Windows Server - AppCmd crashing
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This one has me stumped. I have a terminal server (2012 R2) which continues to either crash (completely turn off), not display disks in Disk Management and show signs of VSS issues because Veeam will say it failed to use VSS for backups.
I've looked in event logs and found appcmd.exe (appears to be related to IIS as the directory it references is inetsrv). Searching through forums suggests there is a permissions issue for the log file being written to a certain directory.
Just trying to do some troubleshooting before completely rebuilding as an absolute last resort.
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Virus scan is clean.
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Network Service has proper permissions over directory where log writes from what I can see.
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System file checker returned no errors.
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Disable anti-virus
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Disable firewall
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@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
This one has me stumped. I have a terminal server which continues to either crash (completely turn off), not display disks in Disk Management and show signs of VSS issues because Veeam will say it failed to use VSS for backups.
I've looked in event logs and found appcmd.exe (appears to be related to IIS as the directory it references is inetsrv). Searching through forums suggests there is a permissions issue for the log file being written to a certain directory.
Just trying to do some troubleshooting before completely rebuilding as an absolute last resort.
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Virus scan is clean.
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Network Service has proper permissions over directory where log writes from what I can see.
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System file checker returned no errors.
Already tried temporary disabling the antivirus?
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@black3dynamite said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
This one has me stumped. I have a terminal server which continues to either crash (completely turn off), not display disks in Disk Management and show signs of VSS issues because Veeam will say it failed to use VSS for backups.
I've looked in event logs and found appcmd.exe (appears to be related to IIS as the directory it references is inetsrv). Searching through forums suggests there is a permissions issue for the log file being written to a certain directory.
Just trying to do some troubleshooting before completely rebuilding as an absolute last resort.
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Virus scan is clean.
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Network Service has proper permissions over directory where log writes from what I can see.
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System file checker returned no errors.
Already tried temporary disabling the antivirus?
Yes
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@black3dynamite I forgot to upload a screen shot example of an error. I added that.
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What OS?
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@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@obsolesce said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
What OS?
Server 2012 R2
Is it fully up to date? Did it start happening soon after a patch? Does the fist occurrence of the error line up with any installed patches?
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@obsolesce said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@obsolesce said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
What OS?
Server 2012 R2
Is it fully up to date? Did it start happening soon after a patch? Does the fist occurrence of the error line up with any installed patches?
It's fully up to date, but it's actually been happening for a very long time from what I can see. This is a system that was neglected by the previous IT provider so it's hard to say if it was ever healthy.
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Are all RDS (Broker/Gateway/Web/Session Host) set up on the same server?
If that is the case, make sure Broker/Gateway/Web are set up correctly and have the correct permissions set for the deployment and for the collection(s).
Obvious, but make sure the host is up to date.
Where is the RD License server? Has it been set up and activated correctly and is the Session Host working with it without error?
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Is there a dump file or just this application that is failing?
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Are there any printers installed on it?
I had server once that kept randomly crashing and it turns out it was a printer driver of all things.
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@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Are there any printers installed on it?
I had server once that kept randomly crashing and it turns out it was a printer driver of all things.
No printers installed... but I had wondered the same thing as I found that on some forums.
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@dbeato said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Is there a dump file or just this application that is failing?
I tried using a couple programs that would capture a dump file. Never could get them working. I've disabled some Windows features on RD/CA stuff that were unnecessary, and backups are now completing without error. I'll report back if they keep going well through the weekend.
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@phlipelder said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Are all RDS (Broker/Gateway/Web/Session Host) set up on the same server?
If that is the case, make sure Broker/Gateway/Web are set up correctly and have the correct permissions set for the deployment and for the collection(s).
Obvious, but make sure the host is up to date.
Where is the RD License server? Has it been set up and activated correctly and is the Session Host working with it without error?
All the features are on the same server, and it has every feature added (I recently removed some for testing). As far as permissions, I finally saw in the advanced settings where you could specify the local account (Network Service or otherwise), and I am assuming the log file that it writes to is in c:\programdata...\WER as I can see some appcmd.exe output files in there, but I was a little unsure if I understood the permissions piece of that requirement correctly.
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Is this a physical or virtual setup?
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Also found vssadmin crashing. Found a scheduled task to create a shadow copy, which conflicts with backup software installed on the server. Not sure wtf they have been thinking after cleaning up this server so far. This one is definitely going to be redone before too long.
Backups are officially healthy; completing without error.
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@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Are there any printers installed on it?
I had server once that kept randomly crashing and it turns out it was a printer driver of all things.
No printers installed... but I had wondered the same thing as I found that on some forums.
It drove me nuts.
Kept rebooting the server in the middle of the day, randomly. It was awful.
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@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Are there any printers installed on it?
I had server once that kept randomly crashing and it turns out it was a printer driver of all things.
No printers installed... but I had wondered the same thing as I found that on some forums.
It drove me nuts.
Kept rebooting the server in the middle of the day, randomly. It was awful.
Are you sure the spooler caused the reboot rather than a faulting driver not being isolated and caused the server to reboot because of a driver issue? I've witnessed print spoolers on servers crash many times and cause the whole list of printers to become unavailable, but that is about the extent of it.
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@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@bbigford said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
@brrabill said in Windows Server - AppCmd crashing:
Are there any printers installed on it?
I had server once that kept randomly crashing and it turns out it was a printer driver of all things.
No printers installed... but I had wondered the same thing as I found that on some forums.
It drove me nuts.
Kept rebooting the server in the middle of the day, randomly. It was awful.
Are you sure the spooler caused the reboot rather than a faulting driver not being isolated and caused the server to reboot because of a driver issue? I've witnessed print spoolers on servers crash many times and cause the whole list of printers to become unavailable, but that is about the extent of it.
Pretty sure it was the driver.
I think it was an older printer that maybe didn't have an updated driver.
