Windows Server License with Software Assurance (SA) – Renewal Options
I purchased a Windows Server 2022 Standard license with 3 years of Software Assurance (SA), which is expiring next month. I would like to know how the renewal process works. I understand that Windows Server 2025 Standard with 3 years of SA is available. Do I need to upgrade to Windows Server 2025, or can I continue using Windows Server 2022 while renewing SA through the Windows Server 2025 offering? Are there any other options to renew or extend the existing SA coverage? Also, is there any option to extend the Extended Support End Date? Appreciate any advice from those familiar with Microsoft Windows Server licensing.
Settings Crashes After DC Promotion; Windows Update Unavailable (Server 2016/2022)
Objective Resolve the issue where the Windows Settings app crashes immediately upon opening, so that I can access Settings and install Windows updates normally. Environment and Problem Description We have two domain controllers in our Active Directory domain, named AD and DC. Both are running Windows Server 2016. - AD holds all five FSMO roles and runs as a Hyper-V virtual machine hosted on another server. - DC is a physical server. Both domain controllers have the same problem. Control Panel opens normally, but the Settings app does not. When I click Settings, a window briefly flashes on the screen without displaying any content (or only the gear icon appears), and then the window immediately closes. I cannot open Settings-related pages, including Windows Update. As a result, I cannot use the normal Windows Update interface to install updates. The issue also affects monthly updates downloaded manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog. When I run an update package, the following error appears: Windows Update Standalone Installer: Installer encountered an error: 0x80070005 Access is denied. I performed the following test in an isolated environment: 1. Restored a backup of AD and installed a fresh Windows Server 2022 machine named AD3. AD3 was not connected to any other hosts or networks during the test. 2. Before AD3 was promoted to a domain controller, the Settings app worked normally. 3. Immediately after promoting AD3 to a domain controller, Settings stopped opening and began closing immediately. 4. I then transferred all five FSMO roles to AD3 and demoted AD, so that AD was no longer a domain controller. 5. Surprisingly, the Settings app on AD started working again after AD was demoted. This behavior strongly suggests that the problem is related to the domain controller role or something that changes when a server is promoted to a domain controller. However, I have not identified the underlying cause. Is there a recommended diagnostic procedure or a known issue that could explain this behavior? I would appreciate any technical guidance on how to identify the root cause and resolve the problem without having to demote the domain controllers. Thank you.
Profile Bloat in Azure VM and VMware VDI: A Policy-Driven Strategy for Reducing Storage Growth
OneDrive profile bloat is one of those issues that often starts as a minor desktop optimization discussion, but quickly becomes a storage, performance, and governance problem at enterprise scale. In Azure Virtual Machines and VMware VDI environments, when OneDrive is tied to the user profile, the sync cache, local file state, and stale content can accumulate over time and create unnecessary growth in profile containers, VHD/VHDX files, and backup overhead. The result is higher infrastructure cost, slower login and logoff times, and inconsistent user experience across pooled or multi-session desktops. This is not a problem that should be solved by disabling OneDrive. In most enterprise scenarios, OneDrive remains a critical collaboration workload, but it must be managed as a controlled service rather than a user-local convenience. The most effective strategy is to install OneDrive at the machine level, enforce policy by user class and device context, and use Files On-Demand and cloud content dehydration to minimize local persistence. This approach preserves user productivity while reducing the operational impact on virtualized desktop infrastructure. A policy-driven design is particularly important in multi-user environments where not all workloads should be treated the same. Developer desktops, standard business users, and restricted or consultant user groups have different productivity needs and different data-risk profiles. For example: General business users may benefit from a balanced policy with Files On-Demand enabled and moderate dehydration thresholds. Developer or QA environments may require more local flexibility while still controlling profile growth. Restricted or external-user populations should have strong sync boundaries, personal account restrictions, and minimal local persistence. To support this model, organizations should align their deployment around a few core principles: install OneDrive at the machine level in the standard image or build pipeline use group policy and loopback processing to apply user-specific policy based on OU or security group enable Files On-Demand by default configure Storage Sense and cloud content dehydration based on workload profile restrict personal Microsoft account sync in higher-risk scenarios use FSLogix compaction and profile optimization as secondary controls, not as the primary solution This model is especially relevant for organizations running Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure VM-based workloads, VMware Horizon, and other multi-user Windows desktop environments. The benefits are practical and measurable: lower local storage consumption, reduced VHD/VHDX growth, improved desktop performance, lower backup cost, and stronger governance over enterprise data movement. As IT and endpoint engineering teams continue modernizing virtual desktop environments, I would encourage us to think of OneDrive not as a user-profile feature, but as an enterprise-managed workload with policy boundaries. When implemented properly, this gives us the best balance between productivity, storage efficiency, and security. I’d be very interested in hearing how others are handling this in their environments: Are you deploying OneDrive at the machine level? Are you enforcing Files On-Demand by default? How are you segmenting policy by user class or device type? Have you measured the impact on VHD/VHDX growth or profile size after enforcement? Source document: https://github.com/RodrigoACriscuolo/criscra/blob/main/Home.Profile-BloatKB5122882 and Intel SATA RAID boot problem
There is a bigger issue on Supermicro motherboards when Intel SATA RAID is configured: the system fails to boot after an update. I have verified this on three different boards; X9SCL-F, X11SCW-F, X11SSL-F, after a second restart : A disk read error occurred The array is functioning correctly; I can see it when running the system from an ISO, and I have tested all possible boot repair options.
