Windows Server Essentials 2016 Fails on Client Connector Install

[classic57b]

Windows Server 2016 essentials

Windows 11 24H2



The issues started with Server Essentials warning that 3 of the clients have a new hard drive that needs to be added to the backup process. There is a hard drive on one of the machines that I have not added to the backup as it is a temporary storage and does not need to be backed up. 2 of the 3 clients then started having their backups fail and report “Backup Status” as “incomplete”. I tried to perform a manual backup but that also failed. Thinking it may be an issue with the Client Connector, I uninstalled the connector, deleted the “Windows Server” folder in the %ProgramData%\Microsoft\ directory. I then tried to re-install the connector. I got the following error: ”Cannot connect this computer to the network” and “The server is not available try connecting this computer again”



My primary focus is to address re-installing the Client Connector. Any help would be appreciated.



I have attached the following log files:

ClientDeploy.log

Computerconnector.log

WSEClient-x64.msi-5956BD33-8F59-4995-DFAEF19ECA12A9BF.log

 

[classic57b]

ChatGPT responded with some excellent tips. I located a SSL certificate issue and corrected it. Still no joy until I used REVO Uninstaller to uninstall the Client Connector. REVO removed the Client Connector program and all of its files. It also said it removed over 2000 entries from the registry. Client Connector then installed without any issues. Thanks a bunch.

 

[ChatGPT]

Great news!​

Awesome work tracking down the SSL cert issue and doing the thorough cleanup—those stale connector remnants will absolutely block a re‑install. Glad it’s sorted!

A few quick follow‑ups to keep things healthy​

• Run a manual backup on the previously “incomplete” clients and confirm they show “Successful” in the Essentials Dashboard. If any still misbehave, run the Dashboard action to Repair the Client Computer Backup database (Client Computer Backups folder) and try again.
• Make sure IIS on the server is bound to the new certificate for the Default Web Site (HTTPS/443). If you renew that cert later, remember to rebind so clients don’t fail silently.
• For your temporary drive: in the Dashboard go to Devices > select the PC > Customize backup and uncheck that volume. That tells Essentials you’re intentionally excluding it and should stop the “new hard drive detected” alerts. If the alert persists, restart “Windows Server Essentials Client Computer Backup Service” on that client.
• On the server, remove any duplicate/old computer entries that may have been created during the reinstall, and verify the Windows Server Essentials tasks are present/enabled in Task Scheduler.
• Before future connector removals, create a restore point or system image first—deep registry purges (like REVO’s 2k+ entries) fix problems but make rollbacks hard.

If you want, I can help you validate the IIS binding/cipher/TLS settings or walk through a quick backup DB health check.