Top Support Solutions for Windows Server 2012 R2

This is a collection of the top Microsoft Support solutions for the most common issues experienced when using Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 (updated quarterly). Note that some content that applies to earlier versions of Windows Server is listed, because it can be also helpful with Windows Server 2012 issues.

1. Solutions related to Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS):

• FAQ on ADFS - Part 1 - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• Important Announcement: AD FS 2.0 and MS13-066 - Ask the Directory Services Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• How to Build Your ADFS Lab on Server 2012 Part 1 - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• How to Build Your ADFS Lab on Server 2012, Part2: Web SSO - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• How to Build Your ADFS Lab on Server 2012 Part 3: ADFS Proxy - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• How to Build Your ADFS Lab Part4: Upgrading to Server 2012 R2 - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• Introduction to Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) AlternateLoginID Feature - Ask Premier Field Engineering (PFE) Platforms - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS) Diagnostic

2. Solutions related to Clustering:

• Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012 R2-based failover clusters
• Unable to launch Cluster Failover Manager on any node of a ...
• You cannot stop the cluster service on a Windows Server 2012 R2-based failover cluster
• CPrepSrv.exe process crashes or Failover Cluster Manager freezes when you validate storage in Windows Server 2012 R2
• “Configuration Error” for Network Adapter property when you use Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2
• Storage spaces take a long time to move to another node after a node fails on a Windows Server 2012 R2 failover cluster
• CSV failover time is longer than expected in Windows failover cluster
• How to use Windows Server cluster nodes as domain controllers
• Event ID 5120 in System Event Log - Clustering and High ...

3. Solutions related to Bugchecks, Stop errors, and unexpected restarts:

• Free Bluescreen/Bugcheck Diagnostic Tool
• Bug Check Code Reference (Windows Debuggers)
• USB devices stop working in Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012
• The Compiler Did What? - Ntdebugging Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
• Understanding ARM Assembly Part 1 - Ntdebugging Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
• Stop error 0x109: CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION on a VMWare virtual machine
• Stop error 0x000000D1 and Windows Server 2012 runs a bugcheck when you enable a storage controller
• 0x7E Stop error occurs randomly when you close SMB sessions in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2
• Driver installation may fail if a required device results in Stop 0x7B
• "0xD1" Stop error when computer is restarted by the Sysprep.exe process in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2

4. Solutions related to Active Directory replication:

• AD replication fails with an RPC issue after you set a static port for NTDS in a Windows-based domain environment
• Troubleshooting AD Replication error 8606: "Insufficient attributes were given to create an object"
• After you re-add a member server to a DFS replication group in Windows Server 2003 R2, initial replication does not occur on the member server, and changes in the replicated folder are replicated unexpectedly to other replication partners

5. Solutions related to Remote access (DirectAccess):

• Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012 DirectAccess and Windows Server 2012 R2 DirectAccess
• DirectAccess Unsupported Configurations
• Troubleshooting DirectAccess
• Deploy Multiple Remote Access Servers in a Multisite ...
• Deploy Remote Access in a Cluster
• Deploy Remote Access in an Enterprise
• Step 1: Plan the DirectAccess Infrastructure
• e2e: Simplified Direct Access in an IPv4-only Environment
• DirectAccess clients may be unable to connect when a static proxy is configured

6. Solutions related to Access to file shares (SMB):

• List of currently available hotfixes for the File Services technologies in Windows Server 2012 and in Windows Server 2012 R2

7. Solutions related to File Replication Technologies (FRS and DFSR):

• DFS Replication: How to troubleshoot missing SYSVOL and Netlogon shares
• How to force an authoritative and non-authoritative synchronization for DFSR-replicated SYSVOL (like "D4/D2" for FRS)

8. Solutions related to General Active Directory issues:

• Because TechNet didn’t have enough Active Directory awesomeness already - Ask the Directory Services Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
• AD replication fails with an RPC issue after you set a static port for NTDS in a Windows-based domain environment
• Troubleshooting AD Replication error 8606: “Insufficient attributes were given to create an object”
• After you re-add a member server to a DFS replication group in Windows Server 2003 R2, initial replication does not occur on the member server, and changes in the replicated folder are replicated unexpectedly to other replication partners

9. Solutions related to Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) licensing:

• RD Licensing Configuration on Windows Server 2012 - Ask ...
• RD Licensing Demystified – how it Works - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki
• RDS and TS CAL Interoperability Matrix - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

10. Solutions related to Virtualization and Hyper-V issues:

• Hyper-V storage: Caching layers and implications for data consistency
• Microsoft support policy for 4K sector hard drives in Windows
• Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2012 R2-based failover clusters
• You experience virtual machine replication performance degradation on a Windows Server 2012 R2-based Replica server if you enable additional recovery points
• Event IDs 19050, 32022, 32032, 32056, 32315, 32546 and 33680 are logged when Hyper-V replication is in progress
• ”Hyper-V Replica Cluster Broker is not installed” error when you replicate private clouds to Microsoft Azure
• Hyper-V: Update List for Windows Server 2012 - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki
• August 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2
• Run Best Practices Analyzer Scans and Manage Scan Results