Windows 10 "Installing Citrix XenServer Tools" stuck & only fast ethernet NIC

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hello All,

 

I have tried about every method & forum post but the one that works and am at my wits end. I have a XenServer 6.5 which I recently upgraded to the latest updates. The other XP or Windows 8 VMs on it work fine and new tools are ok. My Windows 10 VM on the otherhand says 'XenServer Tools not installed'.

 

I have installed and uninstalled the XenServer Tools every which way and after a number of reboots it keeps getting stuck at

Installing Citrix XenServer Tools

Drivers : Installing

Guest Agent : Installing

 

 

There was one point in one of my manual installs where it appeared XenTools was installed as I didn't see the 'XenServer Tools not installed' message, but the VM only had a fast ethernet NIC. Checking forums the resolution was to reinstall XenTools which brings me back to my first problem.

 

Is this a known issue? Can XenTools be nuked from space?

 

Thanks

[Jason Rasmussen]

I have moved all my XenServer VMs to VMWare VSAN. Migrating from XenServer was a pain due to non-standard 'open' format XenCenter exports, and mainly the problematic XenTools that embed themselves in Windows as they don't uninstall cleanly and conflict in other VM environments, but it can be done (reply if you want a how-to). Things just work in VMware and are much more reliable. I have retired all my XenServers. This is the solution.

[Michael Hennemann]

Hi Michael,

 

With XenServer 6.5, if you do any kind of OS upgrade (the Windows Anniversary Update counts as a OS upgrade), XenTools will break. There is no way to fix it. I have not upgraded to XenServer 7 yet. If you install the Anniversary Update from scratch, XenTools will work with 6.5. I created a new 'master image' from a fresh install of the Windows Anniversary Update on my XenServer 6.5 and XenTools works. That is the only 'work around' you are going to get.

 

Thanks

 

Hi Jason,

 

thanks for you post!

 

So it _is_ a bug in xentools? At least in 6.5 upto HF 28 for all we know. But i think HF 18 is the last one that brings new xentools. 

 

Hopefully citrix is going to fix this somehow. I think MS is planing to distribute upgrades for Win10/Server2016 more often as upgrade installation.

Citrix can't expect the customers to completly reinstall thier vdi / rds-servers every few month ;-)

 

kind regards

michael

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hi Julien,

 

Are you running Xen 6.5 as well? I have not had time to test on Xen7 yet.

 

Thanks

[Julien Pierret]

Hi Jason,

 

Yes, I'm on Xen 6.5, fully updated. 

 

-Julien

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hi Julien,

 

I guess the next step is to see if the problem still exists in Xen 7, as it appears this issue will never be fixed in Xen 6.x.

 

Thanks

[Luka Batistic]

I've tried posting this two times already but the posts seem to be stuck in moderation... Trying one more time:

 

I just tested it out on a Xen 7 system, fully updated as of today.

 

And it works just fine (as opposed to Xen 6.5 where I'm experiencing the same problems as described above).

 

The first test was:

1. Install Win 10 Pro November rollup

2. Don't install any updates 

3. Install XenTools (or whatever they're called in Xen 7)

4. Install anniversary edition from ISO

5. Check network - 1Gb xenserver PV

6. Install all available updatets, reboot (a few times for good measure to see if that messes with the drivers)

7. Check network - 1Gb xenserver PV

 

 

The second test was:

1. Install Win 10 Pro November rollup

2. Install all available updates (except anniversary edition)

3. Install XenTools (or whatever they're called in Xen 7)

4. Install anniversary edition from ISO

5. Check network - 1Gb xenserver PV

6. Install all available updatets, reboot (a few times for good measure to see if that messes with the drivers)

7. Check network - 1Gb xenserver PV

[Tim Soto]

Try enabling the Administrator account and be sure to give it a password. Then login as the Administrator and install the XenTools.

[Michael Hennemann]

Hi@all

 

ran into the same issue yesterday with XS 6.5 SP1 HF 028:

 

- Clean install of Win10 1511 (November-Upgrade)

- Upgrade with ISO to Win10 1607 (Anniversary-Upgrade)

 

-> XenTools are broken, NIC switches back to 100 MBit Realtek.

 

XenTools setup either stops responding or gets into an loop "restart VM > continue setup > restart VM > continue setup..." Even tried to uninstall XenTools first and reinstall after Win10 upgrade -> no luck, VM is completly messed up.

 

Had to revert to bevore-snapshot.

Did anyone manage to resolve the issue?

Or is it (another) bug in XenTools?

 

cheers michael

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hi Michael,

 

With XenServer 6.5, if you do any kind of OS upgrade (the Windows Anniversary Update counts as a OS upgrade), XenTools will break. There is no way to fix it. I have not upgraded to XenServer 7 yet. If you install the Anniversary Update from scratch, XenTools will work with 6.5. I created a new 'master image' from a fresh install of the Windows Anniversary Update on my XenServer 6.5 and XenTools works. That is the only 'work around' you are going to get.

 

Thanks

[Julien Pierret]

I ran into the exact same issue as Jason: upgraded to Windows 10 Anniversary Update and NIC performance crashed, had to roll it back.

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hi Michael,

 

If you look at the past posts, it appears to indeed be a bug with XenServer 6.5, and Citrix has no interest in fixing in it. User 'lukabb' reported XenServer 7 upgrading the OS properly with XenTools functional, but I have not verified this yet. Your options on XenServer 6.5 are either:

1) Stick with that you have

2) Upgrade the OS and break XenTools (VM will function, but only at fast ethernet)

3) Reinstall the virtual machine OS from scratch to have OS upgraded with XenTools working.

