My world of .Net https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/feed.xml Tue, 16 Apr 2019 05:29:59 GMT en-US hourly 1 Clickonce troubleshooting https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/clickonce-troubleshooting Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:54:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/11/04/clickonce-troubleshooting/ Troubleshooting clickonce common issues

1) Dreaded  407 error  "The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required" while installing the application on the client machines

General cause of the issue is because of the usage of  the ISA proxy on the client machines , the KB  https://support.microsoft.com/?id=917952 should fix the issue, the hot fix needs to be installed on all the

client machines. If there are large number of users, create a msi and push the same through GPO

Alternative method is to edit the defaultProxy element in %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\machine.config  on the client machine with the following xml
 <system.net>
  <defaultProxy enabled="true" useDefaultCredentials="true">
   <proxy proxyaddress=”https://<ip:port>” bypassonlocal="true" usesystemdefault="false" />
   <bypasslist> <add address="[a-z]+\.domainname\.com$"/> </bypasslist>
  </defaultProxy>
 </system.net>

Example from the link https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kd3cf2ex(VS.80).aspx
 <configuration>
    <system.net>
   <defaultProxy>
         <proxy   usesystemdefaults="true"  proxyaddress="https://192.168.1.10:3128"   bypassonlocal="true"   />
         <bypasslist   <add address="[a-z]+\.contoso\.com" />  </bypasslist> 
   </defaultProxy>
    </system.net>
 </configuration>

****We are avoiding the usage of the proxy by the application to fix the error

Additionaly clickonce does not support Basic uthentication and only supports NTLM.
You get the errors
"The files could not be downloaded from https://<RemoteServer>/<ApplicationName>/. The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized."
Cannot Retrieve Application. Authentication Error.

Refer the article for more info https://support.microsoft.com/kb/925263

------------------------------------
2) Application does not launch  when we click on the clickonce app shortcut, instead we get a dialog box to install the app( as if it were first time installation) - Do you want to install this application?

This problem occurs because the ClickOnce store initialization process acquires the wrong user profile location from the system. This action causes the store to reinitialize. Additionally, the registry loses track

of all the existing ClickOnce programs. Therefore, the programs require reinstallation.

Refer the KB https://support.microsoft.com/?id=922935 - Hot fix available


------------------------------------
3) Application does not launch using the shortcut

a) Try launching the application exe which will be located in the folder %userprofile%\Local Settings\Apps\2.0 and see if this works. If this works that means the link is broken.
b) Copy the application on to the machine, i mean the entire project and try launching the exe directly to see if it runs.
c) If the above steps do not work, Remove the appliaction using Add/Remove Programs.
d) Clear the clickonce application cache, from the location on the machine  %userprofile%\Local Settings\Apps\2.0.
e) Re-install the application


=========================================
In general troubleshooting clickonce applications

Application installation fails on clients - ***Log file has the clue

1) Usually when the installation is not successful, we get to see a error log
ClickOnce maintains activation log files for all deployments. These logs document any errors pertaining to installing and initializing a ClickOnce deployment. By default, ClickOnce creates one log file for each deployment activation. It stores these log files in the "Temporary Internet Files folder". The log file for a deployment is displayed to the user when an activation failure occurs, and the user clicks Details... in the resulting error dialog box.

To set a custom log file location instead of the "Temporary Internet Files folder", Open Regedit.exe (registry editor)
Navigate to the node HCKU\Software\Classes\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Deployment.
Set the string key LogFilePath to the full path of your preferred custom log location.
This location must be in a directory to which the user has write access.
HCKU\Software\Classes\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Deployment

]]> Clickonce internals https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/clickonce-internals Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:28:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/11/04/clickonce-internals/ Adding your Own Pre-requisite
If we want to add our own Pre-requisite for clickonce app we can use the "Boot Strapper Manifest Generator" (to generate the product.xml and package.xml), installable from the link
https://www.davidguyer.us/bmg/publish.htm

Pre-requisites packages for clickonce are located in  %Microsoft Visual Studio 8%\SDK\2.0\Boot Strapper\ Packages

Modifying the Maifests
Mage and MageUI Tools (mage.exe - command line tool , mageui.exe - GUI ) - Comes with .Net FrameworkSDK / Visual Studio SDK located in  %Microsoft Visual Studio 8%\SDK\2.0\Bin
Used to create\modify  a  new the maifest files.

