WSS 3.0 SP2 Upgrade failed with an error message - Action 3.1.3.0 of Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPIisWebSiteWssSequence failed
Applying Service Pack 2 failed with an error message. Observed the following details from the upgrade.log file.
[SPIisWebSiteWssSequence] [ERROR] [7/18/2009 11:13:56 PM]: Action 3.1.3.0 of Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPIisWebSiteWssSequence failed.
[SPIisWebSiteWssSequence] [ERROR] [7/18/2009 11:13:56 PM]: The system cannot find the path specified.
[SPIisWebSiteWssSequence] [ERROR] [7/18/2009 11:13:56 PM]: at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_AdsObject()
at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection.PopulateList()
at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection..ctor(DirectoryEntry entry, String propertyName)
at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyCollection.get_Item(String propertyName)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPIisApplicationPool.get_PeriodicRestartMemory()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPProvisioningAssistant.EnableMemoryBasedAppPoolRecycling(SPIisApplicationPool local)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPProvisioningAssistant.EnableMemoryBasedAppPoolRecycling(String applicationPoolId)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.EnableMemoryBasedAppPoolRecycling.Upgrade()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPActionSequence.Upgrade()
When we narrowed down the error we came to the conclusion that Upgrade failed due to deletion of some Application Pools. There is no UI in SharePoint to change Application Pool of a web application.
In my case, we reappointed the Application Pools, as per their previous state of the web applications to reach a quicker resolution. However, it is a good practice to delete the respective Web Application & Application Pool and create a new one.
In case you like to go with the Object Model, please check the following blog for more details.