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Windows Update sensor - Windows Server 2016

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Hi. I get this error when running the Windows Update sensor against my Windows 2016 servers:

This sensor requires the PowerShell 2.0 (or higher) to be installed on the probe system. ( Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Management.Automation, Version=3.0.0.0(...) (code: PE181)?

The knowledgebase article states that I must install Powershell 3 or newer, but Windows Server 2016 ships with PowerShell 5 and Windows Management Framework 5.1.

PS C:\Windows\system32> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
5      1      14393  1944

I am ablle to connect remotly:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> New-PSSession -ComputerName ********* -Credential ***\****

 Id Name            ComputerName    ComputerType    State         ConfigurationName     Availability
 -- ----            ------------    ------------    -----         -----------------     ------------
  2 Session2        ********        RemoteMachine   Opened        Microsoft.PowerShell     Available

What should I do to make this work?

powershell windows-server-2016 windows-update-status

Created on Feb 5, 2018 12:58:58 PM

Last change on Feb 8, 2018 10:43:13 AM by Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]

Best Answer

Accepted Answer

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Hello in4out,
thank you for your reply.

I've located the internal development task mentioned previously by my colleague, and I can confirm that as we required more time for the implementation and testing it ended up missing the 18.2.39. The information I'm able to provide at the moment is that the implementation is done/tested and should be released as part of PRTG version 18.x.40, our upcoming stable release. We do not have a precise ETA for it at the moment, but expect to release it over the next couple of weeks if all goes to plan.

Best Regards,
Luciano Lingnau [Paessler Support]

Created on Apr 19, 2018 12:30:09 PM by Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]

24 Replies

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Both the PRTG Probe and the target machine need to have PowerShell versions greater than 2.0

Can you verify this?

Created on Feb 6, 2018 1:53:12 AM by Benjamin Day [Paessler Support] (1,441) ●2 ●1

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Yes. Both machines are Windows Server 2016 and have PowerShell version 5.

Created on Feb 6, 2018 7:27:32 AM

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Have you set the ExecutionPolicy to Remote Signed on the target machine? Does the target machine have the included cmdlets needed to execute the script?

Created on Feb 6, 2018 9:05:01 PM by Benjamin Day [Paessler Support] (1,441) ●2 ●1

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ExecutionPolicy is set to Remote Signed. Which cmdlets is needed to execute the script?

I have looked at the logfile for the sensor, and have found tjis error: [DEBUG] - Exception Message: Unable to cast object of type 'System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject' to type 'System.Collections.ArrayList'.

Created on Feb 8, 2018 10:31:53 AM

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Hello Rolf,

Please head to this thread in our knowledge base, which describes different approaches in case of errors with the Windows Update Status sensor.

There you'll also find the executed query as well as additional information.

What version of PRTG are you currently using? Please note, that we had a couple of issues in regards to this sensor recently, so it is important to test the behavior with the latest available version 18.1.37.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on Feb 9, 2018 11:53:59 AM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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For what it's worth, I'm having the same issue with the Windows Update sensor with several Server 2016 machines. As with Rolf, I've verified that the target server has PowerShell 5.1 installed and the PRTG server has PowerShell 4.0 installed. We're currently on version 18.1.36.3733 and I'm seeking approval to upgrade to 18.1.37.12158. The sensors are returning the same message:-

This sensor requires the PowerShell 2.0 (or higher) to be installed on the probe system. (´╗┐<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <prtg> <error>1</error> <text>Unable to cast object of type 'System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject' to type 'System.Collections.ArrayList'.</text> </prtg>) (code: PE181)

Created on Feb 27, 2018 7:20:18 AM

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Hello rhil_wcc,

Thank you very much for your reply.

Could you please verify that .NET Framework 4.5 is installed on the Probe system's host machine from which you query the Windows Update Status and which is another remark for the sensor.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on Feb 27, 2018 11:06:26 AM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

Last change on Feb 27, 2018 11:06:33 AM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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I tested the approach mentioned in article 71899, and the powershell script returns in less than 500 milliseconds. I have also verifyed that the probe running the Windows Update requests are running .NET framework 4.6.

I have just updated PRTG from v. 18.1.36 to v. 18.1.37.12158. The sensor is still in error state, but the status message has changed to: Couldn't deserialize output from remote.

Created on Feb 27, 2018 1:47:18 PM

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We only have the one PRTG machine that is both server and probe. I have verified that .NET 4.6.1 (release 394271) is installed on this computer.

I have just completed the upgrade to 18.1.37.12158 - this has changed the error message to "Couldn't deserialize output from remote."

This is only the case for target servers running 2016 - we have another hundred plus servers running 2012R2 and 2008R2 for which this sensor is working fine.

Created on Feb 28, 2018 2:20:58 AM

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Dear Rolf,
dear rhil_wcc,

Thank you both for your responses.