[OTTO Arbeitsplatzsysteme CITRIX VDI TEAM]

Hi Citrix,

 

what can we do ? We would like to update 700 Windows 10 full dedicated VMs with v1511  to Windows 10 v1607.  We can not reinstall 700 VMs with 1607... We need to update them with working XenServer Tools 6.5.

 

Our VMs always get borken NICs  and are not recoverable.

 

 

XenSever Tools a always a headache....

 

Best Regards

[Luka Batistic]

what can we do ? 

 

You could try upgrading the host to Xenserver 7 and do the upgrade of windows then. 

 

I haven't tried this scenario yet.

 

But upgrading from one edition of windows to another works within Xenserver 7 without braking xentools (see above).

[OTTO Arbeitsplatzsysteme CITRIX VDI TEAM]

We don't want to update all 20 Hosts.... :wacko: We want to you use Windows 10 with XenServer 6.5....

 

I will open a Case for this issues.

[Luka Batistic]

I will open a Case for this issues.

 

Excellent. 

 

Please let us know how it goes...

[OTTO Arbeitsplatzsysteme CITRIX VDI TEAM]

Ok solved the issue for us.

 

 

Before you upgrade:

 

- Deinstall XenServer 6.5 Tools.

- Reboot

- Deinstall VDA 

- Reboot

- Upgrade 1511 to 1607

- Install XenServer 6.5 Tools

- Install VDA

- Reboot

 

The Update will be slow but it works.

 

 

Best Regards

[Alan Lantz]

Xentools can be such a PITA, good to see you have found a way to get the issue resolved.

 

--Alan--

 

[Boby John1709155536]

is there a test environment where you can Try XenServer 7 ?

[Jason Rasmussen]

Hi Tobias,

 

This happens with existing installs, and this happens on fresh clean installs. I freshly clean installed from scratch Windows 10 (Nov 2015 build) on a fully patched Xen 6.5 system. XenTools and NIC looked good. But after upgrading to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the XenTools are messed up, unable to be repaired with NIC at 100mbps, ultimately rendering the system useless. The exact same result as I previously documented upgrading a Windows 8 machine to 10.

 

I can try other scenarios if you have any suggestions, so that XenTools does not break after upgrading or updating the OS.

 

Thank you

[Tobias Kreidl]

We always install from scratch, but your point is well taken that not everyone does and that should not be a showstopper. The guess is there are remnants in the registry that interfere. Not sure how horrid a task it would be (is Sisyphus

available?) to compare an upgraded registry with that of a clean installation.

-=Tobias

[Jason Rasmussen]

This is still an issue even after the Windows Anniversary Update. Microsoft treats this update like a Windows upgrade/reinstall, and if you do this in XenCenter, the NIC will go to fast ethernet (100mbps), and all attempts to remove/reinstall the XenTools result in the previously documented 'Installation Service Not Found' error.

 

When will this be fixed in XenCenter? This is a serious show stopper when an upgrade to Windows 10, and now an upgrade to the Anniversary Edition of Windows 10 break the XenTools beyond repair and gimp the NIC.

[Jason Rasmussen]

Still not fixed even with the latest XenServer updates installed. There appears to be no upgrade path from Win 8 to Win 10 without the XenTools borking the NIC to an unrecoverable state, and no fix from Xen to resolve this fatal error.

[Jason Rasmussen]

I found the problem, but still don't have the answer. XenTools has issues with a Windows 8 to Windows 10 upgrade. Doing a clean install of 10, or installing 8 (even from a work template), upgrading to 10, then doing a system refresh (essentially a clean install of 10) and XenTools installs & works fine. Upgrading 8 from 10 breaks XenTools and it fails to resinstall no matter what angle you try. I have even tried completely uninstalling XenTools before the 10 upgrade, but when you try to install the tools after the upgrade, the same issue exists. I have upgraded many different systems to Windows 10, but this show-stopper only shows up with XenTools in XenCenter.

 

I would prefer not to recreate 25+ Windows VMs by hand because of Citrix's poor XenTools support for a Windows 8 to Windows 10 upgrade. My template & purchased licenses are Windows 8. There is a reason for pre-configured deployment templates that both Xen & Microsoft support, and the poor XenTools throws all this out the window if I have to configure each VM manually instead of doing a standard 8-10 in place upgrade using our master template.

[Joshua Lindemann]

That makes sense.

 

Outside of dealing with VM's, I haven't been overly thrilled with the Win8 to Win10 upgrade.  A lot of Win8 items get left behind and sometimes cause problems.  And I'm just talking about laptops and desktops. I've seen Win8 drivers stay available even though Win10 drivers should be taking over.  This might be what is happening in your scenario, but that's just a thought.

 

Understandable that you want to take advantage of the free upgrade.  This may give you a couple extra steps in the beginning, but it may benefit in the long run.

 

- Run your Win8 to Win10 upgrade. 

- Once you have Win10 installed, run the MSLicense.vbs tool that I've attached.  This will give you your new/current Win10 license that Microsoft has issued you.

- Now go to the Microsoft website and download the Win10 ISO.

- Install Win10 cleanly (and use the Citrix Win10 VM template) and use the license you were given.

 

Then you can try the steps I did above that worked for me.

 

At this point, I know no guarantees, but it sounds like it couldn't hurt to try this.  The only other difference between us at the moment is that we are using a central license server that Win10 has been added to.

MSlicense.vbs

[Jason Rasmussen]

Using the Win 8 template as that has all of our specific client configuration. Our licenses are for Win8, and want to take advantage of the free upgrade before it expires in July. If Xen can't get their XenTools to work properly with Windows 10 upgrades, many will miss this upgrade opportunity.