SOTI Connect Installation/ Upgrade Issues

This documentation provides instructions on resolving various issues encountered during the installation and upgrade of SOTI Connect. Review the following scenarios for detailed steps to resolve these issues.

Services Fail to Start During the Installation Process

The system encounters a "Cannot start service" error during SOTI Connect installation and the SOTI Connect service is not started.
SOTI Connectservice not started
Issue Resolution
  1. Stop any running antivirus programs.
  2. Re-run the SOTI Connect installer.

SOTI Connect Installation Fails During the Database Data Deletion Step, Resulting in a Rollback Error

During the SQL connection step of a SOTI Connect installation, selecting the database data deletion checkbox does not delete data and leads to a rollback error. The following entries appear in the installer logs:
2023-07-25 17:48:59,992 [ERROR] [ 8] Installer - Database migration failed and the installation/update cannot be continued. Please contact support for further assistance.
2023-07-25 17:48:59,992 [ERROR] Installer - Installation failed System.Exception: Database migration failed and the installation/update cannot be continued. Please contact support for further assistance.

Issue Resolution

Manually delete the SQL data and log files.
  1. Navigate to the Server Properties panel of the VM hosting SQL and select Database Settings (see the red box in the diagram).
  2. Record the location of the data and the logs (see the blue boxes).

    The Database Settings tab shows the location of data and log files

  3. Navigate to the data and log directories and delete all files in those directories.
    Note: Delete only the file contents of the data and log folders, not the data and log folders themselves.

Database Migration Fail: 2024.0 to 2024.1.0.7405

Upgrading from SOTI Connect 2024.0 to 2024.1.0.7405 may have an edge case where database migration fails and causes a rollback.
SOTI Connect upgrade error
  • Affected versions: SOTI Connect 2024.0 and later

Issue Resolution

Before updating, run the following SQL script to prepare the SOTI Connect database.
use SotiConnectManagementServer

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#removeJsonMetadata') IS NOT NULL
	DROP PROCEDURE #removeJsonMetadata
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE #removeJsonMetadata
@JsonText nvarchar(max),
@Result nvarchar(max) OUTPUT
as 
	declare @idBegin int = 0;
	declare @idEnd int = 0;
	select @idBegin = CHARINDEX('"$id":"', @JsonText, @idBegin)
	WHILE @idBegin > 0
	BEGIN
		select @idEnd = @idBegin +  LEN('"$id":"')
		select @idEnd = CHARINDEX('"', @JsonText, @idEnd)
		select @idEnd = case when SUBSTRING(@JsonText, @idEnd + 1, 1) = ',' then @idEnd + 2 else @idEnd + 1 end
		select @JsonText = REPLACE(@JsonText, SUBSTRING(@JsonText, @idBegin, @idEnd - @idBegin), '');
		select @idBegin = CHARINDEX('"$id":"', @JsonText, @idBegin)
	END
	select @Result = @JsonText
RETURN
GO


declare @JsonText nvarchar(max)

DECLARE employee_cursor CURSOR FOR
  SELECT RuleJson
  FROM   [SotiConnectManagementServer].[dbo].[Rules]

OPEN employee_cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM employee_cursor INTO @JsonText
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
  BEGIN  
	  exec #removeJsonMetadata @JsonText, @JsonText output
      UPDATE [SotiConnectManagementServer].[dbo].[Rules]
      SET    RuleJson = @JsonText
      WHERE  CURRENT OF employee_cursor;

      FETCH NEXT FROM employee_cursor INTO @JsonText
  END;
CLOSE employee_cursor;
DEALLOCATE employee_cursor; 

DTD Repair Failure During SOTI Connect Upgrade

Device Type Definition (DTD) Repair is utilized when SOTI Connect changes the semantic ID of a property for a device. During any update, the installer automatically runs DTD Repair with a timeout of 5 minutes. If the repair process is not completed within this time-frame, an explicit warning message displays in the installer UI indicating that DTD Repair has failed.

Issue Resolution

Run Repair DTD option from the SOTI Connect installer manually, as it does not time out.
  1. Run the SOTI Connect installer as an administrator.
  2. Press CTRL + Double-click on the installer window to reveal the Repair DTD option.

    Repair DTD option

  3. Choose Repair DTD and follow the installer instructions.
Important: Users must run Repair DTD using the installer corresponding to their current version of SOTI Connect (the installer which received the error) before updating to a new version. Otherwise, Repair DTD does not execute during the upgrade process.

Unavailable Actions After Upgrading to SOTI Connect 2025.0

Before SOTI Connect version 2025.0, any changes to the supported actions on some devices resulted in those specific actions becoming obsolete, causing the rules/configurations utilizing these actions to stop working. Starting with version 2025.0, SOTI Connect introduces the action state "Unavailable." Whenever SOTI Connect no longer supports a specific action on a particular device type, the action will be marked as "Unavailable". This can occur in scenarios such as:
  • The OEM has discontinued support for action X.
  • A specific OEM model does not support action X, which is otherwise supported by all other OEM models. To support common properties/actions, SOTI Connect marks the action as "Unavailable".

Issue Prevention

There are no workarounds for this specific issue since the action becomes genuinely unavailable on the OEM side. However, to prevent such situation:
  1. Delete the "Unavailable" action.
  2. Reconfigure the rule to exclude any rule or configuration that has "Unavailable" actions.
Note: In some rare cases, an action that became "Unavailable" may become supported again. Confirm this by searching for the action again for the specific device type in use.

Cannot Run SOTI Connect Installer: App Activation Error

Users are unable to run the SOTI Connect installer. When attempting to run the installer with the built-in administrator account, users may encounter the following error in the Event Viewer:
Activation of app failed with error:
This app can't be activated by the Built-in Administrator. See the Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational log for additional information.
This error occurs because the built-in administrator account is restricted from activating certain apps. This restriction is in place to enhance security and prevent unauthorized changes to the system.

Issue Resolution

  • Make sure your screen resolution is at least 1024x768.
  • Make sure the User Account Control (UAC) is enabled. See Windows forum for more information.