977214 - AWS Windows Server 2012 tests failing due to start screen

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Infrastructure & Operations Graveyard :: CIDuty, task)

Description

[(No longer employed by Mozilla) Aaron Klotz]

I've found that I've been able to eliminate many test failures by having Windows Server 2012 boot straight to the desktop instead of the start screen. Alternatively, booting into the start screen but then programmatically switching to the desktop would also work.

I suspect that the start screen having focus is what is breaking those tests.

Comment 1

[John Hopkins (:jhopkins)]

Aaron: How did you have Windows Server 2012 boot straight to the desktop instead of the start screen?  Was this done on an AWS instance or a local VM?  From what I could find out, the RTM version (which we're using) did not come with a way to bypass the start screen but R2 does.

Comment 2

[(No longer employed by Mozilla) Aaron Klotz]

There is a registry setting that can be used to do this on the Server 2012 AWS instances, however its default permissions do not allow user modification. On my loaner I ran a PowerShell script that I found at http://www.expta.com/2012/10/how-to-boot-directly-into-desktop-with.html that can do this for you. I've already vetted the script's contents and can confirm that it does (and only does) what it claims to do.

OTOH, I'm wondering what we do on the Windows 8 test machines. I'd think that they'd have dealt with a similar issue; I wonder what we do for those...

Comment 3

[John Hopkins (:jhopkins)]

Q says the Windows 8 machines run c:\Windows\explorer.exe upon login to force Desktop mode.  This is run via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\

Comment 4

[John Hopkins (:jhopkins)]

I've enabled this on the two Date branch CI machines so the next round of tests should see improvements.  Once the trees are reopened I will kick off a new set of builds.

Comment 5

[John Hopkins (:jhopkins)]

Attachment: [cloud-tools-windows] force the Desktop interface upon login

Comment 6

[John Hopkins (:jhopkins)]

Comment on attachment 8392298 [details] [diff] [review]
[cloud-tools-windows] force the Desktop interface upon login

http://hg.mozilla.org/build/cloud-tools/rev/328237bb9aaa