2012 R2 Essentials - Anywhere Access will not install. Including Remote Web Access portion.

Question

After setting up 2012 R2 Essentials, I attempted to go through the dashboard's "Set up Anywhere Access" wizard. I was able to configure a domain name successfully on remotewebaccess.com but when the wizard attempted to enable the "Remote Web
Access" feature, the wizard flashes a couple of statuses and locks up on verifying and then the entire dashboard crashes. When I go to the event logs, there is only a mention of dashboard.exe having an exception error. I have also delved into the dashboard.log
file and found the following error where it throws the FATAL crash:
Dashboard.Forms: !!!!FATAL: Dashboard shutting down due to unhandled exception: The 'Get-WindowsFeature' command was found in the module 'ServerManager', but the module could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module ServerManager'.
[11024] 140624.234737.2917: Dashboard.Forms: System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException: The 'Get-WindowsFeature' command was found in the module 'ServerManager', but the module could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module ServerManager'.
---> System.Management.Automation.CmdletInvocationException: Length cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: length ---> System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Length cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: length
I have launched PowerShell and executed the "Import-Module ServerManager" along with the "Get-WindowsFeature" command and it returns the list of available and installed features. I have also tried rebooting the server and attempting the
wizard numerous times and all attempts result in the same error above. Does anyone have an idea of what could be causing this? I have searched google, bing, and the technet similar questions but none have a solution that will allow me to use the wizard to
enable the Remote Web Access feature.

Answer 1

I had a similar issue, it does appears to be caused by MyMovies 5.
I removed MM5 but the dashboard would still crash after opening the Anywhere Access tab and when it had been running the 'Updating' status for a bit. going through the dashboard log I found that just under the line about the Get-WindowsFeature error was
a comment 'atMyMovies.Common... full error as follows:
[5616] 140701.125213.3686: Dashboard.Forms: !!!!FATAL: Dashboard shutting down due to unhandled exception: The 'Get-WindowsFeature' command was found in the module 'ServerManager', but the module could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module
ServerManager'.
[5616] 140701.125213.3686: Dashboard.Forms: System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException: The 'Get-WindowsFeature' command was found in the module 'ServerManager', but the module could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module ServerManager'.
---> System.Management.Automation.CmdletInvocationException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager.PowerShell' or one of its dependencies. An argument was out of its legal range. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131502) ---> System.IO.FileLoadException:
Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager.PowerShell' or one of its dependencies. An argument was out of its legal range. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131502) ---> System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Length cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: length
   at System.String.Substring(Int32 startIndex, Int32 length)
   at MyMovies.Common.AssemblyResolver(Object sender, ResolveEventArgs args)
   at System.AppDomain.OnAssemblyResolveEvent(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String assemblyFullName)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ModuleCmdletBase.LoadBinaryModule(PSModuleInfo parentModule, Boolean trySnapInName, String moduleName, String fileName, Assembly assemblyToLoad, String moduleBase, SessionState ss, ImportModuleOptions options, ManifestProcessingFlags
manifestProcessingFlags, String prefix, Boolean loadTypes, Boolean loadFormats, Boolean& found, String shortModuleName, Boolean disableFormatUpdates)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ModuleCmdletBase.LoadModuleNamedInManifest(PSModuleInfo parentModule, ModuleSpecification moduleSpecification, String moduleBase, Boolean searchModulePath, String prefix, SessionState ss, ImportModuleOptions options,
ManifestProcessingFlags manifestProcessingFlags, Boolean loadTypesFiles, Boolean loadFormatFiles, Object privateData, Boolean& found, String shortModuleName)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ModuleCmdletBase.LoadModuleManifest(String moduleManifestPath, ExternalScriptInfo scriptInfo, Hashtable data, Hashtable localizedData, ManifestProcessingFlags manifestProcessingFlags, Version version, Version requiredVersion,
ImportModuleOptions& options, Boolean& containedErrors)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ModuleCmdletBase.LoadModuleManifest(ExternalScriptInfo scriptInfo, ManifestProcessingFlags manifestProcessingFlags, Version version, Version requiredVersion, ImportModuleOptions& options)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ModuleCmdletBase.LoadModule(PSModuleInfo parentModule, String fileName, String moduleBase, String prefix, SessionState ss, Object privateData, ImportModuleOptions& options, ManifestProcessingFlags manifestProcessingFlags,
Boolean& found, Boolean& moduleFileFound)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportModuleCommand.ImportModule_LocallyViaName(ImportModuleOptions importModuleOptions, String name)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportModuleCommand.ProcessRecord()
   at System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessor.ProcessRecord()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PipelineBase.Invoke(IEnumerable input)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Worker.ConstructPipelineAndDoWork(Runspace rs, Boolean performSyncInvoke)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.CoreInvokeHelper[TInput,TOutput](PSDataCollection`1 input, PSDataCollection`1 output, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.CoreInvoke[TInput,TOutput](PSDataCollection`1 input, PSDataCollection`1 output, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.CoreInvoke[TOutput](IEnumerable input, PSDataCollection`1 output, PSInvocationSettings settings)
   at System.Management.Automation.CommandDiscovery.AutoloadSpecifiedModule(String moduleName, ExecutionContext context, SessionStateEntryVisibility visibility, Exception& exception)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
There was a couple of line before the fatal error suggesting it could be to do with the remote deskop gateway configuration...
   at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.RemoteDesktopConfig.RemoteDesktopConfigLib.IsFeatureAvailable(String featureName)
   at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.RemoteDesktopConfig.RemoteDesktopConfigLib.CheckTSRelatedRolesAvailable()
   at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.Jobs.TsGatewayDiagnosticsJob.OnRun(DiagnosticsResult result, ConnectivityEnvironment environment)
   at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Connectivity.DiagnosticsJob.RunAndCatch(DiagnosticsResult result, ConnectivityEnvironment environment)
So I ended up removing the role using server manager, along with the remote access role, and then rebooting the server. I then added the Remote Access role back in by choosing the 'DirectAccess and VPN (RAS)' option.
When I then ran the dashboard Anywhere Access setup it worked.
Other issues that seemed to cause the dashboard to crash was when I released the remotewebaccess.com domain name and then added it back in. I had multiple certificates with the same name which seemed to cause an issue. so I released the domain name again,
went into the certificates MMC and removed any of the goDaddy certificate. then configured the domain name again and the rest of the wizard ran with no issues.
Hope some of this helps...