Azure VM RDAgent breaks enabling LDR64 SETWOW

Question

I am tasked with getting an old 32-bit only application working on an Azure VM.
The VM is a custom image (our corporate image) and is Windows 11.

The application requires the LDR64 SETWOW command to be run or it will not function.
When setting this and rebooting, the application works as expected but the VM goes into 'unavailable' in Intune portal and the only way to connect to it is with RDP. Event logs indicate that RDAgentBroker cannot find DefaultAgent in the registry -- the entries exist in the 64-bit registry location but not under WOW6432Node and manually creating the entries there results in other errors that the DLL's can't be found, etc. From what I read (Solution 8 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/windows-azure-guest-agent) the RDAgent will only run with the SETWOW disabled.

So is there a solution to get RDAgent working while SETWOW is enabled, and if not is there any other downside to just using RDP to access the machines ignoring the broken RDAgent?
For non-IT reasons this is what we are stuck with for now.

Answer 1

@HK

In your case I would consider running the 32 bit only application inside a nested VM. If that is not feasible it is technically possible to run the Azure VM without the Azure Windows VM Agent. The overview page goes over the Agent in more details. As noted, some of the downsides are:

• VM Extensions: The Azure Windows VM Agent plays a crucial role in enabling and executing Azure virtual machine extensions. These extensions allow you to perform post-deployment configurations on VMs, such as installing and configuring software. Without the VM Agent, you won’t be able to run these extensions. So, if you need to customize your VM beyond its initial deployment, lacking the VM Agent could be a significant limitation.
• Recovery Features: The VM Agent also facilitates recovery features, such as resetting the administrative password of a VM. Without it, managing and recovering VMs becomes more challenging.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you still have questions or issues.

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