An error has occured: One of the update processes returned error code 1601

Whilst performing a shadow protect recovery of our domain controller (Win 2k3), SQL server (Win 2k3 64bit) and Exchange 2007 Server (Win2k3 64bit)  to our new Hyper-V 2k8 R2 server I encountered a strange issue.

Basically after you have finished a shadow protect recovery, before booting into the operating system it is recommended that you boot into certain modes for certain server roles (eg: for a domain controller, boot into active directory restore mode, for SQL servers.. safe mode with networking).

When I did this, I was unable to install the Microsoft Integration Services setup as I would get the following error half way through the installation:

An error has occurred: One of the update processes returned error code 1601

This meant that I didn't have mouse functionality or network capabilities.

Now, this puts you into a bit of a quandary as you shouldn't boot certain servers with certain network roles on them without a network adapter installed.

To resolve this issue (make sure you have ran the installation first), I used keyboard shortcuts to get into the Integration Services setup CD and copied the files sitting under the following .cab files to a location on the C:\ drive (only grab either x32 or x64)

Windows6.0-HyperVIntegrationServices-x64.cab
Windows6.0-HyperVIntegrationServices-x32.cab

Once this was done, I went into device manager and manually installed the missing drivers.

Once completed, I was able to access mouse capabilities but I still couldn't get into the network card (even though it was installed). After another reboot (and back into the certain safe mode), I was able to set the IP of
the network card and remove the hidden devices.

Once I was in the operating system (not safe mode), I was able to do a repair install of the Integration Services without any issues (did loose network connectivity for around 20 seconds during the process).

I then went onto recover some Windows 2008 R2 servers and noted that they didn't not have the problem mentioned above.

EBS 2008 Exchange Rebuild Error: Installation wizard failed to connect to the NETLOGON shared folder

A customer was having a issue rebuilding a Exchange server in a EBS 2008 Environment.

When they went to rebuild the exchange server, they would get the following error:

The installation wizard failed to connect to the NETLOGON shared folder on domain controller SERVER.network.local. This is because another user or process is holding open a connection which is causing a credential conflict.

Upon investigation, the following website had the answer: http://serverfault.com/questions/185862/windows-essential-business-server-installation-issue

“open a command prompt and run "NET USE * /d /y" on the server computer. “

This resolved the issue and the client was able to continue building the exchange server. 


Note... It may be possible to avoid the above issue if you dont have any mapped network drives going to any file server/domain controller during this process.

Dell Optiplex 780 - Intermittent Network Disconnection

After deployed a few brand new imaged Optiplex 780's to a site (Using Win7 64bit), I noticed the users were getting intermittent disconnections from their windows 2008 R2 terminal server. I investigated the event logs on the terminal server and investigated the switches. There were no errors out of the ordinary.

Upon investigation of the Optiplex 780 system logs, I noticed the following errors:

Log Name:      System

Source:        e1kexpress

Date:          

Event ID:      35

Task Category: None

Level:         Information

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:     

Description:

Intel(R) 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection

Network link has been established at 10Mbps full duplex.

I checked the Dell website and there was a Urgent NIC driver update which actually had the following fix listed 

"Fixes Intermittent NIC connectivity issues." 

Once the driver update was applied, the issues seemed to go away. 

So moral of the story... Update the NIC and Chipset drivers of your desktops and don't rely on Microsoft's default drivers.