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/

A while back Microsoft announced the new and shiny Windows Server 2022 and just a few weeks ago the ISO of the technical preview has been made public.
What is new you might ask? Well from the articles I read, Windows Server 2022 is more secure, has a better integration with Windows Admin Center (aka modern MMCs) and has simpler migration steps if you want to move your server to Microsoft Azure. Check the article at the bottom of this page.

There are also some visual changes. Take a look at the start screen:

Microsoft Edge Chromium comes pre-installed on Windows Server 2022:

Icons are modern looking like in the latest versions of Windows 10:

The Settings app looks also slightly different

The old Control Panel is luckily still around:

So while aesthetically you might say very little has changed from Windows Server 2019 or even 2016, I am positive that Microsoft has done a lot of changes under the hood that matter and make your infrastructure more secure than ever. This is the version of Windows Server you want to install by default in 1-2 years time.

References:

https://www.qubicgroup.com/news/microsoft-reveals-list-of-new-features-for-windows-server-2022/

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/windowsserver/2021/03/02/announcing-windows-server-2022-now-in-preview/