Hyper-V | Changing Virtual Switch – Switch Ports Failed

After deleting a vSwitch on my Hyper-V host (which runs on my Windows 10 64bit laptop), I was unable to recreate the vSwitch, as I wanted to change from using the Wireless Adapter to the Physical Network Adapter which would speed up my WSUS synchronizations time (using wired internet connectivity instead of WiFi).

Modify Switch Ports Failed – Error Message

Did some googling, and found that Microsoft had recommended running Easy Fix.

Source:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/virtualization/cannot-create-hyper-v-virtual-switch

Solution:

1. Download the executable, and run the executable.
2. Follow the prompts.
3. Ensure that you get the below screenshot indicated that the issue is fixed.

Easy Fix Remediation Image

You should now be able to create your vSwitch.

Root Cause:

As per the article, the cause is because a new network setup functionality introduced in Windows 10 doesn’t completely delete all objects from the previous vSwitch installation. This problem is scheduled to be fixed in the next Windows 10 update.

The target principal name is incorrect. Cannot generate SSPI context.

Preparing to do an Active Directory Migration using Active Directory Migration Tool. As part of the works, required to have a SQL Server 2008 R2 Express instance for the ADMT database to sit.

During the build, continue to get the following error:

The target principal name is incorrect. Cannot generate SSPI context.

Image 1: SSPI Context Error

This error usually occurs because of Kerberos authentication issues when using a Service Account as the Database Engine Service Account instead of NT AUTHORITY\Local Service.

To resolve, we need to set the Service Principal Name (SPN) for the Service Account. Run the below command in an elevated Command Prompt window:

SETSPN -A MSSQLSvc/<ServerName>\<InstanceName> <Domain>\<Database Engine Service Account>

For Example:

SETSPN –A MSSQLSvc/TST1ADM01\ADMT TEST\svc_admt_db

To confirm that the SPN has been set, run the following command:

SETSPN -L <Domain\ServiceAccount>

Confirm that the SPN listed earlier shows in the results.

Internet Explorer 11 Pre-Reqs

Recently setup some developers with Visual Studio 2015 on Windows Server 2008 R2. A warning appeared stating that Internet Explorer 11 would be best to use with Visual Studio 2015 (out of the box running Internet Explorer 9).

To install Internet Explorer 11 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 server or even a Windows 7 machine, you need to install the following KBs before you can run the Internet Explorer 11 executable:

KB2729094
KB2731771
KB2533623
KB2670838
KB2786081
KB2834140

KB number	DL link	Title	Description
2729094	32bit version 64bit version	An update for the Segoe UI symbol font in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available	This update adds support for emoji characters and some control glyphs that are included in Windows 8 and in Windows Server 2012. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
2731771	32bit version 64bit version	An update that provides new APIs for conversion between local time and UTC in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 is available	This update provides new APIs for conversion between local time and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
2533623	32bit version 64bit version	Microsoft Security Advisory: Insecure library loading could allow remote code execution	This update provides new API improvements for Windows to help developers correctly and securely load external libraries. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
2670838	32bit version 64bit version	A platform update is available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	This update provides improved features and performance in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. It includes updates to the following DirectX components: Direct2D, DirectWrite, Direct3D, Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP). Additionally, it includes updates to the Windows Animation Manager (WAM), the XPS Document API, and the MPEG-2 Video Decoder. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Note If this update is uninstalled, Internet Explorer 10 will also automatically be uninstalled.
2786081	32bit version 64bit version	Internet Explorer 10 does not save credentials for a website after you log off or restart a computer that is running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Internet Explorer 10 does not save credentials for a website after you log off from or restart a computer that is running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. This issue occurs because the WinInet cache task is not notified to close when you log off from or restart the computer. This update corrects this issue. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.
2834140	32bit version 64bit version	“0x00000050” Stop error after you install update 2670838 on a computer that is running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Assume that you install update 2670838 on a computer that is running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. You have a combination of Intel and AMD video cards in a hybrid configuration on the computer. In this situation, the computer intermittently crashes.

Optional updates for Internet Explorer 11

The following updates are not required to install Internet Explorer 11. However, these updates will provide a better experience when they are installed.

KB number	Download link	Title	Description
2639308	32bit version 64bit version	An update is available for the ASLR feature in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2	This update introduces the Force ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) feature. This is an addition to the ASLR feature for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
2888049	32bit version 64bit version	Update is available that improves the network performance of Internet Explorer 11 in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	After you install this update, Windows sends ACK messages without any delay when it uses Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) protocol connections. Note The TCP protocol is a common protocol that a computer uses in network connections.
2882822	32bit version 64bit version	Update adds ITraceRelogger interface support to Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	The iTraceRelogger interface is a dependency to enable certain features in Internet Explorer 11 F12 tools (for example, the UI Responsiveness tool). After this update is installed, the application that is dependent on the iTraceRelogger interface can enable certain features that runs in Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

 

Source – https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/2847882/prerequisite-updates-for-internet-explorer-11

 

The Big Three Conference Announcements – 2019

I thought I would list the Big 3 (Oracle, Microsoft and VMWare) announcements from their recent annual conferences to remind me to go and study these new features early next year.

First up – Oracle OpenWorld.
Held in San Francisco back in September.

• Oracle has gone further in the stack with its Autonomous Database (self servicing database engine) by announcing Autonomous Oracle Linux.
  Like the database it provisions itself, it scales itself, it tines itself, it patches itself while its running.
• Oracle is getting into the blockchain game. Kinda. They releasing a new kind of table called a blockchain table and when rows are inserted into a blockchain table it creates a cryptographic chain of the data, which clients can use to check for any kind of fraud.
• Oracle Cloud Applications Suite is getting some new features and updates, as well as rolling out Digital Assistants across the suite.
• New Oracle Exadata machine. 100Gbps network and direct access data stored in Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory. This makes I/O ten times faster than previous Exadata releases.
• Oracle will open another 20 “regions” for its cloud services by the end of 2020. 11 of these new regions will be duplicates of existing regionals, which will allow customers to setup DR systems with the same region.

Second up – VMWorld US .
Held in San Francisco in early September.

• Probably the announcement that I am most excited about is Project Pacific. In a nutshell, VMWare will embed Kubernetes into vSphere. This means that you can manage Kubernetes objects from the vSphere Client.
  More information from Kit Colbert here.
• VMWare Cloud is now available on Dell EMC.
  More information from Kit Colbert here.
• Dell EMC kit now comes with VMWare vSphere pre-installed and pre-activated with your license keys.

 

Lastly – Microsoft Ignite.
Held early November in Orlando, Florida.

• Azure Arc is the new control panel that organisations can leverage Azure to manage their resources across AWS and Google Cloud.
• Project Cortex is a knowledge network for your company. It uses Machine Learning to analyse all of your documents and contracts in various repositories and then surfaces them in Outlook, Teams and other Office Apps.

• SCCM and Intune Services are set to be combined and called Endpoint Manager going forward.
• Power Virtual Agents. The ‘no-code/low-code’ tool for building chatbots. It uses Azures machine learning.
• Azure Synapse Analytics. Big-data analytics with data warehousing.
• Web Based Visual Studio development environment is now live in preview.