Why is Microsoft Demo provisioning not connecting

Question

I am working on trying to make sure that the demo content is correct for our location. when i try to enter the RAC or anything else, the system lags then more often than not would not work. This is multiple locations, days, and devices from all makes. Everything else on the computer works fine with no issue. its connected to the internet and loads anything else like normal. Is there some outage or issue happening with RDX?

Answer 1

Hello Cody,

I'm following up to see if you had a chance to investigate the firewall settings regarding the Retail Demo Experience lag you reported. As previously analyzed, the specific symptoms across multiple locations strongly indicate a network-level block prevents the devices from reaching validation endpoints like *.blob.core.windows.net and login.microsoftonline.com, rather than a widespread service outage. If you haven't yet, checking the Microsoft-Windows-RetailDemo/Operational logs in Event Viewer will likely confirm these timeouts, and using a blank RAC can serve as a temporary bypass to get the units running with generic content.

If the issue has been successfully resolved, please consider accepting the answer as it helps other people sharing the same question benefit too. Thank you!

VP

Answer 2

Hello Cody,

Based on the symptom profile you described, specifically the input lag when entering the Retail Access Code (RAC) and the failure across multiple devices and locations, this is almost certainly not a hardware issue or a local software fault on the machines. While there are no widespread public reports of a global Microsoft Retail Demo Experience (RDX) outage as of today, the behavior is symptomatic of a network timeout reaching the RDX validation endpoints.

When you enter a RAC, the device attempts to handshake with Microsoft's RDX backend to validate the code and pull the associated SKU list. The "lag" you feel is the system hanging while waiting for a response that never arrives (a classic TCP/HTTP timeout). Since the standard internet works, your retail network firewall or content filter is likely blocking the specific non-standard ports or domains RDX requires.

=> The solution is to verify RDX endpoint whitelisting. In retail environments, standard web traffic (port 80/443) is often allowed, but RDX content delivery and validation often trigger stricter firewall rules. You or your network administrator need to ensure the following are whitelisted on the firewall/proxy for all affected VLANs:

• *.blob.core.windows.net (Critical: This is where the heavy demo assets are pulled from).

*.windows.net and login.microsoftonline.com (For RAC validation and identity).

Ensure that Delivery Optimization (TCP port 7680) is not being aggressively throttled or blocked, as RDX relies heavily on this for content distribution.

To confirm this diagnosis before changing network rules, check the internal logs on one of the failing units:

Open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc).

Navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > RetailDemo > Operational.

Look for Error Event ID 200 or similar download/connectivity errors. If you see timeouts or "Access Denied" errors here despite having internet access, it confirms the network blocking hypothesis.

If you can't adjust the firewall immediately, you can attempt to bypass the RAC validation check to get the devices running (though they will receive generic content rather than location-specific):

When prompted for the RAC, leave the fields blank.

Select Next.

The device should default to the generic "Global" demo content. This will confirm the device functionality is intact while you resolve the network filtering for the custom RAC content.

If the explanation helps you get more insight into the issue, it's appreciated to accept the answer. Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

VP