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Windows Server 2012 - Server Manager Troubleshooting Guide, Part III: Common Events and Errors in Server Manager

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This article is Part III of the Server Manager Troubleshooting Guide. Other parts:

This article describes how to find event and error log files that are related to Server Manager in Windows Server® 2012, and shows common event and error messages that can occur in Server Manager operations.

Find event and error logs for Server Manager

The following table shows Event Tracing for Windows channel paths to Server Manager event and error logs. The default log size for Server Manager logs is 1 MB. If you are managing a large number of servers with Server Manager (for example, more than 10 or 15 servers), you might want to increase the log size. For more information about how to increase the size of an event log, see Set Maximum Log Size on Microsoft TechNet.

Component Event Tracing for Windows Channels Comment

Server Manager console

Applications And Services Logs\Microsoft\Windows\ServerManager-MultiMachine

Client operations events; stored on the computer that is running Server Manager

Server Manager Management Provider

…\ServerManager-ManagementProvider

Events in this log are stored on the managed server

Add Roles and Features Wizard

…\ServerManager-MultiMachine

Add Roles and Features Wizard Workflow

…\ServerManager-MultiMachine

Event IDs 4000-4099

Server Manager Deployment Provider

…\ServerManager-DeploymentProvider

Windows PowerShell Workflow general

…\PowerShell

Event 45079 shows each activity run

Configure Remote Management task

…\ServerManager-ConfigureSMRemoting

Server Manager startup errors

The following table describes errors that can occur when Server Manager is starting.

Issue Type Underlying Source Message from WinRM or Providers (shown in Task Details pane) Possible Causes and Suggested Resolutions

Server Manager startup error

Server Manager cannot load the server list. Click OK to reset the server list and continue. Click Cancel to close Server Manager, and try to repair the server list manually in the XML server list file at the following location: %windir%\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ServerManager\ServerList.xml

Data in the serverlist.xml file is not valid.

Server Manager startup error

Error Starting Services: Server Manager could not start the task due to the following error: The Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) service is not running, and attempts to start the service have failed.

WinRM 3.0 is either turned off or cannot run properly on the client computer. Make sure the WinRM 3.0 service is running.

Server Manager operations errors

Displayed Error Message (in Task Details) Error Condition and Possible Causes

When you run the Add Roles and Features Wizard to add roles to a server in the Server Manager pool that is running a newer release of Windows Server, the following message dialog box is displayed: "Server Manager is collecting inventory data. The wizard will be available after data collection finishes."

Server Manager cannot be used to manage servers that are running a newer release of Windows Server than the release on which you are running Server Manager. Server Manager running on Windows 8 as part of Remote Server Administration Tools cannot be used to manage a server that is running Windows Server 2012 R2, for example.

The system cannot get event data because the Windows Event Log service is stopped or not accessible.

Events data cannot be retrieved because the event log service on the target server is stopped.

When you run the Add Roles and Features Wizard to add roles to a server in the Server Manager pool that is running a newer release of Windows Server, the following message dialog box is displayed: "Server Manager is collecting inventory data. The wizard will be available after data collection finishes."

Server Manager cannot be used to manage servers that are running a newer release of Windows Server than the release on which you are running Server Manager. Server Manager running on Windows 8 as part of Remote Server Administration Tools cannot be used to manage a server that is running Windows Server 2012 R2, for example.

The system cannot get service status because of insufficient access rights.

Services data can't be retrieved because the Server Manager user does not have required access rights. Server Manager cannot communicate with Service Control Manager on the target server. This can occur when a user is not an administrator on the target server, but is a standard user.

Best Practices Analyzer is not installed.

Errors occurred while running BPA scan on <role name>.

The following errors can be displayed when users run BPA scans in a Windows PowerShell console.

  • The specified module 'BestPractices' was not loaded because no valid module file was found in any module directory.
  • The term '<BPA cmdlet name>' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
  • Errors occurred while running BPA scan on <role name>.

