Frequently Asked Questions

Last Modified September 7, 2001 (First version; 1.0)

1 Setup Issues FAQ

Note that any URLs listed herein may change without notice.  Also, some areas note “This KB article may not yet be publicly available.”  In these cases, KB articles are pending and will be available at a later time.

2 Required Reading

For additional information about installation issues, please refer to the following sources (any information contained therein is not reproduced below).

• The Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server Planning and Installation Guide

• The Readme, located in the root of the installation CDROM as well as at http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/evaluation/trial/default.asp

• “Deploying SharePoint Portal Server Across an Extranet” whitepaper, available at http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/techinfo/deployment/Extranet.asp.  This paper is not necessary for Intranet-ONLY implementations with servers referenced by NetBIOS names.

• “Installing SharePoint Portal Server” whitepaper available at http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/techinfo/deployment/installing.asp.  

• The http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint web page is also a good starting point for up-to-date information.

3 Compatibility and Co-existence

Note: Additional information about coexistence is available in KB article Q295012.

4 Upgrade Issues

5 Configuring for Extranet Operation

6 Diagnosing Setup Failures

WARNING:  Before posting this information (especially if posting to newsgroups or any similar peer-support, unsecured forum), make sure you are comfortable with the information disclosed, such as machine names, IP addresses, etc.  You may wish to retain an unedited copy for your reference and troubleshooting/follow-up discussions with Support, and obscure sensitive data in the copies you send out publicly.

Information to examine if you have a failure of Server installation for SharePoint Portal Server

Note: Please compress all requested files into one archive if sending to support for assistance.

All Errors:

• Application event log

• Eventlog.txt from %programfiles%\Microsoft Integration\SharePoint Portal Server\Logs (note that this also contains all the info in the errorlog.txt, so you do not need to include it too).

• Exchange server setup progress.log from root of your OS drive (NOTE:  This file is created by SharePoint Portal Server installation, and is present and relevant even if Exchange has never been on the machine).

• List of applications installed on the machine

VAIfy and Web Storage System installation failures:  (If the installation UI shows an X in a red circle next to the Web Storage System component or the errorlog.txt contains VAIfy errors, respectively.)

Provide the information listed under “All Errors,” and the following:

• List of hot fixes (especially security and IIS) that have been installed.  See KB article Q282784 to determine which fixes are installed.

• IIS configuration (especially w3svc/1) information is likely to be handy too.  Attach the w3svc.txt file generated by running “cscript C:\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs enum_all w3svc > w3svc.txt” (where C: is your OS drive).  Be sure to verify the log file contains information, not just an error message (Some users remove or move adsutil.vbs, in which case only an error message would be present).

Errors registering msdaipp.dll:  (errorlog.txt mentions problems registering the file, or Setup appears to hang while registering it): 

• See the section “Common causes of VAIfy and Web Storage System install failures (and assorted other Server setup failures)” below.  If this information does not resolve the problem, see KB article Q297075. 

• If neither solution above resolves the problem, provide the information requested in the next section (“Errors installing an msi file”).

Errors installing an msi file:  (errorlog.txt mentions failures related to .msi files)

Provide the information listed under “All Errors,” and the following:

• Eventlog.txt from %programfiles%\Microsoft Integration\SharePoint Portal Server\Logs

• Spsclisrv.log from %programfiles%\Microsoft Integration\SharePoint Portal Server\Logs

• MSMhost.log from %programfiles%\Microsoft Integration\SharePoint Portal Server\Logs

Common causes of VAIfy and Web Storage System install failures (and assorted other Server setup failures)

Note:  Some of these errors and conditions, as well as new errors, may be later incorporated into publicly available support information and/or KB articles.  Always follow the instructions in any such official documentation, should there be any differences between the two.

• Disable Virus scanners during installation and workspace creations.  If you do not, problems may occur.  For example, a typelib may not register, or you may see an error similar to: “The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process,” as noted in KB article Q287309.

• Make sure all hotfixes on your machine are properly installed.  Incorrectly installed hotfixes can cause installation failures.  See KB article Q282784 to determine which fixes are correctly installed.

• Check the settings for w3svc/1.  Localhost:80 needs to be a valid way to connect to w3svc/1; your server bindings and security (IP address and domain name restrictions) must allow this. Note:  Use the machine name (http://servername/workspacename) or configure to use FQDN (see the notes on Extranet configuration), NEVER use URLs of the form (http://localhost/workspacename) to access the server.

• Make sure W3svc/1 is started (not paused or stopped).