Reference - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xhctdw55.aspx


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clickonce Application Manifest - .manifest extension ( inside the app version folder)
==============
1) assembly element - manifestVersion

<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1 assembly.adaptive.xsd"


2) assembly identity element - Required. Identifies the application manifest for the ClickOnce application.
 name
 version
 publicKeyToken
 processorArchitecture
 language

<asmv1:assemblyIdentity name="ClickonceTestApp.exe" version="1.0.0.0" publicKeyToken="c4e3b7403e61d2fd" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil"


3) Trust info element 
 Application security requirements

  <trustInfo>
    <security>
      <applicationRequestMinimum>
        <PermissionSet class="System.Security.PermissionSet" version="1" Unrestricted="true" ID="Custom" SameSite="site" />
        <defaultAssemblyRequest permissionSetReference="Custom" />
      </applicationRequestMinimum>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>

4) Dependency Element
 Pre-requisite Assemblies
 Install Assemblies
 
 CLR version

  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="preRequisite" allowDelayedBinding="true">
      <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Windows.CommonLanguageRuntime" version="2.0.50727.0" />
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="install" allowDelayedBinding="true" codebase="ClickonceTestApp.exe" size="28672">
      <assemblyIdentity name="ClickonceTestApp" version="1.0.0.0" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" />
      <hash>
        <dsig:Transforms>
          <dsig:Transform Algorithm="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:HashTransforms.Identity" />
        </dsig:Transforms>
        <dsig:DigestMethod Algorithm="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" />
        <dsig:DigestValue>EN6Kbfqo1AU4K4/OpvPEzHl1Ito=</dsig:DigestValue>
      </hash>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>


5) File Element - Required. Identifies each nonassembly file that is used by the application. Can include Component Object Model (COM) isolation data associated with the file.

Reference URL - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ws1c2fch.aspx


For Each version of App manifest in the root folder, there are
Source location Ex: Server URL
Install Dependednt Assemblies
Publisher Identity, issuerkeyhash

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clickonce Deployment  Manifest - .deploy extension ( in the root folder)
==============
App - maifest (without version name)
1) assembly element - manifestVersion

<asmv1:assembly xsi:schemaLocation="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1 assembly.adaptive.xsd" manifestVersion="1.0"


2) assembly identity element - Required. Identifies the application manifest for the ClickOnce application.
 name
 version
 publicKeyToken
 processorArchitecture
 language

<assemblyIdentity name="ClickonceTestApp.application" version="1.0.0.2" publicKeyToken="c4e3b7403e61d2fd" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" />


3) description element -  Required. Identifies application information used to create a shell presence and the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel.
 publisher
 product
 supportUrl

<description asmv2:publisher="Microsoft" asmv2:product="ClickonceTestApp" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" />


4) Deployment element  -  Optional. Identifies the attributes used for the deployment of updates and exposure to the system.

  <deployment install="true" mapFileExtensions="true">
    <subscription>
      <update>
        <beforeApplicationStartup />
      </update>
    </subscription>
    <deploymentProvider codebase="https://srinivas/ClickonceTestApp/ClickonceTestApp.application" />
  </deployment>

5)Dependency element - Required. Identifies the version of the application to install for the deployment and the location of the application manifest.