Windows server 2022 is not updating with latest patch KB5126655
Windows server 2022 is not updating with latest patch KB5126655. However, successfully installed 2026-10 Cumulative update for .Net framework. Last successful Cumulative update for the operating system version 21H2 is 2026-06. Try to update the latest patch manually, the server is rolling back the patch.Quick machine recovery is now supported on Windows Server 2025
Quick machine recovery is now available for Windows Server 2025. Quick machine recovery can help servers recover from critical boot failures by using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to search Windows Update for an applicable remediation. Recovery is dependent on an applicable remediation being available. On Windows Server 2025, quick machine recovery is disabled by default. Administrators can use Group Policy to enable and configure the capability for servers in their environment. Rollout schedule Quick machine recovery is available for Windows Server 2025 editions with the October 2026 security update or later installed. Impact on your organization There is no change to the default recovery behavior for Windows Server 2025 after installing the update because Quick machine recovery is disabled by default. If you choose to enable this feature, you can then use cloud remediation to retrieve and apply targeted remediations through Windows Update when a server encounters a critical boot failure. Administrators can also configure automatic remediation, which allows the server to check for an available cloud-based remediation without user interaction. Configure quick machine recovery by using Group Policy - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn Quick machine recovery | Microsoft Learn
Hyper-V Ubuntu VM: Memory Demand Different at Hyper-V and OS Level
Hello all, Looking for advice and insight for a strange problem we are experiencing. We have a cluster of Windows Server 2025 hosts, on which we are using Hyper-V manager to run mostly Windows VMs. To access these VMs, we are using Apache Guacamole which is hosted on a Ubuntu VM on our cluster. We originally assigned 32GB memory to this VM. Recently, we have noticed an increased memory demand for this VM at the Hyper-V level which prompted us to increase the assigned memory of the VM to 64GB. Despite this, the memory demand has continued rising despite no apparent change in the usage of Guacamole. When logging into the VM and observing the memory usage here, the VM is using no where near the amount that is assigned. As shown in the attached images which were taken at the same time: Memory Demand Hyper-V Level (And seems to be continuing to increase...): Memory Demand OS Level: This morning, the memory demand spiked to 95GB on Hyper-V but at OS level was only 12GB and we were forced to restart the VM. The biggest concern is where this discrepancy is coming from and the potential unnecessary disruptions that will be caused from having to restart/rebuild the VM. Has anyone experienced this sort of issue before and found a fix? Can anyone suggest how to debug this issue? TIAWindows Server 2025 Standard - failing to load sign in screen
Hello all Has anyone come across an issue with login into their Win Svr 2025 Standard via the GUI or RDP? Had a good google and can't see much of info out there but since last week I lost the ability to RDP or even locally sign into my server running Hyper-V, VMs work fine. When connecting via RDP the session is initiated - get past credential prompt and cert warning but never gets to establish the session. Since the server is hosted on prem, I was able to pop down to the comms room but when I tried to login via GUI after hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del loading screen comes up but never follows through to display username and password textboxes. Since this is a production system I can't just reboot the whole lot. In the meantime, I've tried restarting both WinLogon.exe and LogonUI.exe processes via CIMSession both were showing twice and after terminating each the number of processes come down to 1 but still no joy signing in. Any ideas community? New to the community so apologies in advance if I posted in the wrong place. Best wishes MichalI have an complicated problem for Windows Update in Windows Server 2016
Starting from Last April , when install Tuesday Patches , it's completed successfully but undo any change after reboot, when check Staged , I have find a lot of packages has stuck on Staged , I have remove all of them and install KB5123239 using Download KB , but the same issue still existing, and trying to install it using CAB file , but the same issue still existing, and trying to reinstall it after uninstall the EDR , but the problem still existing otherwise , after reboot and check installed updates, I have find this KB it's shown as it's installed List of all Staged Pacakges : I have follow the below technote to remove them https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/installing-updates-features-roles/error-0x800f0922-installing-windows-updates and then trying to install it using cab file anyway, I'm trying to Exclude Drivers in updates. After Undo changes (first picture above )after reboot, the control panel was shown this KB !!! this KB is related to patch in 2024 , and I'm already remove all staged packages !!! BR, Hazem Mohamed
