Error 10016: The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Launch permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {24FF4FDC-1D9F-4195-8C79-0DA39248FF48}

Problem

While performing a routine check of the logs of the machine hosting the SharePoint Server 2010 farm Central Administration, I saw the following error in the machine's System log:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date:          [date/time]
Event ID:      10016
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      [servername]
Description:
The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Launch permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{24FF4FDC-1D9F-4195-8C79-0DA39248FF48}
and APPID
{B292921D-AF50-400C-9B75-0C57A7F29BA1}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM SID (S-1-5-18) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
Event Xml:
...

Solution

The problem involves a permission issue and is resolved similar to other instances of this error (see references below).  In this case, the account needing the permission to access the registry keys is the local system account.

References

• Error 10016: The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}
• Error 10016: The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {000C101C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
• Event 10016 may be logged in the System log on a computer that is running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Event ID 10016, KB 920783, and the WSS_WPG Group
• Event ID error messages 10016 and 10017 are logged in the System log after you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

SharePoint 2013: Microsoft Word stopped working when opening from SharePoint document library

Problem

A user clicks on a Microsoft Word document in a document library in an externally facing SharePoint 2013 farm.  The user's local WinWord launches, and then a login dialog appears.  The user enters the usual authentication information, and then clicks OK.  The user is then prompted again to enter login information.  And so on.  If the user cancels out of the login prompt or clicks the "X", the users sees this error message:

Other users report similar experiences when trying to open other Microsoft Office documents in SharePoint 2013 document libraries.

This issue has been found to be associated with the installation of update KB3055034 for Microsoft Office 2010 that was released on October 13, 2015.

Solution

• Uninstall KB3055034.

References

• Microsoft Word: Solving Crashing Problems
• Word Content Control Toolkit
• SharePoint problem with Excel patch KB3055034
• network steve: Sharepoint 2013, Word/Excel and KB3055034
• October Microsoft patches crashing Word/Excel if documents opened from SharePoint
• KB3055034 breaks opening Office files directly from sharepoint
• Updated: October 2015 Office Update Release
• October 13, 2015, update for Office 2010 (KB3055034)

Notes

• tbd

DocAve 6: An error occurred while loading the node

Problem

You are using DocAve SharePoint Administrator.  You have a SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise farm.  You are trying to configure a DocAve Security Search on a farm site.  You were able to successfully execute security searches just fine a few days ago.  You have not made any configuration changes to DocAve SharePoint Administrator since you last used it.  The only thing you have done since then is install the SharePoint cumulative update package for this month.  Now, you can't execute security searches and you experience unusual problems.  For example, when you try to expand the farm in the Scope pane, you see the following error message:

You also find that when you enter a user's name in the User and Group box, when configuring a Security Search on a user account known to be in the content database, you see this error message:

You then log into a farm server and review the server event logs.  You see the following event log occurring repeatedly at the same time as the above DocAve errors:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation
Date:          [date/time]
Event ID:      5586
Task Category: Database
Level:         Error
Keywords:      
User:          DOMAIN\SPDOCAVE
Computer:      [a farm server]
Description:
Unknown SQL Exception 262 occurred. Additional error information 
from SQL Server is included below.
CREATE TABLE permission denied in database 'Farm_Config'.
Event Xml:
...

This error message seems to point to an access issue. Checking the AgentService.exe log on the farm application server, you find this error message recurring each time you attempt to configure the security search:

ERROR 10-17 17:01:12,435 8 AgentPreHostingService 0- An error occurred 
while registering the agent. Exception: 
System.ServiceModel.EndpointNotFoundException: There was no 
endpoint listening at 
https://[DocAveSvr]:14000/ControlCore/ControlCoreService.svc that could 
accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or 
SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details. ---> 
System.Net.WebException: The remote name could not be resolved: 'DocAveSvr'

You then launch SQL Server Management Studio and check the mapping of the DocAve service account: you find that it is not longer mapped as DBO to the farm configuration database and other databases.

Solution

• Verify that the DocAve agent service account has been mapped as DBO for all farm databases, particularly the farm configuration database.

References

• None

Notes

• The AgentService.exe.log is located in C:\Program Files\AvePoint\DocAve6\Agent\Logs.

Hyper-V TIP: How to expand disk drives

One thing you may find yourself needing to do is expanding the disk drives.  This TIP shows you how.

Procedure

1. Shutdown the SharePoint VM which has the disks you want to re-size.
2. Launch Hyper-V Manager.
3. Connect to the Hyper-V server hosting the VM.
4. Select the VM in the Virtual Machines list.
5. In the Actions pane, click Settings... A settings dialog appears.  
6. In the Settings dialog, in the Hardware list pane, select the hard drive you want to re-size.  In my case, I wanted to resize the Logs drive.  The right details pane updates to show configurable parameters for the selected object. These configurable details will only be enabled if the VM is shutdown.
7. Click the Edit button.  The Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard dialog appears.
8. Select the Expand option, and then click the Next button.
9. In the New Size text box, increase the size as desired.  In my case, I increased the Logs drive from 100 GB to 250 GB.
10. Click the Next button.  A summary of the configuration changes is displayed.
11. Click the Finish button.  The dialog closes and you are returned to the Settings dialog.
12. Click OK.  After this, you will need to extend the volume from within the VM
13. Start the VM.
14. Login to the VM, and then start Computer Management.
15. In the left object pane, expand Storage and then select Disk Management.
16. In the main details pane, scroll down the list of disk size visualizations for the disk you expanded in Hyper-V.  You'll see that it appears to have two sections: a Primary Partition and an Unallocated one.
17. Right-click on the Primary Partition, and then choose Extend Volume...  The Extend Volume Wizard dialog appears.
18. Just click the Next button to accept the default of maximally extended the primary partition through the full unallocated portion.
19. Click Finish.  The dialog closes, and you are taken back to Computer Management.  looking at the disk visualization list, you now see that the disk is expanded through the entire unallocated portion as well.
20. Exit Computer Management.