  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="install" codebase="ClickonceTestApp_1_0_0_2\ClickonceTestApp.exe.manifest" size="5842">
      <assemblyIdentity name="ClickonceTestApp.exe" version="1.0.0.2" publicKeyToken="c4e3b7403e61d2fd" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" type="win32" />
      <hash>
        <dsig:Transforms>
          <dsig:Transform Algorithm="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:HashTransforms.Identity" />
        </dsig:Transforms>
        <dsig:DigestMethod Algorithm="https://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" />
        <dsig:DigestValue>s9nT+YQI7jkXCCSYqTu5C4ZVIxw=</dsig:DigestValue>
      </hash>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>


6) Signature Element - Optional. Contains the necessary information to digitally sign this deployment manifest.

Reference URL  - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/k26e96zf.aspx

]]> Where is my code gone!!! https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/where-is-my-code-gone Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:56:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/10/30/where-is-my-code-gone/ One of the most common issues that i hear from customers is ...unable to check-in the code or when they do the Getlatest the code seems to be lost.

To keep track of what code has made to the server we need to trace the communication between the client and server. We can do this by using the following

 1) TFS Client tracing

You can enable the tracing using the steps mentioned here https://blogs.msdn.com/edhintz/archive/2007/03/30/tfs-client-tracing.aspx

Note: this has to be done on the client where we see the issue. Sometimes when we enable the logging the client, you are no more able to connect to the server and get one of the errors .

TF30331: Team Explorer could not connect to the Team Foundation server servername used during your last session. The server may be offline or the network is unavailable.

Contact your Team Foundation Server administrator to confirm that the server is available on the network. Use the Connect to Team Foundation Server command on the Tools menu to reconnect to your previous server.

The server returned the following error: Index and length must refer to a location within the string.
Parameter name: length 

This happens especially for Windows Vista clients. To fix the issue, you need to install the fix mentioned here https://support.microsoft.com/kb/936210. You can get it from https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/content/content.aspx?ContentID=3705 or raise a free ticket with microsoft support( https://support.microsoft.com)

Once you enable tracing, all the communication between the client and server is logged and you can look into the log file avaialble

 (say c:\tfs-tracefile.log) and trace the issue

2) TFSActivitylogging database 

Team Foundation Server has a feature to log every server "command" (a command is a TFS web service call) to a database on the data tier.

To learn more, visit the excellent article by Brian, https://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2005/10/24/484125.aspx

This two things should help us trace any code loss issues and also see what is going on between clients and server.

Lot of times the culprit is Anti-Virus which is interfering with the communication, beware of this :) 

 

 

 

]]> TFS Defaults - one point stop!!! https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/tfs-defaults-one-point-stop Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:49:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/10/30/tfs-defaults-one-point-stop/ Following are the default settings for TFS Single Server installation

TFSService Account is used by
-------------------
Services
         TFSServerScheduler
         CodeCoverageAnalysisService
         SharepointTimerService

Application Pools in IIS
       TFSAppPool
       TFWSS
       TFWSSADMIN

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application Pools in IIS

DefaultAppPool - NetworkService
ReportServer - NetworkService
StsAdminAppPool - NetworkService
TFSAppPool - TFSService
TFWSS - TFSService
TFWSSADMIN - TFSService

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Websites in IIS run under the app pools

DefaultWebSite - TFSWSS - ISAPI filter (stsfltr - c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\bin\STSFLTR.DLL)

SharePoint Central Administration - TFSWSSADMIN

TeamFoundation Server - TFSAppPool

------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL Server Server services - can be checked in the Services MMC snap-in

SQL Server - Core Service - Local System   
SQL Server Agent - Local System
SQL Analysis Services - Local System
SQL Server FullText Search - Local System
SQL Server Reporting Services - Local System
SQL Integration Services - Network Service ( Local system - doc)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL Server Databases, can be viewed in the SQL management studio - TFS related

TFSActivityLogging
TFSBuild
TFSIntegration
TFSVersionControl
TFSWarehouse
TFSWarehouseExtension
TFSWorkItemTracking
TFSWorkItemTrackingAttachments
STS_Config_TFS
STS_Content_TFS
ReportServer
ReportServer Temp DB

