Windows 2008 R2 Service pack 1 failing to install 0x800f0818

I've had a couple of installations of Windows updates fail recently especially when trying to install Service pack 1.


The last attempt was on a brand new virtual server, so I knew nothing else could be causing the problem except something Microsoft related.


When checking the event log I found event ID 8 - Service Pack installation failed with error code 0x800f0818


According to other blog posts some files in the packages directory have become corrupt.  


You need to install the System Update readiness tool which will give you a log to determine which files are corrupt.  The installer is available here : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821


Sometimes the installation of the readiness tool alone will fix the issue. 


Open checksur.log file under %windir%\Logs\CBS. Look for something similar to :


Unavailable repair files:
 servicing\packages\Package_for_KB2483614_RTM~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1.mum servicing\packages\Package_for_KB2483614_RTM~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.1.1.ca


If there are no errors then try the servicepack again otherwise you may need find the offending files take ownership and replace them with those from another server that works.

SCVMM P2V fails with VSS writer error

I've P2V'd many servers now with SCVMM without any problems.

I've got to one of our last servers and when I try to start the P2V job I get:

The snapshot creation failed because VSS writer {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220} on source machine machinename did not respond within the expected time interval.

I found many article which included re-registering DLLs, deleting registry keys and restarting services and it was only a combination of all of these that seemed to work.

Here is what I did for those that want to try:

I followed http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940184

Then I did:

net stop cryptsvc

net start cryptsvc

Hope this helps someone out there.

AQL and Asterisk Freepbx inbound IAX settings

After spending a lot of time trying to get my new freebpx installation working with inbound calls from AQL I thought it best to document my settings for anyone else out there.

IAX2 Trunk settings
Trunk desc : aql
Outbound caller id : {IAX Caller ID provided by AQL}
CID options : Allow Any CID
--Outgoing settings--
Trunk name : aql
PEER Details:
type=peer
auth=md5
username={username provided by AQL}
secret={outbound secret provided by AQL}
host=sip.aql.com
trunk=yes
--Incoming settings--
User context : {username provided by AQL}
type=user
username={username provided by AQL}
auth=md5
host=sip.aql.com
trunk=yes
secret={outbound secret provided by AQL}
context=from-trunk
;qualify=yes
requirecalltoken=no

The requirecalltoken and context bit kept catching me out.

Once I installed the Asterisk Log freepbx module it was blatently obvious what the problem was when I viewed the log.

[Mar 3 10:35:10] ERROR[3338] chan_iax2.c: Call rejected, CallToken Support required. If unexpected, resolve by placing address x.x.x.x in the calltokenoptional list or setting user username requirecalltoken=no

You'll need to setup an inbound route for the numbers you're expecting calls on and then these inbound routes need pointing at extensions or ring groups etc.

My inbound route settings
Description : Name of person
DID Number : {IAX Caller ID provided by AQL}
Set Destination : Select extension