[sims] Pulsar.exe fails to run on Windows Server 2016 RDS Session Host

[Ballzy-x7]

I have set up a new RDS farm using Windows Server 2016. We have 3 servers acting as the Session Host and 1 server acting as the Connection Broker, Gateway and Web Access. The 3 servers acting as the session host all install the SIMS Client through SOLUS but when you run the program you get ‘SIMS has stopped working – Close the program’.

Event log shows the following: Event ID – 1026 – The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.IO.FileLoadException. Source – .NET Runtime

.NET 4.6.2. has already been installed on the machines and the SIMS Client is available on all RDS Hosts. I have also tried re-installing SIMS using the SOLUS agent but that doesn't fix the issue.

 

If you run the command as an admin change user /install , SIMS will launch without any issues. If you then change it back to change user /execute, SIMS crashes.

 

Any ideas?

[ChrisMiles]

Could you post the full exception stack, as this should indicate what file it's failing to load.

[Ballzy-x7]

Application: Pulsar.exeFramework Version: v4.0.30319Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.Exception Info: System.IO.FileLoadException

 

Faulting application name: Pulsar.exe, version: 7.178.30.0, time stamp: 0x59d4f881Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.14393.0, time stamp: 0x57898e34Exception code: 0xe0434352Fault offset: 0x000d96c2Faulting process id: 0x80cFaulting application start time: 0x01d38b791bf59a82Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\SIMS .net\Pulsar.exeFaulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dllReport Id: 2d2a5a88-4f07-44be-893c-380b33d9c6b7Faulting package full name: Faulting package-relative application ID:

[ChrisMiles]

That's not it, but maybe it doesn't record it in the event log in this case.

 

FileLoadException is thrown when a managed assembly is found but cannot be loaded. Which means pulsar isn't able to load one or more of it's library files (or perhaps .NET Framework libraries). This could be a permissions issue.

 

When you said .NET Framework is installed, did you install it from server manage features? Also what kind of user are you testing it from? Admin/user? Local/domain?

Edited January 12, 2018 by ChrisMiles

[MS2011]

I have set up a new RDS farm using Windows Server 2016. We have 3 servers acting as the Session Host and 1 server acting as the Connection Broker, Gateway and Web Access. The 3 servers acting as the session host all install the SIMS Client through SOLUS but when you run the program you get ‘SIMS has stopped working – Close the program’.

Event log shows the following: Event ID – 1026 – The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.IO.FileLoadException. Source – .NET Runtime

.NET 4.6.2. has already been installed on the machines and the SIMS Client is available on all RDS Hosts. I have also tried re-installing SIMS using the SOLUS agent but that doesn't fix the issue.

 

If you run the command as an admin change user /install , SIMS will launch without any issues. If you then change it back to change user /execute, SIMS crashes.

 

Any ideas?

 

Are you running sophos intercept x on your RDS servers ?

[lmrogers]

Not sure it applies to this problem, but I had a similar issue and it was because the server I was running it on was setup to use UEFI instead of legacy. Not sure why but when I set the server up as legacy it started working.

[r00barb]

We had this exact same issue with a very similar setup at the end of last year.

 

Was finally fixed by applying the October Windows update rollup - KB4041691 - although I guess this is now superceded by the update from this January.

 

Are all your 2016 servers (particularly the ones with the RDSH role) fully up to date?

[Ballzy-x7]

We had this exact same issue with a very similar setup at the end of last year.

 

Was finally fixed by applying the October Windows update rollup - KB4041691 - although I guess this is now superceded by the update from this January.

 

Are all your 2016 servers (particularly the ones with the RDSH role) fully up to date?

 

Applying KB4041691 fixed the issue! Thank you for everyone's help.

[ITGURU]

I am already on a newer build of Server 2016 but still cannot get the LOGIN box to load...

[localzuk]

Has anyone managed to get this to work? I am having the same issue - works in install mode, but not in execute mode. I'm running in BIOS VM (not UEFI), fully up to date etc...

