Windows Service user account trouble for TFSBuildServiceHost.exe - tfs

Experienced a very strange problem today on our TFS2010 build server. Suddenly the build service failed for no apparent reason. We´re been trouble shooting it all day, but still haven´t found the reason yet.
One of the problems is that the build service is (or should!) running under an AD user called tfs2010build. However when I try to start the service, i get the following error
Service cannot be started. Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TeamFoundationServerUnauthorizedException: TF30063: You are not authorized to access http://tfs2010:8080/tfs/default. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.
When I look in the event log on the TFS2010 server, I see that the failed authentication is registered for a user called TFS2010Install, which was used to install everything. I´ve tripple checked and the service is specified as to be running under TFS2010Build.
Log from TFS2010 server:
Account For Which Logon Failed:
Security ID: NULL SID
Account Name: TFS2010INSTALL
Account Domain: LC
So my question is how is this possible. COuld the user TFS2010Build some how be impersonated by TFS2010Install? I
ve tried to install an additional build server and here there´s no problem starting the service under the user TFS2010Build - hence it is not a problem with AD or TFS user rights.
Hope you guys can help out!
/Jasper
!! Updated with some screen shots. Build server is TFS2010BIULD and the TFS server is TFS2010
Link to full size
Screen shot of non working build server TFS2010Build
Screen shot of working build server TFS2010Build1
!!New Update
I've managed to get the Build service to run under the TFS2010Build user account (which was actually the initial state, when the problem started). When I queue builds to this controller and agent, i get the follwing in the build log:
TF215097: An error occurred while initializing a build for build definition \PlanteIT_MarkOnline_Scrum\CI_Main_FieldOnlineClient: TF215106: Access denied. LC\TFS2010INSTALL needs Update build information permissions for build definition CI_Main_FieldOnlineClient in team project PlanteIT_MarkOnline_Scrum to perform the action. For more information, contact the Team Foundation Server administrator.
It still insist that TFS2010Install user account is running the service, despite that TFS2010Build is used for the build service. Any ideas?

This is a stab in the dark, can you try clear the TFS client cache and your internet cache on your troubled build machine under the Tfs2010Build account? I've never seen this issue before but maybe some stale cached TfsProjectCollection object with TFS2010Install authentication stayed around and caused problems.
Have you also tried reconfigure your build machine?
To unconfigure:
tfsconfig.exe setup /uninstall:TeamBuild
and reconfigure through the wizard.

I will try once more ..., step by step :-)
FACT: When you register your build controller to a TFS project collection, being logged-in as TFS2010Build, an authentication dialog pops-up. This means that the TFS server does not accept TFS2010Build as an account that can be used to connect to your default collection on the TFS server.
FACT: When you register your build controller to a TFS project collection, being logged-in as TFS2010Install, no authentication dialog pops-up. This means that the TFS server does accept TFS2010Install as an account that can be used to connect to your default collection on the TFS server.
Apparently, because in both 1 and 2 your build controller is registered using the TFS2010Install account to the TFS server, either the controller or the server remembers these credentials and uses them to connect to the TFS server collection when the build controller is started, despite the fact that the service itself is running under the TFS2010Build account. This is a plausible situation and impersonation happens often this way for services. Maybe some TFS techie can either confirm or deny this behavior.
The question that remains for me: Why does the the default collection on the TFS server not accept the TFS2010Build account as a valid administrator?
Potential causes:
Read Jim Lamb's answer.
Something is wrong with the domain registration of the system or user used to connect the controller to the collection on the TFS server.
Fastest way to rid of the problem: Continue to install the secondary server that does not seem to have the problem, potentially experiment with using the TFS2010Build from this secondary server to see if the problem also occurs there.
A long aswer, but hopefully it gives you a big push in the right direction.

Sorry to hear that you're having problems getting this to work. Here are a couple of things you can check/try:
Make sure that the TFS2010Build user account is a member of the "Build Services" group in the TFS project collection you've associated it with.
If you install and configure the build service while logged in as a user who is a member of the Project Collection Administrators group on the associated project collection and is also a member of the local Administrators group on the build machine, all of the requisite permissions and other configuration will generally be set for you.
So, to summarize, the user configuring the build machine should be a member of the project collection administrators group and a member of the local administrators group. And, the user account the build machine is running as should be a member of the project collection's "build services" group.

Related

Azure DevOps Server 2019/2020 Access Levels Page Not Found

I am running Azure DevOps Server 2019 cu7. When I click on the Access Levels link at the Project Collection level, I get a page not found error for ../_admin/_licenses. I then upgraded my development farm to ADO Server 2020, and still have the same issue.
The app pool accounts are both System and I have added the System account to the iis_iusrs group.
Also, i get a page not found error when trying to hit the/_api/licenses/export api to try to get around the page not found error when using a browser.
It seems that you do not have the permission Edit Instance-level information
Steps:
Open Azure DevOps Server Administration Console->click the option Application Tier->click the button Administer Security->select [Team Foundation]\Team Foundation Valid Users and ensure the permission Edit instance-level information is set the allow. Then we could check the Access Levels page.
Result:
The permission is set to Deny
The permission is set to Allow

