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ServerManager fails with 0x80040154 in c# Winforms app creating simple web application in IIS

I am writing a small app that installs IIS and configures a website before deploying the files to it.
On a freshly reset Windows 10, the first attempt always fails with the 0x80040154 COM+ component failure as documented in This question
I looked at the version I am using and it is the latest and correct one for .net standard (4.8) and not the one meant for .net core
When I press the button to rerun the function it always finishes correctly. I tried using a retry routine, and it fails on each retry, yet runs fine again when the button is pressed. The reason for this I assume is that the server manager object isn't disposed when it hits the catch block since its in a using statement.
I can work around that, but I really want to understand the issue and make a permanent fix.
My routine simply creates a website in IIS and creates an app pool to assign to it.
And it is running with elevated privileges
For reference:
Machine is Windows 10 latest from the downloadable media creator.
Microsoft.Web.Administrator version is 7.0.0.0
App is .net 4.8 standard windows forms
using (var serverManager = new ServerManager())
{
string iisrootdir = drive;
//Check for inetpub/wwwroot
if (!Directory.Exists(iisrootdir)) //Check for Drive D
{
iisrootdir = #"C:\";
}
string iiscmsdir = Path.Combine(iisrootdir, "webdir", "appdir");
if (!Directory.Exists(iiscmsdir))
Directory.CreateDirectory(iiscmsdir);
var settings = new ApplicationSettings();
settings.ReadFromFile();
settings.CMSPATH = iiscmsdir;
settings.SaveToFile();
try
{
string poolName = "DefaultAppPool";
if (serverManager.Sites.Count > 0)
{
Site myDefualtWebsite = serverManager.Sites[0];
if (myDefualtWebsite != null)
{
OnRaiseInstallEvent(new InstallEventArgs("CreateWebsite", ProcessState.Started,
"Remove Default Website"));
serverManager.Sites.Remove(myDefualtWebsite);
serverManager.CommitChanges();
}
}
if (!WebsiteExists("sitename"))
{
mySite.ServerAutoStart = true;
}
Site site = serverManager.Sites["sitename"];
if (!AppPoolExists(poolName))
{
serverManager.ApplicationPools.Add(poolName);
}
ApplicationPool apppool = serverManager.ApplicationPools[poolName];
apppool.ManagedPipelineMode = ManagedPipelineMode.Integrated;
apppool.ManagedRuntimeVersion = "";
serverManager.Sites["sitename"].ApplicationDefaults.ApplicationPoolName = poolName;
foreach (var item in serverManager.Sites["sitename"].Applications)
{
item.ApplicationPoolName = poolName;
}
serverManager.CommitChanges();
apppool.Recycle();
serverManager.CommitChanges();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
if (ex.Message.Contains("80040154") && errorCount < 4)
{
if (serverManager != null)
serverManager.Dispose();
errorCount++;
OnRaiseInstallEvent(new InstallEventArgs("CreateWebsite", ProcessState.Started,
"Error encountered with COM+ object, trying again: " + errorCount));
CreateWebsite(#"D:\");
}
else
{
if (serverManager != null)
serverManager.Dispose();
errorCount = 0;
OnRaiseErrorEvent(new InstallErrorEventArgs("CreateWebsite", ProcessState.Error, ex));
return false;
}
}
finally
{
serverManager?.Dispose();
}

Thanks for the help Guys. I found the problem.
DISM was running in its own thread. The Process object exited the moment it launched. My function was then attempting to configure IIS before it had finished installing.

After resetting user's password in Active Directory using C#, both old and new passwords are working

Below is the code which is being used to reset the password. I want to stop this behavior. Only new password should work. user should not be able to log in with old password.
using (var search= new DirectorySearcher(dir))
{
search.Asynchronous = false;
search.CacheResults = false;
dirSearch.Filter = "(&(objectCategory=User)(objectClass=person)(name=" + UserName.Trim() + "))";
SearchResult result = dirSearch.FindOne();
if (result != null)
{
using (var entryUpdate = result.GetDirectoryEntry())
{
entryUpdate.Invoke("setpassword", new object[] { NewPassword });
entryUpdate.CommitChanges();
//entryUpdate.RefreshCache();
}
}
result = null;
}

It's only possible to have two different passwords at the same time when Active Directory replication is broken. This is not actually a code issue. The way to fix it is to determine where the AD replication is broken. You can quickly check AD Health at a glance by running the command repadmin /showrepl. If you see errors, then run dcdiag /v on any domain controllers showing errors in the output. A new favorite tool of mine now to determine AD Health also is to run the PowerShell utility ADHealthCheck.

Launching a RemoteApp programmatically without a system call to "mstsc"

