The first step in the journey to the cloud is to install and configure Azure AD Connect. This will synchronize users in local Active Directory to Azure AD and will allow you to use cloud services like OneDrive For Business, Sharepoint Online, Exchange Online, or Microsoft Teams.

Before installing the service itself, we have to set an alternate UPN suffix as in Azure AD. In Active Directory Domains and Trusts add a new UPN suffix. The suffix should be equal to the custom domain name in Azure AD.

Users synchronizing to Azure AD should have that UPN suffix set:

In the Azure AD panel, select Azure AD Connect and then “Download Azure AD Connect”

Start the installer and select “Customize”

Hit install

Select Password Hash Synchronization and login with your Azure AD global admin

Select Create new AD Account and enter Enterprise Admin credentials. The tool will automatically set the correct permission on the OU without adding Domain Admin rights to the user.

You will notice that a new user named MSOL_xxx has been created.

This is just a warning. We already set the correct UPN suffix.

Deselect the top checkbox and select the OU containing AD Users. Service users should not be synchronized.

Leave everything else on default settings and then hit install.

With the synchronization service you can check what objects have been synced and the last time a sync ran.

In Azure AD the synced user should show up. You can see that the correct UPN has been configured on the user.

If you want to manually start AD Sync, in Windows PowerShell enter this command:

Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta

When using User/Device licensing in Citrix, licenses are occupied for up to 90 days, which is a long time if you have a limited amount of licenses. If you need to release them, here is how you can do it:

• Stop the service Citrix Licensing Service, Citrix License Config Service and Citrix Support Service
• Delete the following folder (or rename it, just to be sure): “C:\Program Files(x86)\Citrix\Licensing\LS\resource\cache”
• Start the service Citrix Licensing Service, Citrix License Config Service and Citrix Support Service
• Enjoy

References:

https://ulrikchristensen.com/how-to-release-unused-citrix-user-or-device-licenses/

On a Windows Server with RDS feature enabled, you might encounter an issue with Windows Update Coordinator being stuck at “Please wait while the application is preparing for the first use” during a program installation. This problem is very easy to resolve with Group Policy Editor (either locally through gpedit.msc or Domain Group Policy).

Navigate to Computer configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Application Compatibility and enable the setting “Turn off Windows Installer RDS Compatibility”.

After installing the program, I would recommend re-enabling Windows Update Coordinator by disabling the GPO setting or leaving it at “Not configured”.

If you have users complaining about incomplete search results on RDS Server 2019, especially in Outlook, this registry key might fix the problem. It did fix mine.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search

DWORD EnablePerUserCatalog 0

Restart the Windows Search service.

This will create the index database under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows rather than in the user’s AppData folder. It should look something like this:

On old Windows Active Directory environments, you might need to upgrade the Sysvol share from File Replication Service to Distributed File System Replication. This is very easy to do and it should be done asap in your environment.

Unfortunately I do not have screenshots to share with you, but here are the steps:

With dfsrmig /getmigrationstate you can see the status of the migration. Dfsrmig has 4 states starting from 0:

• State 0 – started
• State 1 – prepared
• State 2 – redirected
• State 3 – eliminated

Step 1:

dfsrmig /setglobalstate 0

Wait untill all Domain Controllers have the state “started”. You can check the state with dfsrmig /getmigrationstate. Be very patient as it might take some time to replicate changes particularly if you have Domain Controllers on remote offices.

Step 2:

dfsrmig /setglobalstate 1

Wait until all Domain Controller have the state “prepared”. You can check the state with dfsrmig /getmigrationstate. Once again, be very patient and double check the output.

Step 3:

dfsrmig /setglobalstate 2

Wait until all Domain Controller have the state “redirected”. You can check the state with dfsrmig /getmigrationstate. Be very patient and double-check the output.

Step 3:

dfsrmig /setglobalstate 3

Wait until all Domain Controller have the state “eliminated”. You can check the state with dfsrmig /getmigrationstate. Be very patient and double-check the output.

In addition to the last migration state, make sure the File Replication Service service is disabled on every Domain Controller.

References:

https://www.rebeladmin.com/2015/04/step-by-step-guide-for-upgrading-sysvol-replication-to-dfsr-distributed-file-system-replication/