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Data Sources for reports found at https://localhost/reports

TFSOlapReportDS -  Analysis Services - DataSource=[Machine name];catalog=TFSWareHouse - TFSReports
TFSReportDS - Core Serrvice - DataSource=[Machine name];catalog=TFSWareHouse - TFSReports

 

]]> .Net Framework 3.0 installation - WCF failure https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/net-framework-3-0-installation-wcf-failure Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:56:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/10/30/net-framework-3-0-installation-wcf-failure/ The most common problem i have seen with the .Net Framework 3.0 installation is failure on Windows Communcation Foundation (which is hidden). The error message that you see is generic and just says that there is a failue and do you want to report this to microsoft.

Again to get more details regarding the failure, please check my other post General installation issues - .Net/ Visual Studio/ TFS / Service Packs.

Usually the failure point will take you to the file dd_wcf_ret*****.txt. If you look up, you see the following text above the "value 3" string

------------------------------------------------------ 

MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:18:781]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=DD_CA_InstallXwsRegExe_RB_X86.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8,,)
MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:18:781]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=DD_CA_InstallXwsRegExe_RB_X86.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8,ActionType=1345,Source=BinaryData,Target=QuietExec,CustomActionData=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\ServiceModelReg.exe /u /x /y /v;dummy;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\)
MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:18:781]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=DD_CA_InstallXwsRegExe_X86.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8,,)
MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:18:781]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=DD_CA_InstallXwsRegExe_X86.3643236F_FC70_11D3_A536_0090278A1BB8,ActionType=3073,Source=BinaryData,Target=QuietExec,CustomActionData=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\ServiceModelReg.exe /r /x /y /v;dummy;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\)
MSI (s) (2C:A4) [17:13:18:781]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\MSI6.tmp, Entrypoint: QuietExec
MSI (s) (2C:68) [17:13:18:781]: Generating random cookie.
MSI (s) (2C:68) [17:13:18:781]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 1704 (0x6A8).
MSI (s) (2C:7C) [17:13:18:812]: Running as a service.
MSI (s) (2C:7C) [17:13:18:812]: Hello, I'm your 32bit Elevated custom action server.
MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:22:828]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (2C:54) [17:13:22:828]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 17:13:22: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Also the file dd_dotnetfx3error.txt would have an entry , something like

[09/20/07,17:21:25] Windows Communication Foundation: [2] Error: Installation
failed for component Windows Communication Foundation. MSI returned error code
1603
[09/20/07,16:23:03] WapUI: [2] DepCheck indicates Windows Communication Foundation
is not installed.
 

To go around this issue

1) Log into the machine using Windows Administrator credentials. Download the Full .net Framework 3.0 setup from the link

  • X86 Redist Package
  • X64 Redist Package

    • or go to the link https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10CC340B-F857-4A14-83F5-25634C3BF043&displaylang=en and scroll down to the end, to find links to the full download. The setup file size you would have will be 50.3 MB.

    2) Reboot the machine in Windows Diagnostic mode using the steps mentioned in the post

    General installation issues - .Net/ Visual Studio/ TFS / Service Packs and try the installation.

    3) If the step 2) does not succeed, its a good idea to verify the existing .Net 2.0 installation and see if it is not corrupt. If its corrupt its a good idea is to repair/ un-install/ re-install 2.0 and then try .Net 3.0 installation.

    If the steps do not help, you can see in and around the point of failure in the installation log to see what is the action being performed when the failure happened. For ex: there might be an issue with IIS metabase being corrupt in which case you would need to re-install IIS.

    I have handled another case recently where un-installing IIS resolved the issue.We were curiuos to know what does the .Net 3.0 installation has to do with the IIS....the reason is

    The WCF installation setup configures IIS to support web-hosted activation (where IIS automatically launches a service process when a request is received); however, if IIS is uninstalled, it skips this step.

