This issue is caused by the “ffmpeg.exe” external executable that we use for encoding videos. The latest version uses a dll that is not installed by default on Windows Server 2012 R2.
To install it, it is sufficient to turn on the feature “Media Foundation”.
For example,, in the Server Manager software there is the option “Add roles and features”. Going through the install steps and under “Features” select “Media Foundation” should do the trick.
To verify that it works correctly, a quick test is running the “ffmpeg.exe” program in a command prompt. It is located in the KSNR installation folder, typically “c:\Program Files\KeyShot10 Network Rendering\bin”. When it works, it will produce text output with the program name and version, followed by information about the configuration and supported codecs. If there is the problem, it will instead pop up a dialog reporting that the dll “MFPlat.dll” is missing.
Another issue is the installation of KSNR itself on Windows Server 2012 R2.
We need the “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable” files to be installed on the machine. This is done as part of the KSNR installer, but the latest version of these redistributables does not install on a base Windows Server 2012 R2. It needs an extra update (KB3118401), as described here:
Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows
This update in turn requires the April 2014 update rollup (KB2919355):
Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update: April 2014
And that one needs another smaller update installed first (KB2919442):
March 2014 servicing stack update for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2
The last two updates at least are standard Windows Server updates and are likely to already be installed on a 2012 R2 server.
The symptoms when the redistributable fix is missing is an error when trying to run a KSNR executable like the configurator or the manager, reporting a missing dll, typically named something beginning with “api-ms-win-…”, like “api-ms-win-crt-string-l1-1-0.dll”.
Note that the KSNR configurator is run at the end of the KSNR installation to generate the initial configuration files, so the error dialog will show at that point when there is a problem.
After these updates if you are still having issues please send an email to Support@Luxion.com for direct help for the Support team.