Best Practices Analyzer is not installed on target servers that are running Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2. This most likely means that Windows PowerShell is not installed. Run the following cmdlet on the computer that is running Server Manager to install Windows PowerShell on the target server: Install-WindowsFeature -Name PowerShell –ComputerName <target server name>. On Windows Server 2008 R2, install the Windows Management Framework 3.0 download package to get Windows PowerShell 3.0. Install prerequisites for Windows Management Framework 3.0 by following instructions in Managing Downlevel Windows-based Servers from Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 to resolve this error. BPA cannot be installed or run on servers that are running releases of Windows Server that are older than Windows Server 2008 R2.

You cannot get performance data for computers that run Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 until KB 2682011 is installed on those operating systems. Install KB 2682011 or a superseding update on this computer, and then try this operation again.

This error occurs on older Windows Server operating systems (Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008) when performance counters have been turned on, but the update associated with KB 2682011 has not yet been installed on the older operating systems. Until the update is applied, performance counters are running, but the Server Manager provider cannot get the data.

The system cannot get role and feature data because of the following error: <error code>, extended error: <error code>, message: <specific error message from source>.

Server Manager cannot get role and feature data for older operating systems (Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008). Verify that Windows Management Framework 3.0 has been installed on the target server. This error is rare. Search for the specific, underlying error code on Microsoft TechNet to get more information.

The system cannot get role and feature data because of the following error: <error code>, extended error: <error code>, message: <specific error message from source>

Server Manager cannot get role and feature data from a server that is running Windows Server 2012. This error is rare. Search for the specific, underlying error code on Microsoft TechNet to get more information.

The <task name> task could not be enabled. Error: <error code>

A standard user cannot enable the Server Manager Performance Monitor data collection task. This task starts Server Manager performance counters whenever the computer that is running Server Manager is restarted.

The <task name> collector could not be enabled. Error: <error code>

A standard user does not have adequate access rights to enable the Server Manager Performance Monitor data collection task. Typically, the preceding error message is displayed first.

The <task name> task could not be disabled. Error: <error code>

A standard user cannot disable the Server Manager Performance Monitor data collection task. This task stops Server Manager performance counters.

The <task name> collector could not be disabled. Error: <error code>

A standard user does not have adequate access rights to disable the Server Manager Performance Monitor data collection task. Typically, the preceding error message is displayed first.

The system cannot access one or more event logs because of insufficient access rights, data that is not valid, or other reasons. For more information, see the Operational channel in the ServerManager-ManagementProvider error log on the target server.

The Server Manager provider cannot access event logs because the user does not have adequate access rights. This is a common error for standard (non-administrative) users of Server Manager, because by default, they do not have access rights to get event data from managed servers. To allow standard users to access event logs on a server, run the Enable-ServerManagerStandardUserRemoting cmdlet on the target server. For more information about how to use this cmdlet, see Enable-ServerManagerStandardUserRemoting in the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Help topics.

Events from <query file name> could not be enumerated.

The Server Manager provider cannot read a saved query because the query file is not readable.

The system cannot access information for one or more services because of insufficient access rights or other reasons. For more information, see the Operational channel in the ServerManager-ManagementProvider log on the target server.

This error is typically displayed when standard users have attempted to get information that, by default, they do not have access to collect and view in Server Manager. If the standard user should be able to access the information, run the Enable-ServerManagerStandardUserRemoting cmdlet on the target server. For more information about how to use this cmdlet, see Enable-ServerManagerStandardUserRemoting in the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Help topics.

No results were found for one or more BPA models. Run a BPA scan on all roles that are installed on this server, and then try this operation again.

To clear this error, a Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) scan must be run on roles after they are installed on your managed servers. For more information about running BPA scans, see Run Best Practices Analyzer Scans and Manage Scan Results.

The system was unable to open one or more BPA results because the results either do not exist, the results are not readable, or you do not have sufficient access rights to open them. For more information, see the Operational channel in the ServerManager-ManagementProvider error log on the target server.

This error typically means that a BPA scan must be run on one or more roles on the target server. Although this error message is similar to the preceding error, it can also occur if BPA result files cannot be read or are otherwise inaccessible (due to insufficient user access rights, for example). This error can be displayed to standard users, because only administrators can access BPA results.

You cannot resolve this error by running the Enable-ServerManagerStandardUserRemoting cmdlet; the cmdlet does not let standard users access BPA results or run BPA scans. Only administrators can run BPA scans and get BPA results.

Additional references