     

    ]]>         General installation issues - .Net/ Visual Studio/ TFS / Service Packs https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/general-installation-issues-net-visual-studio-tfs-service-packs Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:13:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/10/30/general-installation-issues-net-visual-studio-tfs-service-packs/ If you are running into installation issues for .Net Framework / Visual Studio / TFS and any of the assosciated Service Packs, the troubleshooting would proceed as below

    Always try the installations using the Windows Administrator account login which is the most priviliged

    1) The error message if any displayed is a good text to search for in the Internet. You can try using indvidual key words from the error, especially error codes, they should give good number of results.

    2) If the error messages do not help, we need to look into the installation logs which are in the windows temporary folder. To get there, go to Start-> Run and type %temp% and press enter.

    3) Enabling Installation logging

     .Net Framework - 1.0 / 1.1 / 2.0 / 3.0 / 3.5 installation issues, Visual Studio - 2002 / 2003  installation issues, Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1 and Team Explorer installation issues we need to enable the installation logging so that we can get the installation log files to get to more details of the issue

    To enable logging, you can use the msidebug.reg registry merge file from https://astebner.sts.winisp.net/Tools/Forms/AllItems.aspx

    or manually add the following to registry. Becareful editing registry, its always a good idea to take a backup of registry before you edit it.

    Go to Start-> Run and type regedit and press enter

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

    Create a new string variable named "logging" with a value "voicewarmupx!"

     

    It is not required to enable installation logging for Visual Studio 2005 and Team Foundation Server product installation, as it is by default. But for Service Pack 1 installation for VS 2005, you need to manullay enable it 

    4) Once you enable installation logging, you can reproduce the installation issues and get the installation log files from the %temp% folder.

    5) One of the key installation file is VSmsi****.log or the msi*****.log .

    Search for the string "value 3" (without Qoutes), this should usually point you to the failure step. Look in and around the "Value 3" entry in the log to get more information about the failure. If you do not get the string "value 3" in the msi logs, you can search for the same in the other files.

    Once you have more information you can do the search in the internet for troubleshooting further.

    One of the wonderful places you can look for installation issues is https://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/, i learnt most of things from here when i started( and continue learning till today) :)

    6) Most of the times its seen that the Anti-virus/ Firewall on the machine interferes with the installation of Products. Its a good idea to disable Anti-Virus/ Firewall temporarily for the purpose of testing the installation  and see if it helps.

    The other step is to try the installation in Windows Diagnostic mode which is more recommended of the fact(there won't be any internet connection, so no worries of Virus sneaking in when it is disabled). The diagnostic mode starts up with minimum number of services that means minimum interference with the windows installer.

    Please boot the machine in the Normal Windows Mode and try the steps to reboot the machine in the Diagnostics mode.

    1)      Go to Start-> Run and type msconfig and press enter.

    2)      In the window that appears, under the Startup Type, please select Diagnostic mode

    3)      Then go to the Services tab and select the following services that are required for installation/repair in Diagnostic startup which are not selected by default

    a)      Plug and Play

    b)      System Restore Services

    c)      Windows Installer

    4)      Now press the apply button and then ok. This will ask you to re-start the machine, hit re-start.

    5)      Once you re-start the machine in Windows Diagnostic mode, re-try the installation and see if it helps.

    ]]>         About me!!! https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/srib/about-me Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:03:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/srib/2007/10/30/about-me/ I am a Srinivas Bringu, a Bachelor Degree Holder in Computer Science, working with Visual Studio/ .Net Support team for the past one and half years. I mainly work on the .Net/ VS installation and TFS issues. VB.net is something i am getting better at.

    Technology is something that excites me apart from knowing more about Life and thoughts about what it holds for us. "Personal Excellence" is one of the non-technical subjects that i am interested in.

    ]]>