[gh5000]

What's install mode and execute mode. I'm either out of the loop or don't know the lingo

[Arthur]

What's install mode and execute mode. I'm either out of the loop or don't know the lingo

change user /install

 

and

 

change user /execute

 

It's what you run before and after installing an application on an RDSH server.

[gh5000]

I'm definitely out the loop then. Haven't done a session host server on 2016. Only 2012r2. Is that new or have I been doing it wrong.

I say doing it wrong...it hasn't caused me any problems

[fiza]

change user /install

 

and

 

change user /execute

 

It's what you run before and after installing an application on an RDSH server.

Is this for the non-desktop experience server 2016? I have installed desktop experience and never run these commands. Everything seems to work fine. Users are able to load SIMS through remoteapps fine.

[Arthur]

I have installed desktop experience and never run these commands.

Is that new or have I been doing it wrong.

It's not new. Microsoft say it's still required...

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/change-user

 

/install

Disables .ini file mapping to the home directory. All .ini files are read and written to the system directory. You must disable .ini file mapping when installing applications on an RD Session Host server.

 

Is this for the non-desktop experience server 2016?

With the desktop experience.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Arthur

[localzuk]

So, has no-one got this working? Do I have to wait until the Summer release to be able to do it?

[Arthur]

So, has no-one got this working?

SIMS is working fine on my RDSH server (a gen. 2 Windows Server 2016 VM with the latest updates installed).

 

The only thing I did differently from Ballzy-x7 was install the SIMS client manually (not through SOLUS).

[localzuk]

If you've installed it manually, how does it handle updates?

[Arthur]

If you've installed it manually, how does it handle updates?

I do the updates manually too. It's not too bad since we currently only have one session host, but you're right. It's not ideal.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Arthur

[localzuk]

Yeah. That would be less than ideal, as we'll have 7 session hosts. Also, installing it manually is failing for me, as it first can't run ocsetup.exe and then says there's not enough disk space even though there's 200GB free.

[localzuk]

Any other tips anyone?

[Tefters]

Have you tried setting up a new VM with 2016 and then just use solus3 to install the agent and client?

 

I’ve been running a farm of 8 RDSH 2016 servers for a year and a half and have had no issues.

I don’t bother flipping install mode anymore as it’s sh*t regardless of what Microsoft say.

 

I have a simple 2016 image in a SCCM task sequence with apps installing normally, all LTI. Once done I just point Solus3 at it, sit back and GG.

[Paid_Peanuts]

Works here.

Our RDS hosts are 2016 fully patched.

Firstly put the RDS host into install mode: change user/install

Then deployed SIMS through SOLUS 3.

Once install was complete, ran: chnage user/execute to take RDS host out of install mode.

 

On the RDS gateway server, published Pulsar.exe

 

Works like it should. Occasionally we have SIMS hang for a user, so we have to go into server manager on the gateway server and logoff their session. This is more a SIMS issue (bad programming) rather than an RDS issue.

[TechBeard]

Did anyone find a fix for this in the end? Im just setting up a new RDS 2019 farm and getting the same error as the OP.

Thanks

Richard

[Damon]

I had the same issue as above for a 2016 RDS Server, both SIMS & FMS would work in Install mode but not in Execute. It turned out to be down to how Terminal services redirects files into the user home rather than using the Windows directory. Additionally, I had to force the app to be run as 32bit. Both changes can be done via the registry. Browse to:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Compatibility\Applications\

 

Create a key (directory) for each executable name (pulsar for SIMS and finance for FMS). Within each key, create a DWORD named 'Flags' and set the value to 408. When saved, this will appear as 0x00000408. For reference, here are the exported keys:

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Compatibility\Applications\PULSAR]"Flags"=dword:00000408[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Compatibility\Applications\FINANCE]"Flags"=dword:00000408

 

 

The aforementioned combines two flags together. The 32-bit windows program flag (0x8) and the system Windows directory instead of user Windows directory for the GetWindowsDir flag (0x400).

 

Hope this helps!

Edited February 21, 2019 by Damon