Microsoft Intune Certificate Connector Failure

The Microsoft Intune Certificate Connector enables the provisioning and de-provisioning of on-premises PKI certificates for Intune-managed devices. Always On VPN administrators using Intune to deploy certificates with the Intune Certificate Connector using either PKCS or SCEP may encounter a scenario where certificates are no longer being provisioned to users or devices after working reliably previously.

Certificate Not Found

When this issue occurs, users will no longer be able to access the VPN and receive a “certificate could not be found that can be used with this Extensible Authentication Protocol” error message.

Connector Status

To determine the status of the Intune Certificate Connector, open the Microsoft Intune Admin Center (https://intune.microsoft.com) and navigate to Tenant Administration > Connectors and Tokens > Certificate Connectors. The status of the certificate connector server will be in Error.

Event Log

Open the event log on the server where the Intune Certificate Connector is installed. Navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Intune > CertificateConnectors > Operational. Here, you will find a variety of warning and error messages.

Event ID 5001

This is a warning from the CertificateConnectors source with event ID 5001 in the Task Category HealthMessageUploadFailedAttempt with the following details.

PKI Create Service:

Failed to upload health messages. Requeuing messages.

Event ID 1003

This is an error from the CertificateConnectors source with event ID 1003 in the Task Category PkcsDownloadFailure with the following details.

PKI Create Service:

Failed to download PKCS requests.

Event ID 2

This is an error from the CertificateConnectors source with event ID 2 in the Task Category Exception with the following details.

PKI Create Service:

Microsoft.Intune.Connectors.PkiCreateProcessor.Process threw an exception.

Expired Certificate

The warning and error messages recorded in the event log indicate an expired certificate on the Intune Certificate Connector server. Open the local computer certificate store (certlm.msc) on the server where the Intune Certificate Connector is installed. Review the expiration date of the certificate issued by Microsoft Intune ImportPFX Connector CA. It is most likely expired.

Click on the Certification Path tab to view the certificate status.

Renew Certificate

To renew this certificate, you must reinstall the Intune Certificate Connector. However, you do not have to uninstall it first. To renew the certificate, navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Intune\PFXCertificateConnector\ConnectorUI and double-click on PFXCertificateConnectorUI.exe. Follow the prompts without making changes to the existing configuration. You’ll be prompted for the service account password (if using a domain account) and proxy credentials (if using a proxy server). In addition, you’ll be asked to sign in to Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). Be sure to provide credentials that are a global administrator and have an Intune license assigned. Once the process is complete, a new certificate will be installed in the local computer certificate store.

Intune Configuration

After updating the Intune Certificate Connector, a new certificate connector appears in the Intune Admin Center. You can now safely delete the old connector and rename the new one accordingly.

Redundancy

Deploying multiple instances of the Intune Certificate Connector is an excellent way to avoid future outages! It’s also a good idea to stagger their installation by a few months to ensure that a future certificate expiration doesn’t result in lost functionality. If you’ve deployed Intune Certificate Connectors recently, consider updating them at rotating intervals so certificates expire at different times.

Additional Information

Intune Certificate Connector Configuration Failed

Intune Certificate Connector Service Account and PKCS

Intune Certificate Connector Configuration Failure

Microsoft Intune Learning Resources for Always On VPN Administrators

Always On VPN NPS Auditing and Logging

The Network Policy Server (NPS) event log is incredibly valuable for administrators when troubleshooting Always On VPN user tunnel connectivity issues. Administrators can find these pertinent events by opening the Event Viewer on the NPS server (eventvwr.msc) and navigating to Custom Views > Server Roles > Network Policy and Access Services.

Event Logs

When configured correctly, event logs will record the disposition of all authentication requests, allowed or denied. The two most common recorded events are event IDs 6272 (access granted) and 6273 (access denied).

NPS Event ID 6272 – Access granted.

NPS Event ID 6273 – Access denied.

Auditing

In some cases, administrators may find none of these events recorded even though user authentication is working correctly. Here, the only events recorded are NPS informational events indicating which domain controller the NPS server is using to perform authentication.

The lack of 6272 and 6273 events in the event log indicates that auditing for NPS events is not enabled. Open an elevated PowerShell window and run the following command to view the current auditing setting for NPS events.

auditpol.exe /get /subcategory:”Network Policy Server”

Open an elevated PowerShell window and run the following command to enable auditing for NPS events.

auditpol.exe /set /subcategory:”Network Policy Server” /success:enable /failure:enable

Group Policy

Alternatively, consider using Active Directory group policy to enforce the NPS server auditing settings. Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and create a new GPO. Next, navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Advanced Audit Policy Configuration > Audit Policies > Logon/Logoff > Audit Network Policy Server and select the option to audit both success and failure attempts.

Once complete, link this GPO to the OU where the NPS servers reside.

Missing Events

If auditing is enabled and there are no recorded 6272 or 6273 events, the NPS server did not receive any authentication requests from the VPN server. Review the event logs on any other NPS servers if there is more than one configured. In addition, this may indicate that network communication between the VPN and NPS server is blocked. Ensure network connectivity and name resolution are working as expected.

Troubleshooting Guides

Are you interested in learning more about Always On VPN troubleshooting? My Always On VPN book contains an entire chapter dedicated to troubleshooting. Also, my Always On VPN video training course on Pluralsight includes a module on troubleshooting. The video training course is available to Pluralsight subscribers only. If you don’t have a Pluralsight subscription, you can sign up for a free trial here.

Additional Information

Troubleshooting Always On VPN Errors 691 and 812

Troubleshooting Always On VPN Errors 691 and 812 – Part 2

Troubleshooting Always On VPN Errors 691 and 812 – Part 3

Always On VPN NPS Load Balancing

Always On VPN Windows Server RRAS Service Does Not Start

Always On VPN Windows Server RRAS Service Does Not StartAdministrators configuring a Windows Server Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) server to support Windows 10 Always On VPN connections may encounter an issue where the RemoteAccess service fails to start. Attempts to start the service might seem to work at first, but the service immediately stops again.

Troubleshooting

On the RRAS server, the Services management console (services.msc) or PowerShell Get-Service command shows the RemoteAccess service as being stopped. Attempts to start the service result in failure.

Always On VPN Windows Server RRAS Service Does Not Start

Event Log

Looking at the System event log on the RRAS server shows an error with event ID 7024 from the Service Control Manager source indicating “The Routing and Remote Access service terminated with the following service-specific error: A device attached to the system is not functioning.

Always On VPN Windows Server RRAS Service Does Not Start

Resolution

This issue is commonly caused when IPv6 is disabled on the server via the registry. To verify, open the registry editor on the RRAS server and navigate to the following location.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters

If the DisabledComponents value is present and set to anything other than 0, set it to 0 or simply delete the DisabledComponents value completely and reboot the server.

Always On VPN Windows Server RRAS Service Does Not Start

The following PowerShell command can be used to remove the DisabledComponents value.

Remove-ItemProperty HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters -Name DisabledComponents

Additional Information

IPv6 Recommended Reading for Always On VPN and DirectAccess Administrators

Guidance for Configuring IPv6 in Windows for Advanced Users (Microsoft)