Setting up Anywhere Access fails at the point of trying to apply or get domain name on a clean install. Sometimes it fails to connect to REMOTEWEBACCESS.COM and gives a “wait a few minutes” error. Other times it completely breezes past the page that allows you to set up the domain and gives a “wait a few minutes” error.

It doesn’t matter what triggers the error, it is the same problem, which is the TLS settings.

Until recently, simply adding these registry keys to the 2016 Server Essentials registry fixed it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727]
“SystemDefaultTlsVersions”=dword:00000001
“SchUseStrongCrypto”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319]
“SystemDefaultTlsVersions”=dword:00000001
“SchUseStrongCrypto”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727]
“SystemDefaultTlsVersions”=dword:00000001
“SchUseStrongCrypto”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319]
“SystemDefaultTlsVersions”=dword:00000001
“SchUseStrongCrypto”=dword:00000001

Not in October 2022 when I did a server install. Not in November, either. What I had to do to get it to work was install this free program: IISCrypto, apply the checked changes, and then add the registry changes, and reboot. Then the anywhere access configuration wizard was able to complete.

I tested this on 2 different machines and I was able to successfully configure Anywhere Access after completing both steps.