FMServer 17 - Install with domain account fails

[Emilio Bruna]

Hello all, gurus!
We have trouble getting filemaker server 17's SERVICE (read WINDOWS SERVICE) starting as a regular domain user.

In other words, if we install FMS17 with the default option of LOCAL SYSTEM USER, then the windows's FMS service starts with that LOCAL SYSTEM user.

If we try to install FMS17 with the option of a regular DOMAIN USER, the windows's FMS service wont start at all.

 

We are on Windows 2012 R2 server (all minimum requirments are met). Windows 2012 R2 is a domain member (not a domain controller, simply a domain member).
Installing FMS17 was started with Administrator privileges.

 

What we are trying to do is to simply install FMS17 as a regular domain user (say [email protected]). At a certain point of the FMS17 setup, we are asked to choose between LOCAL SYSTEM or DOMAIN USER ACCOUNT: if we left (choose) local system, installation  ends and all is OK, while using regular domain user (ie [email protected]), installation always fails and the FMS17's service wont start.

We already made ALL kind of test - and the domain user ([email protected]) was in ALL kind of domain admins groups we think off and (by the way suggested from the Filemaker's support engineers).

Filemaker support really sucks on this, we already made over 1 month of useless email with them to no avail...

 

Anyone on this?

 

Thank you very much for any help!

[Tom Assia]

Hello,

Have you got any error in Windows Event Log when starting the service (in case of domain user ? )

Tom

[Emilio Bruna]

Hello Tom,
well the only error in the windows App logs is (translated from Italian):

"Product: FileMaker Server 17 -- Error 1920. Impossible starting the service "FileMaker Server" (FileMaker Server). Be sure to have enough privileges to start the system services."

By the way, the FMS17 installer never ends the setup task (i need to roll back the installation), due to the filemaker service won't start under a domain account user.

Please note: the [email protected] i'm using IS in Domain Admins, Local Administrators and RDP users (domain) group at the moment of the installation. I'm totally lost...

Thanks

 

Emilio

Edited August 27, 2018 by Emilio Bruna

[Tom Assia]

Have you try to set account with DOMAIN\USER

Are you doing the installation remotely or in front of the machine log in with this user ?

Tom

[Emilio Bruna]

Yes Tom,

already tried out both user@domain and DOMAIN\USER methods to no avail...

The machine is a VM so i must rdesktop to it. But tried out starting the installation with both the Domain Administrator account or [email protected] (DOMAIN\filemaker) accounts logged in as local administrators on the machine - same problem...

Let me know if you need further infos

 

TIA

 

Emilio

[Tom Assia]

The server is only hosting Filemaker ?

it's correctly connect to the domain ?

Tom

 

[Emilio Bruna]

Hello Tom,

yes - the machine is dedicated to only FMS17.
For the domain join i think so. I've checked this by trying to install as [email protected] BUT intentionally placing a wrong password for that user: the installer returns an auth error and gave up.

Trying with the correct password, the domain user got authenticated by domain controller and the installer proceed until the filemaker service start which fails for the issue i'm trouble with...

TIA

 

Emilio

[Tom Assia]

Have you got any firewall enable ?

 

[Emilio Bruna]

tried out almost any kind of troubleshooting i knew off - including completely disabling windows firewall on the FMS machine (only during these tests) but no solution seems to sort the issue.
 

Maybe anyone on this forum had a regular domain account running FMS17 service?

 

TIA

 

Emilio

[Tom Assia]

Maybe another idea, FMS Server depending of Service Bonjour.

Does it start with domain account ?

[Emilio Bruna]

Hello Tom

unfortunately i didn't check this one...
I'm not sure which of the two services start as first. But anyway if the main service (filemaker server) doesn't start for lacking of privileges, i suppose that the second service (bonjour) cannot start for the same reason. Just a tought...

In any case, i think it is a not so good option try to start bonjour with another account (ie LOCAL SYSTEM) while the FMS17's installer is going to fail due to something wrong in the domain user's privileges. Just a tought also...

TIA

 

Emilio

[Tom Assia]

Hello,

Bonjour start before FMS, it's just an idea.

If i have enough time, i'll make the install of and AD and a FMS Server and look at that.

Tom

[Tom Assia]

Emilio,

I just finished to install a FM Server 17 with domain account without problem.

In your AD is it specify to enable account like user@domain (see attachment)

Bonjour start with local system and Filemaker Server without Domain Account.

The only thing is that when you want to change, it's hang up (from domain account to local system un my case)

Tom

[JacobTaylor-RCC]

Hi -- I ran into this recently. If you find this thread and can find no other reason for this problem -- 

Please ensure the installer is run from an actually-local drive. No GPO reflected directories, no network locations, etc. It can be a VM, with a "local" disk, fine. But it cannot be networked in any sense.