July Update Rollup KB3172614 and Windows 10

Microsoft finally got around to fixing the annoying side effect of Windows 10 release upgrades, which was loosing your Essentials connector.

Hidden away in KB3172614 and after literally months of pressure from Susan Bradley, (because frankly I gave up) we find..

Updated the inbox component in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials to use the new client connector, so that the inbox component won’t get uninstalled during Windows 10 upgrades.

A simple footnote in the back of KB article hidden downstairs in a filing cabinet behind a door with a sign saying Beware of the Leopard.

So what do you need to know about this fix?

Firstly, if you don’t know why this was required the Essentials 2012 R2 connector was installed as a KB update to your Windows Clients, which was fine until Windows 10 released.

When a build update is done to Windows 10 (Think RTM to 1511) all the installed KBs are ‘refreshed’ out of the install. Essentially a new copy of Windows 10 is installed with no patches. This as you may have guessed, or indeed seen, had the unhappy side effect of removing the Essentials Connector.

Microsoft have now changed the Connector code to once again be installed a Program rather than a KB, but in order to take advantage of that, you have to first install the KB on the Server then reinstall the connector on any Windows 10 Client.

On a LAB system I was working on yesterday I installed the connector software, updated to the 1607 build of Windows 10, and still had the connector installed when the 1607 update was complete.. No issues.

If you run into issues reinstalling the connector – DON’T PANIC. They can all usually be solved without resorting to renaming PCs or reinstalling the OS.

If it were me, and i was managing this for a client, i would get the KB installed asap and reinstall the connector on those Windows 10 Clients, before they auto upgrade to 1607.

Update 11/08/2016

As some people have found, there are two issues with the Essentials Connector software following an Update to Windows 10 build 1607 (14393)

These being that the Essentials Tray App no longer functions (due to a corrupt IconCache) and that the Alerts Evaluation scheduled task no longer functions.

Thanks to some dogged detection work from the community, special mention to Mike (mentioned in the comments) we have two working solutions for these issues.

Essentials Tray App

To fix the issue of the Essentials Tray App not displaying, you can download a BAT file from TenForums or what i have done is setup a Group Policy to do this for me. Set this as a logon script and the TrayApp should be automatically repaired for you.

$regKey = "HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify" 
$setKey = "HKCU:\Software\EssentialsTrayApp" 
# Check For Repair 
$checkETray = Test-Path $setKey 
if(($checkETray) -eq $false) 
{ 
    New-Item $setKey 
    New-ItemProperty $setKey -Name Repair -PropertyType DWORD -Value 0 
} 
$repair = (Get-ItemProperty $setKey).Repair 
if(($repair) -eq "0") 
{ 
    Stop-Process -ProcessName Explorer 
    Remove-ItemProperty $regKey -Name IconStreams -Force 
    Remove-ItemProperty $regKey -Name PastIconStream -Force 
    Set-ItemProperty $setKey -Name Repair -Value 1
    $a = new-object -comobject wscript.shell 
    $b = $a.popup("Please Reboot",0,"Essentials Tray App Repair",0) 
} 
else 
{ 
    Write-Output "Tray App Repaired" 
}

Alert Evaluations Task

You can edit the task manually to change the program path and arguments, or you can use the following PowerShell script.

 $taskPath = "\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Server Essentials\"
 $taskName = "Alert Evaluations"
 $program = "C:\Program Files\Windows Server\Bin\RunTask.exe"
 $args = '/asm:"C:\Program Files\Windows Server\Bin\AlertFramework.dll" /class:Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.NetworkHealth.AlertFramework.HealthScheduledTask /method:EvaluateAlertsByTriggerTaskAction /task:"Alert Evaluations"'
 $alertTask = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath $taskPath -TaskName $taskName
 $regPath = "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows Server"
 $checkRepair = (Get-ItemProperty $regPath).AlertTaskRepair
 if(($checkRepair) -ne "1")
 {
 if(($alertTask.Actions.Execute) -ne $program)
 {
 Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName $alertTask.TaskName -Confirm:$false
 # Check Task Removed
 $alertTask = Get-ScheduledTask -TaskPath $taskPath -TaskName "Alert Evaluations"
 if(($alertTask) -eq $null)
 {
 New-ItemProperty $regPath -Name "AlertTaskRepair" -Value 0 -Force
 $a = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $program -Argument $args
 $t = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At 12am
 $p = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal System
 $s = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet
 $d = New-ScheduledTask -Action $A -Principal $p -Trigger $T -Settings $S
 Register-ScheduledTask -InputObject $d -TaskPath $taskPath -TaskName $taskName
 }
 }
 Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name "AlertTaskRepair" -Value 1 -Force
 }

Again i would set this as a Startup Script linked to a Policy that applies to build 1607 of Windows 10.

For help setting up separate policies for different builds of Windows 10, check out this article.