I've an RDP file that successfully start a RemoteApp.
remoteapplicationmode:i:1
remoteapplicationprogram:s:||application
remoteapplicationname:s:application.exe
remoteapplicationcmdline:s:
authentication level:i:2
gatewayusagemethod:i:2
gatewayprofileusagemethod:i:1
gatewaycredentialssource:i:0
full address:s:aaa.bbb.ccc.com
I tried to copy its settings into my C# objects:
AxMsRdpClient7NotSafeForScripting rc = new AxMsRdpClient7NotSafeForScripting();
rc.OnConnected += (_1, _2) => { rc.RemoteProgram2.ServerStartProgram("application.exe", "", "%HOMEDRIVE%" + "%HOMEPATH%", true, "", true); };
rc.RemoteProgram2.RemoteProgramMode = true;
rc.RemoteProgram2.RemoteApplicationProgram = "||application";
rc.RemoteProgram2.RemoteApplicationName = "application.exe";
rc.TransportSettings.GatewayUsageMethod = 1;
rc.TransportSettings.GatewayProfileUsageMethod = 1;
rc.TransportSettings.GatewayCredsSource = 0;
rc.Server = "aaa.bbb.ccc.com";
rc.UserName = "DOMAIN\\user";
rc.AdvancedSettings7.PublicMode = false;
rc.AdvancedSettings7.ClearTextPassword = "pass";
rc.AdvancedSettings7.AuthenticationLevel = 2;
rc.DesktopWidth = SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Width;
rc.DesktopHeight = SystemInformation.VirtualScreen.Height;
rc.AdvancedSettings7.SmartSizing = true;
rc.Connect();
I've been searching everywhere but I wasn't able to find any example of how to launch a RemoteApp programmatically.
I've red this page, but it was not very helpfull. The client (a COM control) is connecting successfully, but it just displays a blue screen and no RemoteApp is launched.
Furthermore, I'm not sure that the right method to launch rc.RemoteProgram2.ServerStartProgram, because it takes paths as arguments, while in my RDP file no path is present!
Can anyone help me? I'm using the right objects to do what I want?
The server runs Windows Server 2008R2

If all you want to do is pragmatically launch a RemoteApp you already have an rdp file for, then just start it as a process:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(#"C:\Path_To_Rdp_File.rdp");

Hostname scanning in C#

Iv'e recently started a new job as an ICT Technician and im creating an Console application which will consists of stuff that will help our daily tools!
My first tool is a Network Scanner, Our system currently runs on Vanilla and Asset tags but the only way we can find the hostname / ip address is by going into the Windows Console tools and nslookup which to me can be improved
I want to create an application in which I enter a 6 digit number and the application will search the whole DNS for a possible match!
Our hostsnames are like so
ICTLN-D006609-edw.srv.internal the d 006609 would be the asset tag for that computer.
I wish to enter that into the Console Application and it search through every hostname and the ones that contain the entered asset tag within the string will be returned along with an ip and full computer name ready for VNC / Remote Desktop.
Firstly how would I go about building this, shall i start the project of as a console app or a WPF. can you provide an example of how I can scan the hostnames via C#, or if there's an opensource C# version can you provide a link.
Any information would be a great help as it will take out alot of issues in the workpalce as we have to ask the customer to go into there My Computer adn properties etc and then read the Computer name back to use which I find pointless.
Regards.
Updates:
*1 C# Version I made: http://pastebin.com/wBWxyyuh

I would actually go about this with PowerShell, since automating tasks is kinda its thing. In fact, here's a PowerShell script to list out all computers visible on the network. This is easily translatable into C# if you really want it there instead.
function Find-Computer( [string]$assetTag ) {
$searcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher;
$searcher.SearchRoot = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry;
$searcher.SearchScope = 'Subtree';
$searcher.PageSize = 1000;
$searcher.Filter = '(objectCategory=computer)';
$results = $searcher.FindAll();
$computers = #();
foreach($result in $results) {
$computers += $result.GetDirectoryEntry();
}
$results.Dispose(); #Explicitly needed to free resources.
$computers |? { $_.Name -match $assetTag }
}

Here's a way you can accomplish this, although it's not the best. You might consider hitting Active Directory to find the legitimate machines on your network. The code below shows how you might resolve a machine name, and shows how to ping it:
static void Main()
{
for (int index = 0; index < 999999; index++)
{
string computerName = string.Format("ICTLN-D{0:000000}-edw.srv.internal", index);
string fqdn = computerName;
try
{
fqdn = Dns.GetHostEntry(computerName).HostName;
}
catch (SocketException exception)
{
Console.WriteLine(">>Computer not found: " + computerName + " - " + exception.Message);
}
using (Ping ping = new Ping())
{
PingReply reply = ping.Send(fqdn);
if (reply.Status == IPStatus.Success)
{
Console.WriteLine(">>Computer is alive: " + computerName);
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine(">>Computer did not respond to ping: " + computerName);
}
}
}
}
Hope that helps...

Reading EventLog C# Errors

I have this code in my ASP.NET application written in C# that is trying to read the eventlog, but it returns an error.
EventLog aLog = new EventLog();
aLog.Log = "Application";
aLog.MachineName = "."; // Local machine
foreach (EventLogEntry entry in aLog.Entries)
{
if (entry.Source.Equals("tvNZB"))
Label_log.Text += "<p>" + entry.Message;
}
One of the entries it returns is "The description for Event ID '0' in Source 'tvNZB' cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display the message, or you may not have permission to access them. The following information is part of the event:'Service started successfully.'"
I only want the 'Service started successfully'. Any ideas?

Try this :)
EventLog aLog = new EventLog();
aLog.Log = "Application";
aLog.MachineName = "."; // Local machine
string message = "\'Service started\'";
foreach (EventLogEntry entry in aLog.Entries)
{
if (entry.Source.Equals("tvNZB")
&& entry.EntryType == EventLogEntryType.Information)
{
if (entry.Message.EndsWith(message))
{
Console.Out.WriteLine("> " + entry.Message);
//do stuff
}
}
}
It works on Win XP home. The message might be different on another OS.
Best way: dump entry.Message by System.Diagnostics.Trace.Write and see the exact message.
Hope it works smoothly :)