How to Fix Reporting services in Microsoft Demo VM

Microsoft Demo VMs are really useful if you are aiming to quickly understand a particular AX component or even to quickly go ahead with a specific development. However, it comes with default settings and thus might cause some issues regarding few components around AX. Today, I have seen such issue with Reporting Services in my AX 2012 R3 Microsoft demo VM. 

Error received when I click "Create report folder" in "Report Servers" AX form. 
The report server installation is not initialized

Also when I checked in the EventLog, the below errors were logged. 
Report Server (MSSQLSERVER) cannot connect to the report server database.
&
Web service request FindItems to Report Server http://bakedev02-1-1/reportserver/ReportService2010.asmx failed with SoapException. Error: The report server installation is not initialized.

When I check the "Reporting Services Configuration Manager", everything looks normal. However, I could NOT successfully load the "Report Manager URL" nor the "Report Server Web service URL". I could connect and test the Database connection successfully though. 

One difference I have noticed from a working instance is that the "Backup" and "Change" buttons were disabled under the "Encryption keys" tab in the Reporting Service Configuration Manager. 

Solution I applied: 

After a bit of troubleshooting, the solution which worked for me is quite simple - the below two steps: 

• Go to "Encryption keys" tab and click button Delete in the "Delete Encrypted content" group
• Go back to the main node and "Stop" and "Start" the service. 

I followed the change with two more steps in order to get AX reports up and running: 

• Creating a new folder "DynamicsAX" in the Reporting Service URL via Dynamics AX "Report Servers" form. (Path: Dynamics AX Client >> File >> Tools >> Business Intelligence (BI) tools >> Report Servers) 
• And publishing the standard AX reports from "Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Management Shell" >> Publish-AXReport -ReportName *

Hope this helps!

How to Fix EP in Microsoft Demo VM environments

It is quite often that you will run into issues trying to open Enterprise portal (EP) in Microsoft released DEMO VM environments. This is basically because of the change in IP addresses and also depends on which host the VM is installed (Hyper-V or Oracle Box or VMWare).

The same happened to me and I have found posts by several helpful AX Tech people. Below are two such related links. 

1. Here's how you can fix it. (intranet.contoso.com) (VMWare player): Link
2. EP is not working In AX 2012 R3 VM: Link
3. How to use Set IP Utility: Link (Needs PartnerSource access)

However, My personal suggestion to you is to reinstall EP after you have setup your VM in order to have better results. Of course, this requires that you have the Setup file for the respective AX Version.

Steps to follow:

1. Download/collect setup file of the necessary AX Version (like AX 2012 R2 or AX 2012 R3..)
2. Copy the setup files to the VM (or) use a Shared folder from your host
3. Run as Administrator, the setup file. 
4. Uninstall Enterprise portal (if felt needed Enterprise search as well)
5. Reinstall the EP component using the same Setup file
6. Choose the Default website when prompted for (Change port number/binding later if needed)
7. After successful installation, you should have NO PROBLEMS in opening and working with Enterprise portal again :)

 I feel that, this is a simpler way to fix if you have necessary setup files. Good luck!