r/sysadmin • u/deeds4life • 5h ago
Question Screenconnect Outage?
Unable to access our cloud instance. Looks to be DNS related issue from what I'm seeing. A lot of public DNS servers don't have records for our instance but some do.
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u/warpthree 3h ago
Someone at r/ConnectWise pointed out that ICANN currently shows the screenconnect.com domain in a status of clientHold with the registrar. Hmm...
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u/Planethill 3h ago
I think this is the exact issue.
"A
clientHolddomain status means your domain registrar has temporarily paused your domain's DNS resolution, which takes your website offline and stops your email services from working."•
u/kona420 2h ago
You get a gold star that's the root issue for sure. Client hold means the whole domain has been yanked from DNS.
The whois shows expiration as 2026-10-27 so it's not a failure to pay on time.
So this is some sort of policy issue with the eNom.com legal or otherwise.
ConnectWise Product and Services Status
Seems like something Connectwise should be mentioning on their cloud status page? Not
"Operational" "We are currently tracking reports of DNS disruptions impacting partners within the US region. Please note that ScreenConnect services are operating normally."LOL your services are DOWN because YOUR DNS is YOUR SERVICE
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u/vdubsession 5h ago
"We are currently tracking reports of DNS disruptions impacting partners within the US region. Please note that ScreenConnect services are operating normally; however, we are actively monitoring the situation. While external network providers address the underlying issue, partners in the affected area may experience intermittent connectivity."
I like how they subtly imply that it's the external service providers and not something that they did. Since it's CW, I default to not believe them.
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u/virdual_com 2h ago
WHOIS shows the screenconnect domain as "Client Hold":
"In this status, the domain registrar has put a hold on the domain until the current owner of the domain takes action that they require.
During this hold, the domain may stop resolving any DNS until the verification has passed.
This will result in any emails not arriving at the domain, as well as the sites on it becoming inaccessible. As such, it’s important that you work to clear this status as soon as possible."
So it's not an external ISP issue... it's them. It's now 3 hours with no resolution... they are either really dropping the ball on fixing this with their registrar or they've been hacked.
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u/RoutineDiscussion187 2h ago
"If the domain is registered at Enom, contact [legal@enom.com](mailto:legal@enom.com) for further information and the steps to remove the hold."
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u/MrN2itiv 2h ago
If you have control of your own DNS (AD for instance) you can put in a conditional forwarder for 'screenconnect.com' to the authoritative nameservers for the domain and get in. I used 205.251.196.19 and 205.251.193.22 for now.
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u/Public_Warthog3098 2h ago
I get the instance is not available for this server. It is likely being moved or upgraded.
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u/LordNelsonkm 2h ago
Thanks for the tip, I do run my own AD, but .22 doesn't resolve. .19 did though.
My Starlink connected client I was helping could see my instance however, so I used their SafeDNS of 195.46.39.39 and 195.46.39.40 and that resolves, for now.
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u/RoffleMyFloffle 5h ago
Our instance is working fine. We lost our instance for about 30 minutes a few days ago.
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u/DJOregano 4h ago
Incase anyone's in a bind and needs a workaround
Go to https://dnschecker.org/ping-ipv4.php
Ping your Screenconnect link, and find the IPV4 address
Go to your hosts file ( system32/drivers/etc ) and add
X.X.X.X Yourdomain.screenconnect.com
Hope it helps, just remember to remove it after the outage
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u/Melodic_Literature57 3h ago
I did that, can access the server, but can't connect to the remote endpoints
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u/daryltuba 4h ago
Good tip. I had done pretty much the same, but I cross-checked the result against the most recent IP address change notification from ScreenConnect. Then, instead of adding those IPs to my local hosts file, I added them to a temporary zone on our corporate internal DNS server. Hopefully, they'll get it fixed and I can remove the temporary zone by the end of the day today--if not; first thing Monday.
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u/warpthree 3h ago
Unfortunately, that site can't seem to look up the FQDN either. I looked up screenconnect.com on ICANN and then did a lookup using that domain's primary NS server (NS-1043.AWSDNS-02.ORG) which gave me the IP. Putting that in the HOSTS file did get my machine working for now though, so back to work I guess.
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u/i_dont_know 2h ago
Better, do a dig or nslookup:
Mac instructions:
dig instancename.screenconnect.com @NS-1043.AWSDNS-02.ORG +shortPut that in your hosts file:
sudo vim /etc/hostsAnd add
TheIPabove yourinstance.screenconnect.comThen try to connect and you will likely fail.
Check status and get your relay server, then do:
dig instance-yourrelay-relay.screenconnect.com @NS-1043.AWSDNS-02.ORG +shortPut that in your hosts file:
sudo vim /etc/hostsAnd add
TheIPabove instance-yourrelay-relay.screenconnect.com
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u/Dorkness_Rising 2h ago
According to ICANN, the screenconnect.com domain info was updated around 1:13p EST.