TFS 2017 TF31002

Apparently we have a configuration issue with TFS 2017 11.0.60315.1
The team project collection(s) are online, but I get TF31002 error when I try to connect from my client AND the server. e.g. click "Change URLs" and "Test"
I also get HTTP code 404: Not Found when I click "Group Membership" or "Administer Security" from the Application Tier.
I cannot add a picture so... here is a transcript:
Error Encountered
TF31002: Unable to connect to this Team Foundation Server:
http://myserver:8080/tfs
Team Foundation Server Url: http://myserver:8080/tfs.
Possible reasons for failure include:
- The name, port number, or protocol for the Team Foundation Server is incorrect.
- The Team Foundation Server is offline
- The password has expired or is incorrect
Technical information (for administrator):
The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
I have tried changing the Service Account & password
I have clicked Reapply Account
I have tried changing the Authentication Settings
When I click Group Membership or Administer Security, I get the 404 error
I have tried changing the URL
a. http://myserver:8080/tfs/defaultcollection
b. http://myserver:80//
c. http://myserver:8080
d. http://(ipaddress):8080/tfs
e. http://localhost:8080/tfs
The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
If you are using http://localhost:8080/tfs url and still get (404) Not Found. Then this kind of issue may related to IIS side.
First check IIS logs, if there are some useful information.
Go to IIS manager to check the TFS bindings should be such as below:
If you look into IIS manager, application pools, under TFS app pool, what identity TFS appPool is using? If you see it is set as “ApplicationPoolIdentity” instead of networkService or a domain account for TFSservice,
Try below cause and resolution and see if that could solve the issue:
Cause:
The ApplicationPoolIdentity account did not have permissions on the content folder.
Resolution:
Set the permission for the Application Pool Identity (which is a virtual account) on the folder where the content is located.
The steps to do so are:
Right click on your Site/Application in IIS Manager and select Edit
Permissions.
Under Security tab click Edit, then Add. Enter "IIS AppPool\", ensure that location is set to the local computer, and
select Check Names.
Allow this user to have modify permissions.
http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/624/application-pool-identities/
Besides, you could also take a look at this similar issue here: TFS 2010 RC, getting 404 on http://localhost:8080/tfs
Check if it's also UrlScan installed and that blocked your tfs site.

Granting ManageBuildResources permission to a TFS user

so this is the issue:
I have a TFS 2012 installed on a server A and I want to install a TFS Build Service on server B. The TFS on server A has a DefaultCollection which I want to link it to a Team Build. When I try to configure the build server it shows a failure message: User1 needs "ManageBuildResources" permission set to allowed. User1 is NOT in any group, its a single lonely user, then I ask a coworker about the permissions. Now in the security settings of Team Explorer it shows that User1 has "ManageBuildResources" set to allowed on DefaultCollection. Still, when I try to configure it, it shows again the same failure message.
So I read in the Microsoft website that User1 must be in Project Collection Administrators group in order to configure a build server, do I need to make User1 a member of this group, even if User1 has all the privileges? Because I don't understand why it shows that User1 doesn't have privileges.
Thanks in advance!
Yes, you currently need to make a user part of Project Collection Administrators in order to be able to add a build server to your collection.

Access denied in Message Queuing

I developed an application in Delphi 2010 that reads XML data from a transactional queue. It works fine if the queue is local or remote and I don't have to set permissions in both cases.
Now I have to convert that application into a Windows Service. I copied and pasted the same application into the service code, but when I try to read the queue I get the "Access denied" error. I'm doing the tests on my local machine.
Some people say that it's a matter of permissions. I found here in Stack Overflow some posts to the same problem but I didn't find the solution.
Any ideas? I'm using Windows 7 as well.
If you are running the application locally, you are running it under your Windows logon credentials. Services by default are launched under a different user account which may not have the same rights as your account does.
Bring up the service manager (start->services.msc), find your service in the list, right click it and select Properties. Then select the Log On tab and change it to a specific account name/password. (Use your account name / password.) You'll then be executing the code using the same credentials so your Access Denied error should go away.

Which account should a TFS Build Agent service run under?

Background information
I need our TFS build agents to run under a specific account so that our ClickOnce certificates are authorised.
However if I run under the account X, which also is the user account of the build controller that has the correct certificates. I get the error: "Source is already in use". Even if I restart the service and/or the virtual machine.
Originally rightly/wrongly our build agents were running under the Network Service account, however this account cannot verify the certificates.
Using the Local System account does not give access to the build controller from a developer box.
So I guess my question is: What account should the service 'Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Service Host' run under?
It turned out that the account X was the correct choice (our build controller user account, that has few privileges).
It was that the account needed adding to the builders group TFS Admin.
My personal suggestion would be: a specifically-created, minimum-privelige account that is only authorised as far as is necessary to build the code on your build machines, and no more.
I'm not aware of any restriction around the user for the build agent vs the build controller, though - in fact I'm sure I've used a similar setup before. Is it possible that your error is misleading? Changing users might be a workaround, but perhaps there's something else fixable going on.

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