We are currently investigating such issues. Because it is highly probable that we might require a couple of additional log files, please contact us via email at [email protected].

Please attach a full-screen screenshot of the Overview, Logs, and Settings tab and also the sensor results which can be enabled within the sensor settings.
Please see the sensor's manual for further information.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on Feb 28, 2018 6:51:52 AM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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Hi,

I have the exact same problem with the Windows Updates Status sensor on Windows 2016 servers. For all Windows 2016 servers i get the error 'Couldn't deserialize output from remote.'

Is there a fix yet?

Best regards,

Edwin

Created on Mar 12, 2018 10:05:05 AM

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Hello Edwin,

Not yet, I'm afraid. This issue is currently being investigated and I expect it to be fixed with the upcoming version 18.x.39.
For the time being, check the workaround described here.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on Mar 12, 2018 10:25:17 AM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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Same issues here. Works on Windows 2012 R2

On Windows Server 2016 error 'Couldn't deserialize output from remote".

Created on Mar 14, 2018 1:04:06 PM

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Hello studsgaard,

Please see my response above. We are already aware of this and I expect it to be fixed in PRTG 18.x.38.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on Mar 14, 2018 9:56:05 PM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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Hello,

We have installed 18.2.39.1661 and we have still the message: Couldn't deserialize output from remote. This situation is just by Windows 2016 servers. When are you fixing this od does we need to change something in this release that is workes?

Best regards, Andreas

Created on Apr 19, 2018 5:47:38 AM

Accepted Answer

Votes:

0

Hello in4out,
thank you for your reply.

I've located the internal development task mentioned previously by my colleague, and I can confirm that as we required more time for the implementation and testing it ended up missing the 18.2.39. The information I'm able to provide at the moment is that the implementation is done/tested and should be released as part of PRTG version 18.x.40, our upcoming stable release. We do not have a precise ETA for it at the moment, but expect to release it over the next couple of weeks if all goes to plan.

Best Regards,
Luciano Lingnau [Paessler Support]

Created on Apr 19, 2018 12:30:09 PM by Luciano Lingnau [Paessler]

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Hello,

I've just deployed 18.2.40.1683+.

I still have this message but now with an exception: Couldn't deserialize output from remote. Exception de HRESULT : 0x8024002E

Both the probe and target run windows 2016 with PS 5.

Best regards,

Matthieu Noirbusson

Created on May 17, 2018 11:07:53 AM

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Hello Matthieu,

Thank you very much for your reply.

Please contact us directly via email to [email protected] and provide us with the following information from the affected sensor:
1. a screenshot of the sensor's "Overview" tab
2. a screenshot of the sensor's "Log" tab
3. the sensor's configuration report (which can be generated within the sensor's "Settings" tab, using the small printer icon in the upper right corner of the Basic Sensor Settings. Simply print/save this as configuration report as PDF file.)
4. the sensor results. Please see this article on how to activate it within the sensor settings.

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,
Sebastian

Created on May 17, 2018 1:02:28 PM by Sebastian Kniege [Paessler Support]

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Hello, sorry to revive an older thread but I seem to be still having the same issues here and wondering if this is actually still a problem.

On both versions, 18.2.41.1652+ and 18.3.42.1748+, we receive an error only for Windows Server 2016 with the Windows Updates Status sensor.

Error message: "Couldn't deserialize output from remote. Exception from HRESULT: 0x80244022"

Probe is running Windows Server 2012r2 with PSVersion 4.0 and monitored server is running Windows Server 2016 with PSVersion 5.1.

Thanks!

Created on Aug 1, 2018 7:37:21 PM

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Hi there,

The empty response means, somehow the system is unable to report countable updates. Which is what throws the sensor off. We'll improve the error handling there, so that you see exactly this as error message ("Host didn't report countable Updates.").
Please check with Microsoft as to why the machine does not report any updates there.

Best regards.

Created on Aug 2, 2018 12:08:12 PM by Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]

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Hello, We are on a 18.4.46.1754 version and also get no updates reported error on two 2016 servers. On the other two I get the Couldn't deserialize output from remote. Has the fix been implemented or shall I open a case with support? Thanks in advance

Created on Dec 14, 2018 2:58:53 PM

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Hi there,

Unfortunately, there is no real fix for this issue as it seems that Microsoft doesn't want you to request these updates manually. It seems that this issue only prominent on Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 where such changes were implemented by MS.

Best regards.

Created on Dec 17, 2018 8:17:12 PM by Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]

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Has this been resolved? I still have 2016 servers with issues. Many are still paused from when this was a known issue, but a new one I just setup is having the issue as well.

Created on Jul 23, 2019 11:09:02 PM

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Hi there,

The release is planned for version 19.x.52. This version should arrive in the next two months.

Best regards.

Created on Jul 24, 2019 7:54:05 AM by Dariusz Gorka [Paessler Support]

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