you want but it has to include the following settings:

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

After making the reg file, merge, REBOOT the server or the Anywhere access wizard may still show above error message. After reboot, open Essentials Console and re-rerun the Anywhere Access wizard, user a Hotmail account to create the domain <customer>.remotewebaccess.com. Then click the wizard to install VPN and Remote Desktop Make sure the router and ISP are forwarding port 443 to the Essentials server.

UPDATE: December 5, 2022.

Tonight after having a similar issue with a 2016 Essentials server and Devices all turning to gray (Offline state) after installing the Anywhere Access to the server. (Had to manually install RRAS for Direct Access and VPN before the Anywhere Access wizard would install successfully – but that’s another blog I need to write). Installing the Direct Access role disconnected all the clients from the dashboard and no matter what we tried to “fix” the client nothing worked. argh!!

Update: September 16, 2023

Today I found that I could no longer create a new remote connection with the *.remotewebaccess.com domain name. After extensive troubleshooting, decided to just use the CA resources on the Essentials server to create my own Remote Certificate for Remote Site and VPN solution. Rather than make this blog that much longer, I created a new post here: https://jvhconsulting.wordpress.com/2023/09/17/2016-essentials-remote-vpn-alternative/ where you can find all the details for performing this alternative solution.

Computers not showing up in Dashboard – Offline status

1. Uninstalled the Connector;

2. Delete Data & Logs folders from \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Server;

3. Open Task Scheduler, delete all tasks under: Microsoft >Windows >Windows Server Essentials. Then delete this folder.

4. Delete the VPN SSTP connector.

5. Reboot client

6. Reinstall the Client connector. For most other occasions this should fix the clients.

In tonight’s case though, messing with the client did not fix it. What did finally work is found under this Blog by ShoemakerBrian.

Not sure how he found this solution but it instantly fixed the clients Online status:

Open Admin PowerShell and run command below, changing the IP with the IP address of the Essentials server:

Set-NetNatTransitionConfiguration –IPv4AddressPortPool @(“192.168.1.10, 6001-6601”, “192.168.1.10, 6603-47000”)

Brilliant! – All clients now showed up in the Dashboard.

Hope this helps everyone that runs into this issue. It’s a frustrating one and not many solutions out there.