• If you uninstall SharePoint Portal Server, be sure to reboot.  If you do not, subsequent installation attempts may fail.

• Do not attempt to install when logged on using cached credentials; you will receive a VAIfy error.  See KB article Q297432. 

• If you are installing using the /unattendfile option (unattended installation using an .ini file), no path may contain DBCS, High ASCII, or be over 140 chars long.

• MDAC: verify that MDAC is installed correctly by running the Comcheck utility available at http://www.microsoft.com/data/download.htm#ccinfo. Use this tool to verify that the MDAC version is 2.5 or greater and the MDAC dlls are all correct. If you find an error and need to reinstall MDAC 2.5 on your Windows 2000 server, right click \winnt\inf\mdac.inf and choose Install. You may be prompted for your Windows 2000 installation disc or service pack files location.  For MDAC 2.6 (or any version other than that which shipped with Windows 2000) you must download and install MDAC from the Microsoft site (http://www.microsoft.com/data/  is a good place to start).  Some failed installs have been caused by bad or corrupted MDAC installs.  NOTE: MDAC 2.6 does not include Jet updates; previous MDAC distributions did.  Testing has not found concrete problems, but users on the newsgroups have had success by installing Jet SP3 and then Jet SP5.  (SP5 is an incremental update; you need to have SP3 on the machine first).

• Oledb32.dll may not be properly registered.  The error you are likely to see is "Setup failed while installing sub-component OLEDB protocol with error code 0xc103798A".  See KB article Q283985.

• COM problems on the machine: Errors have been seen (registration failed for cdoevt.dll, reported in the Exchange Server Setup Progress.log) in the past.  This has occurred when there have been problems with COM or MSDTC.  See KB article Q284013.

• Web storage system: You must have at least one drive letter free during install/repair, or the component will fail.

• Web storage system:  If you had Exchange installed on the machine, but uninstalled it or wiped the machine, there may be remnants left in the Active Directory...to see if that is your problem, try changing the machine name and installing.

• SID problem: (Very rare).  See if your event log mentions problems with duplicate SIDs.  This can occur if you incorrectly use imaging software to install the same machine images to multiple machines, and then promote one of them to a domain controller.  If you then join another machine created from the same original image to that domain controller and attempt an installation, you may have a VAIfy failure.

• Check the date on your system; be sure it matches the DC...MSExchangeIS service is especially sensitive to date/time synchronization.

• If W3SVC/1 has “Cache ISAPI applications” disabled, Server setup will hang.  This setting is found on the properties of Default Web Site (w3svc/1):  on the Home Directory tab, in the Application Settings group, click the “Configuration...” button, and check the setting on the App Mappings tab.

• If the World Wide Web publishing service is disabled, you will receive a VAIFy error (0x80004005).

• Setup fails if the “NT LM Security Support Provider” service is disabled (Search failures 0x0000042c and 0x8007042c, which causes VAIFy to fail with error 0x80004005)

• Setup fails if the “Net logon” service is not running (VAIFy 0x80070005).

• If no web site exists as W3SVC/1, setup will still attempt to run, and the WebClient fails with error code 0x80070003.

• WSS install failure (sub-component WebClient, error 0x80070422) if the “IIS Admin Service” is disabled.

• Setup fails if Event Log service not running (Error opening ExchangeServer admin object for 'server'. hr=0x80070057).

• Web Storage System may fail to install if the “Protected Storage” service is disabled (with error code 0x8007042C).

• VAIFy error (0x80072eef) occurs if HTTP Keep-Alives are disabled on w3svc/1.

• VAIFy error (0x80072efe) occurs if, on w3svc/1, a host header is set for the entry (All Unassigned) on TCP port 80…the host header should be blank for this entry.

• Running server setup with the “Distributed Transaction Coordinator” (DTC) service stopped fails, with a Web Storage System install error (0xC103798A).

• If the “Server” service is not running, an obscure error message results (“Setup is unable to determine a valid ordering for the installation.  See the error log for more details.”)

• Web Storage System setup failure if the “Remote Procedure Call (RPC)” service is not started (Error code 0xC103798A, and, in “Exchange Server Setup Progress.log,” an error message indicating “command regsvr32 /s cdowfevt.dll failed”).

• If the server installation appears to hang when attempting to register msdaipp.dll, try the following:

o Kill the setup.exe process

o Delete the cache folder causing the error.  To find the location of the cache folder, from the root of the OS drive, issue the command “dir /S *_R” (the files should be located under a folder named “Offline”; delete that folder.

o Rerun Setup, and choose Repair.

