Unable to import GPO backup into WEM. Not a valid zip file.

[David Ray]

Having a frustrating experience with WEM.  Most of what I can read on the web says it is super easy to setup and that you should take 20 minutes and get it done (ok, exaggeration born out of frustration).  I really appreciated Ray Davis' detailed walkthrough on importing GPO on this site (

)

But when I duplicate the same steps I always fail with a "Import failed. ZIP file invalid" error.  I am using the WEM service (under DAAS) and get this on both the Web and Legacy consoles.  Note that I am not speaking of Upload/Migrate/Restore Actions process often shown (e.g. https://jkindon.com/migrating-gpo-settings-to-wem/).   This actually works for me... but I would like to use the Group Policy Settings section of WEM Actions rather than the Registry Entries section.  This is because the GP section will give you collections of entries whereas the Registry section just gives you a single long(!) list.

My steps:

1. Right-click on GPO in GPMC and backup the GPO
2. Find the backed up GPO folder in Explorer and... (I have tried all three of these.  Also have tried using 7-zip to make the zips.)
   1. Right-click the folder (GUID named) and click Send to Compressed folder, or
   2. Go up one folder and select the folder containing the backup folder (as Ray Davis shows) and Send to Compressed folder, or
   3. Go down one folder level into the backup folder and select all files there and Send to Compressed folder
3. In WEM Legacy console, on the handle at the top select upload and upload the zip file created above.
4. Select your configuration set
5. Click Actions, Group Policy Settings, be sure Enable Group Policy Settings Processing is checked.
6. At the bottom click Import
7. In the dialog Select the zip file to be imported field drop down the list and find the zip file you just imported
8. Click Start Import
9. Receive "Not a valid zip file.  Import failed."
10. Alternatively, in the Web console, select your configuration set
11. Click Actions then Group Policy Settings.  Be sure Process GPOs is turned on
12. With Registry-Based selected click Import
13. With Type set to GPO backup file, Browse and select the zip file created in step 2.
14. Click Import
15. Receive Import failed. ZIP file invalid. message
16. Weep in frustration

 

Does anyone know or guess what I am doing wrong?   There is one Citrix "support" article (https://support.citrix.com/s/article/CTX495792-unable-to-import-gpo-into-workspace-environment-management-service-invalid-zip-file?language=en_US) referencing this error but the instructions there basically say "do it right".

Would very much appreciate any suggestions.   Thanks.

Edited September 19 by David Ray
Edited typos

[Lee KwangKyu]

Does your GUID folder contain files such as Backup.xml and bkupInfo.xml?

If it does not, you will get an error.

e.g.
{799BE98F-...}\Backup.xml
{799BE98F-...}\bkupInfo.xml

[David Ray]

It does have those files.  And a couple more.

/David

[Robert Peck]

David, I remember having this issue when I was migrating GPOs.

I remember there were some cases when you could not rename the exported back up folder from its GUID name to a friendly name or it would fail.  That does not sound like it pertains to your situation.

I also found that some GPOs just always failed.  I just went into my lab to look.  This GPO works like a charm

While this one gives your same "Import Failed" result every time.

One is a user setting and the other a computer setting.  Something about it will not allow it to be imported to WEM registry entry GPO.

This may not be very helpful but it may be that there is a type of setting somewhere in your GPO that will not work.  I know that you can only import GPPs into the legacy console.

Hopefully that helps you with some ideas.  Let us know what you figure out please.

[David Ray]

Robert,

Thanks that is helpful.  You inspired me to try a few different GPOs.  Sure enough, the first different one I tried worked!  But...😥the next six I tried did not.   Well... at least there is some hope of possibly figuring out a pattern.  Only... I am not sure I have the patience for it.   (I avoided renaming the zip... just leaving it with the GUID name in each case.)

Disappointing that Citrix has not made this more functional... and included some decent error messages (besides Invalid Zip file... when clearly the Zip file is fine). 

Appreciate your help... maybe I'll keep messing with it and figure out how to get what I need in.   (Without typing it all again manually.)

[Ray Davis]

I had a similar issue and I just kept the GUID name instead of giving it a file name. May not be the same, but look at number 51 and down some to see if it's close.