Remote Desktop Services Installation on 2016 - Reboots Pending but no registry key for them

Question

Running 2016, and when I try to use the Add Roles and Features wizard to add Remote Desktop Services, it tells me that "the server has reboots pending and needs to be restarted". Obviously, I've already tried rebooting it.

Several old threads show registry keys under “HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" (and ControlSet001, ControlSet002, etc) titled:
PendingFileRenameOperations
PendingFileOperations

I have no Pending* in any of those ControlSets.

Any idea where those might have moved to, or how I might clear this up?

Answer 1

Hi,

When I try to use the Add Roles and Features wizard to add Remote Desktop Services, it tells me that "the server has reboots pending and needs to be restarted".

Kindly confirm at which step or the specific roles you added that resulted in this error message.

If it is related to Role RDS gateway, kindly check the suggestion below: (quoted from Jemlay)

Check permission for C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\Machinekeys\7a43*
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/4cec7cde-eddb-475d-9c7a-7d81eb2f65c6/reboots-pending?forum=winserverTS

Moreover, please enable the RDMSDeploymentUI and RDMSUI-trace log to check if anything useful has been recorded during RDS installation.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-nz/help/2747656/introduction-to-log-files-that-are-useful-for-troubleshooting-rds-issu

-----Please "Accept as answer" if the reply is helpful-----

Thanks,
Jenny

Answer 2

So I don't have anything that starts with 7a43 in that Crypto\RSA\Machinekeys directory. I have plenty of other files and don't have permissions on most of them for some reason.

When I added the logging information, I got:
ServerManager.exe Warning: 0 : 18/08/2020 13:01:20.35: RdmsUI: Component Based Servicing\RebootPending key present.
ServerManager.exe Warning: 0 : 18/08/2020 13:01:22.78: RdmsUI: Selected server *********** has pending reboots.

Answer 3

Hi,
Thanks for the update and the message pointed is also pointed to reboot needed.

Have you verified if the issue only occurred when adding roles of RDS or it is related to all other roles?

Kindly run System File Checker scan to see if any system related problems.

1. Search for 'command prompt' using Cortana or Windows Search.
2. From results, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. Type sfc /scannow command and press Enter key.
4. Let the command complete and then reboot the machine.

Moreover, for RDS installation, you may choose either quick start to deploy several roles in 1 server or role installation to install the role one by one.

Thanks,
Jenny