As most people know, Microsoft recently released a version of the Lync client for Windows 8 and Windows tablets such as the new Microsoft Surface. This version is optimized for touchscreen and runs on any flavor of Windows 8. It does not run on Windows 7. The name of this client is officially the “Windows Store Lync App”, but to clarify, it is the artist formerly known as “Lync MX”, “Lync RT”, “Win 8 Lync App”, and “Lync Metro”. Head on over to What is the Windows Store Lync app? if you need more information about this client.
There are many cases of users having issues when trying to sign-in with the Windows Store Lync App. This post clarifies some basic requirements and offers some troubleshooting steps.
Basic Requirements for Connecting to a Lync Server
The Windows Store Lync App can connect to Lync Sever 2010, Lync Server 2013, and Lync Online in Office 365. Here are two basic requirements on the server-side required for this client to connect to an on-premises Lync server:
- To connect to Lync Server 2010, the Lync 2010 Cumulative Updates for October 2012 needs to be installed (aka CU7). I have seen documentation stating that only Lync Server 2010 CU5 is needed for general functionality, but in the field it appears the client will not connect unless the CU7 updates are installed.
- From what I have seen in the field, this manifests as an error similar to the following:
There was an error communicating with the endpoint at ‘https://lyncwebsvc.domain.com:443/Reach/sip.svc/mex’.
The server returned HTTP status code ‘500 (0x1F4)’ with text ‘Internal Server Error’.
The server was unable to process the request.
- Another important requirement is that the DNS record of Lync autodiscovery (i.e. a CNAME or A record for lyncdiscoverinternal.domain.com and lyncdiscover.domain.com). This is used to find the Lync server (registrar) to sign-in. There is no fallback DNS record lookup if the Lync auto-discover is not available, and there is no ability to manually configure the Lync App to specify the server to connect to, so making sure the appropriate Lync discovery DNS record exists and works is crucial. See TechNet Creating DNS Records for the Autodiscover Service for more information.
- Note: although the Windows Store Lync App client leverages the Lync autodiscovery DNS record and service to sign-in, it does not leverage the Lync mobility service for authentication or sign-in – it uses the Lync server registrar services. This is the Lync Edge server if you are connecting remotely.
- You can use my OCS & Lync Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool V3.0 tool to check that the Lync auto-discover record exists and the end-point is reachable.
Nov 9th Update: Both of these requirements are outlined in a newly released NextHop article: Lync Server Autodiscover and the Windows Store Lync App.
Basic Troubleshooting
There are reports of users having a variety of sign-in issues. Here are 3 tips which cover several of them:
- Check the Basics.
- Microsoft recently published a web page covering some basic sign-in issues with the Lync App including making sure that the time and date is set correctly on your Windows 8 device.
- There is also a Microsoft support KB 2779848 – Troubleshooting the Lync Windows Store app for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices which gives an overview of the basics.
- Supplying your Credentials. There have been reports of users getting the sign-in error “We couldn’t sign you in. Please check your sign-in info and try again” when they input their credentials in the older ‘SAM’ format (e.g. domain\username). Specifying their credentials in the UPN format (i.e. SIP address) has solved this issue.
- Enable Logging.
- Fellow Lync MVP Elan Shudnow has a great write-up on how to enable the Windows Store Lync App logging and view the log files: http://www.shudnow.net/2012/10/28/lync-rt-client-viewing-logs/.
- Jeff Schertz also has a good write-up about the Lync 2013 autodiscover process, including the Windows Store App.
- Microsoft TechNet has an article on Deploying Lync Windows Store App that has a section on implementing client-side logging.
I’ll update this post as more the root cause of more issues are uncovered.
Hi there,
I have a Lync Ent 2010 deployment with Edge. As of now Lync PC Client and Lync Mobile are working externally and internally. Unfortunately Lync Metro App on windows 8 wont connect properly because when I change the sip address to our internal domain e.g. user1@contoso.local, the user can login to Lync Metro App locally. When I change the sip address to what we use e.g. user1@contoso.com, it won’t login. Lync PC Client and Android Mob clients can login fine using user1@contoso.com using Autodiscovery.
Also, when I connect the Lync Metro App it says that the server is using incompatible version which like I said internally I can login when sip address is changed to match internal domain. Hope you can help me out on this.