Unable to remove feature "Server for NIS Tools", blocking any chance to upgrade from Server 2012 to 2016

Question

Have a couple of straggler Servers that need to be off of Window Server 2012 r2 and on 2016. Windows Server 2016 will not upgrade, it detects one or more Identity Management for Unix components installed. So I see these server have "Server for NIS Tools [DEPRECATED]", Now is where the issue comes in...

I have tried the following to remove NIS

• Simply following procedure as documented to uncheck the NIS box using the Remove Roles and Features Wizard.- PowerShell command Remove-WindowsFeature-RSAT-NIS- PowerShell using Dism.exe /online /disable-feature /featurename:RSAT-NIS

All three methods appear to be successful, Wizard gets to You must restart the destination server to finish removing features. The PowerShell remove comes back with Success=True, Restarted Needed = Yes, Exist Code=SuccessRestart, Dism comes back with The Operation completed successfully . Restart Windows to complete this operation.

Now it's during the restart cycle that all 3 fail the same way, 1st restart shows "Working on features 35% complete Don't turn off your computer" this then starts a 2nd restart and you see "Working on features 87% complete Don't turn off your computer" (87% is as high as I've seen it go, then you get a message "We couldn't complete the features Undoing changes Don't turn off your computer"

Once it comes back after that, the feature is active. I've tried several things and seem to get back to the same issue every time. Hoping this sounds familiar to someone or there may be ideas I've not thought of. I've removed it form the domain, logged in with local Administrator, same results. I tried booting into safe mode but the the ability to remove feature is not available.

Thanks

Alan

Answer 1

Hi usshall,

you can try the following steps to remove the NIS Tool Server feature:

1. Open Server Manager.
2. Select "Role" or "Feature".
3. In the Installed Roles and Features list, locate the NIS Tool Server feature.
4. Click on the feature and select "Delete".
5. Confirm the deletion operation.

If you still can't remove the feature, you can try using PowerShell commands to remove it. Here's an example command:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Nis-Tools-Server 

Note that this command requires administrator privileges to run.

For more information about uninstalling features, please see Install or Uninstall Roles, Role Services, or Features | Microsoft Learn.

Kind regards,

Lei

Answer 2

Lei,

Thanks for the reply but for Windows Server 2012 the process is Server Manager / Manage / Remove Roles and Features/ Under Features find "Server for NIS Tools {DEPRECATED]" found under Remote Server Administration Tools/Role Administration Tools/AD DS and AD LDS Tools/AD DS Tools. Uncheck the box. This is the first process I tried and it appears to work and indicates a restart is required, it is during the restart process and while windows servers is on the way back up that it starts the Working on Features, and ultimately fails at 87% and starts undoing changes.

As for the PowerShell mention, the output looks identical to the PowerShell command Remove-WindowsFeature-RSAT-NIS and returns the same Success=True, Restarted Needed = Yes, Exist Code=SuccessRestart and just like all the other attempts restart brings back "Working on features 35% complete Don't turn off your computer" this then starts a 2nd restart and you see "Working on features 87% complete Don't turn off your computer" (87% is still as high as I've seen it go, then you get a message "We couldn't complete the features Undoing changes Don't turn off your computer"

I feel like the 87% is a key here, I do not know what is happening behind the scenes while it says Working on Features but the fact it always fails at the same location in the process leads me to speculate there is something specific triggering the failure.

Open to more ideas, hate the thought of having to build a new 2016 server without the ability to keep setting and files of the users.

Alan

Answer 3

How about removing the feature in safe mode?

Answer 4

Safemode and also a clean boot, all non MS services disabled and no startups all get the same results. I tried to remove some other features and seem to get the same result so this is not isolated to this particular feature as I thought but it appears I am unable to remove any features. I've tried with a domain admin and the local Administrator account and get same results. This feels like a security related settings or something that is locking down the removal of features but I do not know what that could be that the local Administrator is not overriding.

Answer 5

I've identified this in the cbs logs

2023-12-05 16:13:35, Info                  CBS    Progress: UI message updated. Operation type: Foundation. Stage: 1 out of 1. Percent progress: 87.
2023-12-05 16:13:35, Info                  CBS    Winlogon: TiCoreOnCreateSession has been called
2023-12-05 16:13:56, Info                  CSI    00000004 ESU: Network Retry Counts : 30 (0x0000001e)
2023-12-05 16:13:56, Info                  CSI    00000005 ESU: Trying to Check IMDS Again LastError=HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(12002).
2023-12-05 16:14:27, Info                  CSI    00000006 ESU: Trying to Check IMDS Again LastError=HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(12002).
2023-12-05 16:14:59, Info                  CSI    00000007 ESU: Trying to Check IMDS Again LastError=HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(12002).

Shows the 87% I keep seeing and so this appears to be the failure point, just not sure yet how to address it.