Windows 8, 10 and Server 2012 R2 upgrade stops at “Setting up a few things”

I’ve done upgrades on several computers and for the most part never had an issue, but everyone now and then I have found that while the Windows install goes all the way through the installation and device setup, it then seems to get stuck during the very last “Setting up a few more things” stage, sometimes stopping at a frustrating 79%!

I’ve tried leaving them for several hours but it never gets past that point. A hard reset is the only option, after which Windows restores the previous version. So at least nothing is lost other than time.

In all cases though, I’ve found the problem is having the Hyper-V role installed. There must be something about the Hypervisor that causes a problem.

After the OS rolls back, go into roles and features and remove the Hyper-V role, then try the upgrade again. After it completes just add the Hyper-V role back in again and it should pick up all the previous settings.

ConfigMgr OSD fails to start in WinPE

A simple task sequence deployed to a collection, a virtual machine (Hyper-V guest) booting with PxE to run that task sequence.

WinPE starts up, loads the networking (which gives a working IP address, can ping/connect to servers) but then the computer just reboots. No errors or warnings.

With WinPE debug mode enabled, you can press F8 to load the command prompt, but smsts.log doesn’t report an obvious error. Lot’s of “access denied” type messages that led me hunting issues with Network access accounts and such

Handy Powershell commands – Hyper-V

A collection of Powershell commands that I’ve come up with. Will add over time

Hyper-V Powershell command are missing

In my never ending quest to learn a new thing everyday, I decided I needed to spend more time with Powershell. After a recent Hyper-V issue it seems it would be just the thing to help. So imagine my surprise when nothing I did could get the Hyper-V PS commands to work!

It turns out that because my server had been upgraded to Server 2012 from 2008R2, when the Hyper-V role is installed, the Hyper-V PS module isn’t.

Hyper-V Failed to update configuration for port

On a Hyper-V server I’m seeing an EventID12 in Hyper-V-VMSwitch appearing at what appears to be random intervals. I haven’t seen a pattern to when they appear, but I’ve started paying more attention

Failed to update configuration for port {GUID} (Friendly Name: {GUID}) on switch SWITCH-SM-{GUID} (Friendly Name: {Name}), status = An attempt has been made to remove a file or directory that cannot be deleted..

I’ve found various registry entries that match the various GUIDs, so I’m thinking I’ve ended up with some redundant duplicates or something. The entry seems to describe my actual main Production virtual switch though, so some more investigation is needed.

Disaster Recovery – A personal experience

Let me say this first of all – Do not try this at home. The following is not a “strategy”, it was a last desperate act to recover *something* from *nothing*. In this case it seems to have paid off, but there is still a lot of work to do.

Following on from my previous post about the serious disk crash experience…

After spending more time than I should have curled in a ball, rocking back and forth and hoping something would just start working by itself, I finally realised that I didn’t really have any proper options left. I was at the point where *anything* was an option, there was no longer a wrong way to do things.

Oh crap, what fun the last few days has been

I should have seen it coming.

First, I’m on the phone to Microsoft *again* because the it turns out the issue I raised to return the replacement Touch cover wasn’t actually created. So the whole process of doing that again.

Then email from Twitter telling me my account was one of the ones that had its details compromised and that I needed to change my password. A fairly simple process I guess, but with all the various devices and apps that hook into Twitter it seemed more painful than it should have been.

Win8 HyperV Virtual switch bind failed

Just installed the Hyper-V role on my Win8 machine to do some lab work and I’m getting an error trying to create the virtual switch on my Ethernet Adapter (not wireless)

Error applying Virtual Switch Properties changes

Failed while adding virtual Ethernet switch connections
Ethernet port ‘{GUID}’ bind failed: The data is invalid. (0x8007000D).

HyperV virtual network bind failed