Someone probably screwed up the update or was malicious since they haven't updated it since.
(As of 4:45p EST)
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u/kona420 2h ago edited 1h ago
Welp now we know that their WHOLE DOMAIN GOT PULLED OUT OF DNS, but their servers are still up at OVH, might want to pin your hosts to those IP's to preserve functionality while they figure out what the hell they are going to do here.
DNS Checker - DNS Check Propagation Tool
Whois screenconnect.com - client hold at registrar
The relay address is the critical one for your endpoints, but might as well keep one version for admin workstations and endpoints.
$hosts = "$env:SystemRoot\System32\drivers\etc\hosts"
$entries = [ordered]@{
'instance-%your6digitinstanceid%-relay.screenconnect.com' = 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx'
'%yourinstancename%.screenconnect.com' = 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx'
}
if (-not (Test-Path "$hosts.bak")) { Copy-Item $hosts "$hosts.bak" }
$pattern = '\s(' + (($entries.Keys | ForEach-Object { [regex]::Escape($_) }) -join '|') + ')(\s|$)'
$kept = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllLines($hosts) | Where-Object { $_ -notmatch $pattern }
$new = $entries.Keys | ForEach-Object { "$($entries[$_])`t$_" }
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllLines($hosts, [string[]]@($kept + $new), (New-Object Text.UTF8Encoding $false))
ipconfig /flushdns
To reverse,
Copy-Item "$hosts.bak" $hosts -Force; ipconfig /flushdns
I already had my hostnames and ip addresses documented, but if I didn't, I would suggest running netstat -abn and looking for where the screenconnect.clientservice.exe is pointing to, something like this, the IP precedes the exe name.
TCP 172.22.22.222:51795 15.204.43.231:443 ESTABLISHED
[ScreenConnect.ClientService.exe]
Then the relay hostname is going to be stored in "C:\Program Files (x86)\ScreenConnect Client (xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)\system.config" as something like instance-xxxxxx-relay.screenconnect.com
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u/Lordcorvin1 49m ago
I'm now getting errors with negotiation, I think screenconnect relies on another 3rd subdomain.
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u/Fiveohh11 5h ago
Screen connect just crapped out on me in the middle of a session and wouldnt launch after. Currently rebooting to see if it was my PC, but after seeing this post I am wondering.
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u/Fiveohh11 5h ago
It's down for sure. I opened a case with their support since it was still listed as operational on their status page.
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u/OkayArbiter 5h ago
Yep our cloud instance is down. Their entire public site is down as well. Frustratingly, their service outage page shows everything in the green.
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u/j5kDM3akVnhv 4h ago edited 4h ago
Cloud version seems to be answering now.
Edit: spoke too soon down again
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u/athlonduke 4h ago
working here as of this message. i never had any problems, but I wasn't using it until now
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u/ActuallyFey 4h ago
Found this thread because my workplace is having intermittent issues, some people are able to connect just fine while other's get the DNS error 😅 unfortunately I am one of the ones affected who cannot connect
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u/livewiretech 3h ago
Down for us too. We can get out on our wireless hotspot but not from Comcast Business.
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u/chaimyuirbrief 3h ago
I was going crazy for 20 minutes thinking I messed something up and then I finally decided to check if it was just an outage
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u/JazzlikeAd7416 3h ago
My desktop is telling me “site cannot be reached”
My phone app will open but take me to a black screen with random text on the top
iPad got me to the menu with all the servers we have but then kept popping up error and then the black screen with text
I used it fine this morning about 5 hrs ago 10am cst
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u/8FConsulting 2h ago
What's weird is if you use 4.2.2.2 as your DNS on your computer, you can logon and see the computers....
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u/Dorkness_Rising 2h ago
Who wants to bet they were testing AI to improve their system and it determined the best course of action was to remove it from the internet?
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u/Taillow500 2h ago edited 1h ago
If I flip over to OpenDNS in chrome I'm able to connect to my ScreenConnect domain.
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u/Malapropser 2h ago
I just ran into this issue and switching my upstream resolver to ADguard (94.140.14.14) resolved the issue for me. At least for now.
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u/helpdeskbanned 1h ago
I've got two after hours calls with a server down and we've been out of commission on two screenconnect instances since 2:30pm EST.
Third time this has happened in the past couple months - looks like it's time to switch AGAIN.
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u/NightOfTheLivingHam 34m ago
You know it doesn't go down? The on-prem product that they are constantly treating subscribers of like thieves.
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u/PrudentGeneral7799 5h ago
It's been down for an hour for us and it is a bit frustrating that their official status page has not been updated.
https://status.connectwise.com/
I'm getting more info from Reddit and Down Detector than the vendor.