(2014-02-05) Enabling Debug Tracing In ADFS v2.1 and v3.0

This TechNet article and this WIKI page describe how to enable debug tracing for ADFS v2.0. For both ADFS v2.1 (ADFS 2012) and ADFS v3.0 (ADFS 2012 R2), the same procedure still applies, but it is slightly different.

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The ADFS Tracing/Debug is named differently in both ADFS v2.1 (ADFS 2012) and ADFS v3.0 (ADFS 2012 R2). Its name is "AD FS Tracing/Debug". Therefore, to enable circular logging you need to issue the following command:

WEVTUTIL sl "AD FS Tracing/Debug" /l:5

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The ADFS binaries are now located in C:\Windows\ADFS. Therefore, the service config file "Microsoft.IdentityServer.Servicehost.exe.config" can be found in that same folder.

When you open the file you will find a contents similar to the figure below.

Figure 1: The Sections In The File "Microsoft.IdentityServer.Servicehost.exe.config" For Enabling Debug Tracing. Currently Shown As Being DISABLED For Both WIF And WCF Tracing

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To enable both WIF tracing and WCF tracing, the file contents must be configured as shown in the figure below.

Figure 2: The Sections In The File "Microsoft.IdentityServer.Servicehost.exe.config" For Enabling Debug Tracing. Currently Shown As Being ENABLED For Both WIF And WCF Tracing

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After saving and closing the file "Microsoft.IdentityServer.Servicehost.exe.config", make sure to restart the ADFS service

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After that configure the ADFS Tracing/Debug Log through the following steps:

1. Open Event Viewer.
   • To open Event Viewer, press [CTRL]+[R], type EVENTVWR.MSC and hit enter
2. On the View menu, click Show Analytic and Debug Logs.
3. In the console tree, expand Applications and Services Logs, expand AD FS Tracing, and then click Debug.
4. In the Actions pane, click Enable Log.

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Tracing for AD FS is now enabled.

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Remember to disable debug tracing after being done with troubleshooting!

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Cheers,
Jorge
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