Error publishing the Client components using Group Policy:

If you attempt to publish/assign the client package using Group Policies, and you receive the message that publishing information could not be extracted, it may be that you have installed SPS server on this Domain Controller.  Use a different DC to publish the client.

KB articles:

The following KB articles address additional known installation problems, both for the Client components and for the Server.  This list may not be comprehensive; be sure to search the Support Knowledgebase for the most recent information, or contact Support directly:

Q275038 - SPS: Virtual Directories Displayed with Stop Sign Symbols

Q283985 - SPS: Error Message: Setup Failed While  Installing Sub-Component OLEDB Protocol with Error Code 0xc103798A

Q283990 - SPS: Client Components Require Outlook Express on Non-Windows 2000 Based Computers

Q284013 - Error Message: The Command REGSVR32 /S CDOWFEVT.DLL Failed (message is in Exchange Server Setup Progress.log in the root of your OS drive)

Q287304 - SPS: You Cannot Start Outlook Express After You Install SharePoint Portal Server

Q287309 - SPS: Error Message: The Process Cannot Access the File Because It Is Being Used by Another Process

Q291564 - SPS: Setup Fails When Office Server Extensions Is Installed

Q291835 - SPS: TIFF Filter Stops Working After You Start the Windows Components Wizard

Q294265 - SPS: Client Components Setup Fails and You Receive an "Internal Error 2755" Message

Q295012 - Programs That Cannot Coexist with SharePoint Portal Server

Q295015 - SPS: Issues to Consider When You Install SharePoint Portal Server on a Domain Controller

Q295721 - SPS: SharePoint Portal Server Setup Does Not Work with Error 0XC0070002

Q296791 - SPS: Exchange 2000 IFS Logs Error Message in Application Event Log When SharePoint Portal Server Starts

Q298095 - SPS: DCOM Error Messages Logged in Event Log

Anecdotal concerns that testers have not been able to reproduce:

WARNING:  Following are anecdotal accounts of perceived causes and solutions that may provide guidance in problems that do not respond to other solutions.  The processes in the accounts are not necessarily recommended.

• FrontPage server extensions cause failures.  Testers have been unable to reproduce any setup problems caused by FPSE, but some users say that removing them helps.  Most likely, a configuration or hotfix that is related to the components is actually at fault.  Removing them would eliminate that problem, and give the false impression that their presence was responsible.  If you decide to try this, please note what the settings are before you remove them, and any relevant info you think would help, and post the results, if it works for you.

• Advanced Server has more problems than Server.  Many, many tests were run on Advanced Server.  Most likely, it is some configuration of the OS, IIS, or other components that are at fault; perhaps users of Advanced Server are more likely to make the changes that cause the problem.  This could also include untested coexistence with some application, or that IIS security is tightened down too much, or is configured in an untested way.

• Confusion exists about installing under different account types.  This is likely because of file/folder/IIS/home directory permissions more than anything.  As long as the account belongs to the local "Administrators" group, either explicitly or via group membership, you should be able to install fine. EXCEPTION:  installing while using cached credentials will cause an installation (VAIFy) failure.  See KB article Q297432. 

• Machine has enough disk space, but just barely, to install on the OS drive.  Testing has been unable to reproduce this problem.

• Keyboard and/or locale info set to <insert language or locale here>.  Tested many combinations, varying OS/SharePoint Portal Server/Input languages and locales, and have not found any problems related to this.  (There was an issue only in a pre-release version.)

Recommendations for smoother operation:

Disable Virus scanners during installation and workspace creations.  They can cause installation and other problems (see KB article Q287309 for an example; workspace creation problem).

If you had a Beta of Office XP (Office10) on the machine, uninstall it.  Make sure secmgr.dll is gone from the OS drive.

If you uninstall SharePoint Portal Server, you should always reboot to remove leftover files, even if not prompted to by the setup program.  If you do not think everything was removed properly, see KB article Q295704.

Historical causes of VAIFy errors that should no longer happen (because setup refuses install):

Note: This information is also included in the Readme file.

• Hotfix Q269862 is installed.  Install Hotfix Q277873; it is an updated version of this fix, and will not impair installation.  Alternatively, Windows 2000 SP2 includes an updated version of this fix that will not impair installation.

• IE proxy settings must not use Automatic settings (top 2 checkboxes).  Also, if a proxy server is specified, you must select the “Bypass proxy server for local addresses” checkbox.

• Remote registry service must be started.

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