While deploying a new Skype for Business Server 2015 Pool in the lab we got the following error message in the Deployment Wizard Step 2 (bootstrap):
Installing rewrite_2.0_rtw_x64.msi( REBOOT=ReallySuppress )…failure code 1603
——————– Error Message from rewrite_2.0_rtw_x64.msi—————————-
Property(S): TTCSupport = 1
Property(S): Time = 11:25:19
Property(S): Date = 4/10/2020
Property(S): MsiNetAssemblySupport = 4.6.1586.0
Property(S): MsiWin32AssemblySupport = 6.3.14393.0
Property(S): RedirectedDllSupport = 2
Property(S): MsiRunningElevated = 1
Property(S): USERNAME = Windows User
Property(S): DATABASE = C:\Windows\Installer\2ea25a.msi
Property(S): OriginalDatabase = C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Skype for Business Server\Deployment\cache\6.0.9319.0\rewrite_2.0_rtw_x64.msi
Property(S): UILevel = 2
Property(S): ACTION = INSTALL
=== Logging stopped: 4/10/2020 11:25:19 ===
1: 2 2: 0
1: 2 2: 1
——————– End Error Message from rewrite_2.0_rtw_x64.msi ———————–
Prerequisite installation failed: RewriteModule
The issue is that Windows Server 2016/2019 has IIS 10 and the IIS URL Rewrite Module included in the Skype for Business Server 2015 RTM won’t detect this IIS version.
If we try to manually install the IIS URL Rewrite Module bundled in RTM version we get this:
To solve this we can install a newer version of IIS URL Rewrite Module, this version is included in the Skype for Business Server 2015 since Cumulative Update 5 (6.0.9319.281+).
The latest Skype for Business Server 2015 Cumulative Update version is available here:
Download the latest Cumulative Update for Skype for Business Server 2015
https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=47690
In the folder that we download the cumulative update we execute the following:
SkypeServerUpdateInstaller.exe /extractall
This will extract all files included in the cumulative update file:
Now we can manually install the new IIS URL Rewrite Module version:
After installing the IIS URL Rewrite Module the prerequisite will be satisfied:
Please note that if we have a large amount of servers to install, and we are installing it from a folder, then we can replace the old IIS URL Rewrite Module setup file with the new one:
The SfB Deployment Wizard will cache and install the new file:
This issue won’t happen if we select Connect to the internet to check for updates, because the newer IIS URL Rewrite Module version and the other updates will be download automatically:
