Solus 3 - The remote machine cannot be contacted

[Sheridan]

I know this is a common issue, but I've now got a couple of newly deployed W11 desktops that simply will not install Solus/SIMS and always return 'the remote machine cannot be contacted'

 

The machines get the same GPO as the others which set the firewall ports, and from the Solus/SIMS server I can browse the PC's drives, and rdp to them so not a DNS issue

 

I'm stumped so I copied the client install files to them to try an manually install it - and this is where something new happened - when I run the 'Solus3AgentInstaller.bat' file - it opens in a command window and just sits there - nothing else happens!

 

I've run this on other W11 machines, so I don't think its the OS - but I've run through the usual solutions and nothing seems to be working this time?

[Steve21]

When was the last time you deployed out a copy of Solus to a new machine? There was an issue maybe a year ago now with a Microsoft update that basically nuked the way Solus was originally installing things due to DCOM hardening.

 

And basically required a windows update one either client/server to resolve the mismatch, but that was a while ago now so I assume if you've updated everything that should be sorted

 

Steve

[Sheridan]

When was the last time you deployed out a copy of Solus to a new machine? There was an issue maybe a year ago now with a Microsoft update that basically nuked the way Solus was originally installing things due to DCOM hardening.

 

And basically required a windows update one either client/server to resolve the mismatch, but that was a while ago now so I assume if you've updated everything that should be sorted

 

Steve

 

I deployed it to a W11 machine a week or so ago, so I would have thought it was OK - although I had to do a manual install (mainly due to a rename of the machine causing solus to get confused because of cached DNS entries, and I was in a hurry!)

[Sheridan]

I've also checked that the client can connect to the server on port 52965 (I believe the server connects to the client on 52966 - which doesn't work as the solus client isn't installed!)

[Sheridan]

Well I found a workaround, run the downloaded installer (so Solus is lying about not being able to contact the PC!) in C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp and set the server and key path manually and it installs. And if its a target in Solus it then pulls down SIMS.

 

Solus3 - I give up trying to get you working.

Edited June 25, 2024 by Sheridan

[Sheridan]

Well my latest testing of this terrible system have got me no further - in the logs it appears to copy the files across (which appear on the client) and thats it

 

2024-06-26 12:44:23.8252|Info|Attempting to log on as specified user. 2024-06-26 12:44:23.8409|Info|Attempting to impersonate specified user. 2024-06-26 12:44:23.8409|Info|Target directory is: \\pc-01.domain.local\C$\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp 2024-06-26 12:44:23.8409|Info|Checking target directory exists: \\pc-01.domain.local\C$\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp 2024-06-26 12:44:23.8881|Info|Copy complete. 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9039|Debug|pc-01.domain.local Checking queue availability. 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9039|Info|pc-01.domain.local - installing the agent 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9039|Debug|pc-off-01.domain.local Sleeping. 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9197|Info|pc-01.domain.local Attempting to start remote process: msiexec.exe /lv* "C:\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\pc-01.domain.local_agent_install_log.txt" /i "C:\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\SOLUS3AgentInstaller_x64.msi" /qn AGENTSERVICEADDRESS="net.tcp://pc-01.domain.local:52966" DEPLOYMENTSERVERADDRESS="net.tcp://sims-server:52965" AGENTID="" RSAKEYPATH="C:\WINDOWS\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp" 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9197|Info|pc-01.domain.local Started 2024-06-26 12:44:23.9197|Info|Attempting to create ConnectionOptions with username='domain.local\user' 2024-06-26 12:44:24.1251|Info|pc-01.domain.local Installation worker completed.

 

 

So it copies the files, tries to run the installer. Then thats the lot, no errors logged either on the server or client. I'm thinking about reinstalling the whole lot again but it seems to be 99% of the way there! I did wonder whether AppLocker was an issue but nothing is logged by applocker at all