Microsoft Management Console has stopped working 1

[maxthedork]

Trying to get into server manager on Windows 2008 R1, every time I open it it opens for less than a second then crashes. Debug does nothing. Below is the event log entry:

Log Name: Application
Source: Windows Error Reporting
Date: 5/19/2010 10:38:20 AM
Event ID: 1001
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sarsgrid.dccc.edu
Description:
Fault bucket 571635009, type 5
Event Name: CLR20r3
Response: None
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: mmc.exe
P2: 6.0.6002.18005
P3: 49e01c0a
P4: Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager
P5: 6.0.0.0
P6: 49e037dd
P7: 1914
P8: 106
P9: System.UnauthorizedAccess
P10:

Attached files:
C:\Users\sarsadmin\AppData\Local\Temp\WER7160.tmp.version.txt

These files may be available here:
C:\Users\sarsadmin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\Report1262a7c8

Thanks in advance

 

[maxthedork]

Additional information: Tried rebooting the server, applying updates... there are currently 18 updates available but for some reason the system will not install them. Could be related? Not sure.

 

[kmills]

Max,
Are you using the default administrator login or are you using a different account that is in the adminstrator group? They don't have the same privileges unless you modified them.

 

[maxthedork]

Thanks for the reply. I tried logging on with the Administrator account but the same issue is still there. MMC crashes right away and I cannot install updates. Here's the error I get when trying to install updates:

Code 80070005 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

Also the other two Windows 2008 R1 servers that I administer both work fine with the alternate administrator account. I'm going to follow the link on the error listed above and see if that helps, but any other ideas? Thanks again!

 

[maxthedork]

Woohoo! Found the solution when tracking down that error!

The DCOM configuration was not correct for some reason. Don't know how it got changed, maybe it's something the developer did when they installed the application. Anyway, this is the procedure I ran to fix it:

1. Click Start, click Run, type Dcomcnfg, and then click OK.
2. Expand Component Services, and then expand Computers.
3. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
4. Click the COM Security tab.
5. Under Access Permissions, click Edit Default.
6. Verify that the following accounts are listed:

Comparing the broken server to one that worked, the broken server had Everyone listed with local and remote access. The one that works did not have Everyone listed. I removed it in the broken server and hit apply. Everything else looked OK.

Step 2: Verify DCOM default properties
1. Click the Default Properties tab.
2. Verify that the following configuration:
• The Enable Distributed COM on this computer check box is selected.
• In the Default Authentication level box, Connect is selected.
• In the Default Impersonation level box, Identify is selected.

3. Make any required changes, and then click OK.
4. Restart the computer.

In this case, the broken server had Default Impersonation set to Anonymous. I changed it to Identify and it gave me an error when I clicked OK saying I didn't have the permissions to do that. However, the change took, I didn't have to reboot at all, and now MMC opens fine and Windows Update works fine too. This problem is RESOLVED! Thanks again! (-: