D365FO: unable to install Windows updates

If you deployed cloud-hosted environments (CHE) last year, you probably noticed that many of them had issues with Windows update. When you try to search for the updates, the error appears: "We couldn't connect to the update service. We'll try again later, or you can check now. If it still doesn't work, make sure you're connected to the Internet."

The internet connection works fine, all required services are running, so the problem must be somewhere else.

The solution was found on Yammer, below are the steps how to fix the machine:

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator and run:
   

   reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /f /v WinREVersion /t REG_SZ /d "10.0.20348.2201"

   
   
2. Open a regedit, and navigate to HKLM/Software/Policies/Microsoft/Cryptography/Configuration/SSL/00010002
   
   
3. Modify the "Functions" key to add the follow two ciphers to the end of the existing list:
   TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
   TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA256
   
   
4. Restart the VM
   

After restart Windows will be able to find and install latest updates.

D365FO: application version dropdown is empty when creating new configuration for UDE envrionment

Microsoft released D365FO UDE environments long time ago, still they are barely used by partners and customers. There are many reasons for that, one of them is multiple bugs.

Several days ago I decided to try UDE one more time and created a new test environment. Besides challenges with environment creation, I was not able to save newly created "local XPP configuration". There were no options in the mandatory "Application version" dropdown, so the new configuration could not be saved.

When I moved mouse over the "Application version" dropdown, the hint appeared saying that there is no database backup for Cross Reference.

The solution was to go to "Tools" -> "Options -> "Power Platform Tools" and uncheck "Enable auto setup for Dynamics 365 when using the Unified environment."

Then use "Tools" -> "Download Dynamics 365 FinOps assets" to get the backup file. After this the "Application version" dropdown will be properly populated when creating new local XPP configuration.

D365FO: workflow editor could not be started

Several users reported the issue with D365FO workflow editor. During workflow editor startup the following error appears: "Application cannot be started. Contact the application vendor."

The fix is to open CMD as Admin, then execute the following command:

rundll32 dfshim CleanOnlineAppCache

D365FO: "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error while updating 10.0.39 on local Hyper-V machine

There is a known issue when you try to update D365FO Hyper-V machine with 10.0.39 by installing new D365FO update. You may get "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error during installation.

The solution is to run the following PowerShell code, then retry installation.

#set Dynamics Deployment folderpath in registry and create folder structure
$Installinfodir = "c:\Logs"
Write-Host "Checking InstallationInfoDirectry in registry for path $($Installinfodir)..." -foregroundcolor Yellow

if ((Get-ItemPropertyvalue HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dynamics\Deployment -name InstallationInfoDirectory -ea 0) -ne $Installinfodir){
	write-host "Changing DynamicsDeployment folder path in registry to $($Installinfodir)..." -foregroundcolor yellow
	Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dynamics\Deployment -Name InstallationInfoDirectory -Value $Installinfodir -Type String
}

@('HotfixInstallationRecords', 'MetadataModelInstallationRecords', 'Runbooks', 'ServiceModelInstallationRecords') |
    ForEach-Object {
    	if (!(test-path (Join-Path "$Installinfodir\InstallationRecords\" $_))){
        	New-Item (Join-Path "$Installinfodir\InstallationRecords\" $_) -ItemType Directory -force | out-null
	 }
}

More details here and here.

Windows RDP: error connecting to remote VM while using correct credentials

I was trying to connect to a remote VM running Windows Server 2019 with correct credentials, got the following error:

An authentication error has occurred.
The credentials supplied to the package were not recognized

Found the solution here: just add "AzureAD\" to the username.

D365FO: missing design elements in Financial Report Designer

Another possible issue with D365FO Financial Report Designer - missing design elements:

The solution is the following:

1. Open CMD prompt in Admin mode
   
   
2. Run the following command:
   rundll32 dfshim CleanOnlineAppCache
   
   
3. Relaunch Report Designer

D365FO: unable to run Financial Report Designer on 10.0.39

There is a bug in D365FO 10.0.39, impossible to open Financial Report Designer. The following error appears: "Unable to log in to <URL> or the login attempt has timed out. The application will exit."

The solution is to deploy latest D365FO quality update for 10.0.39 from LCS.

More details here.