References

• Primary
• SharePoint Health Analyzer rules reference (SharePoint 2013)
• SharePoint 2013: Tweaking the Health Analyzer Rule Definitions
• SharePoint Health Analyzer Rules

Notes

• In my case, I increased the memory on those farm servers hosting SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise from 12 GB to 24 GB. This in turn triggered the "Drives are running out of free space" health rule on the Logs drive, which was 100 GB.  The other server drives were already large enough and had sufficient space to handle a full memory dump even with doubling server memory. I could have just disabled this rule.  However, this is not recommended best practice. Instead, I decided to increase the Logs drive from 100 GB to 250.

SharePoint 2013: Notes on Hyper V and replication

Introduction

This posting is a work-in-progress for capturing and consolidating information on SharePoint 2013 vis a vis Hyper V replication as a disaster recovery solution. Generally, in reviewing these references, I have found that Hyper V replication is not a supported disaster recovery solution.

The primary reason being that SharePoint is an asynchronous distributed web application, in which servers are not entirely synchronized.  For example, a single timer job is executed at slightly different times on the different farm servers no matter how fast server network connections may be. Moreover, the replications of all farm servers will can never be fully synchronized, but will occur at slightly different times.

Lastly, the only supported disaster recovery options involve SQL Server and are these:

• Log Shipping
• Mirroring
• AlwaysOn

References

• Primary
• One of the cache hosts in the cluster is down
• Hyper V 2012 VM replication and SharePoint 2013 support
• Hyper-V 2012 VM replication as a Sharepoint 2010 DR solution
• Before you implement Hyper-V R2 replication; tips, tricks, does and dont’s
• Hyper-V Replica with SharePoint, Yes or No?
• Sharepoint 2010 and Hyper-V 2012 VM replication as DR solution
• Use best practice configurations for the SharePoint 2013 virtual machines and Hyper-V environment
• Hyper-V virtualization requirements for SharePoint 2013
• Hyper-V Replica Feature Overview
• Additional
• SharePoint DR strategies

SharePoint 2013: Sorry, we’re having trouble reaching the server.

Problem

You see this message appear when entering usernames, whether for adding new users, using the Check Permissions tool, etc:

Another thing that occurs is that no results drop down appears, listing possibilities as you type.  On the other hand, if you enter the full username, and then click Check Now or Share, the username is in fact accepted and things subsequently happen the way you expect them to happen: permissions are checked or the new username is added to the SharePoint group you wanted to add it to.  You also notice something else.

Completely unrelated to this (or so it seems) is another error message that appears when users attempt to modify list item or document properties.  When users make changes to these properties, and then click OK, the property form remains visible for what seems longer than it should, and then a message is displayed on this form:

and

Troubleshooting

1. Check server event logs:
• No events occurring that occurred at same time as the message
2. Check ULS logs:
• You see an interesting series of error messages that recur:

  Unknown SPRequest error occurred. More information: 0x80070002
  
  System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The system cannot find the 
  file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002), StackTrace...
  
  Access Denied for /_vti_bin/client.svc/ProcessQuery. StackTrace...
  
  Redirect to AccessDenied.aspx?Source=
  https.../_vti_bin/client.svc/ProcessQuery failed. Exception: 
  System.Web.HttpException (0x80004005): Cannot redirect after
  HTTP headers have been sent. 
   
  

3. Test other site collections:  
• Problem still occurs.
4. Test other web applications: 
• You find that this problem occurs for only one of the web applications in your farm and not all.  For example, it does not occur for the Central Administration web application.
5. Create a new web application and site collection and import problematic web application content: 
• You find that the problem does not occur.
6. Extend the problematic web application:
• You find that the problem does not occur
7. Unextend the problematic web application:
• You find that the problem still does not occur.

Solution

• Extend and then unextend the problematic web application (see reference 7).

References

1. SharePoint 2013 People Picker error: “Sorry, we’re having trouble reaching the server.”
2. SharePoint 2013: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again. [for lists]
3. SharePoint 2013: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again. [for document libraries]
4. SharePoint 2013 People Picker error: “Sorry, we’re having trouble reaching the server"
5. SharePoint 2013: People Picker Error
6. The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again
7. Error while creating task: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again. (SharePoint 2013)

Notes

• There are temporary fixes that can be easily implemented with respect to the list item or document property issues, and these fixes involve adding content types (see references 2 and 3).  However, these fixes do not resolve the PeoplePicker error message.
• The web application extension used for this solution was a simple one using all defaults: a host header (DNS) was not used for the URL - just the web server name.
• I worked with Microsoft Support to resolve this issue and the apparently related list item and document property issues (see references 2 & 3).  The solution suggested by the support technician was to extend the web application, and this was the solution that ultimately fixed all of the issues noted in this posting.  However, why this one farm web application began presenting this behavior and not the others is still unknown.

SharePoint 2013: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again. [for lists]

Problem

Your users report seeing the following error message, when attempting to modify and save changes to list item properties:

You verify the experience.  You then check other list types and find that this problem is seen for some list types but not all.  For example, it isn't experienced when modifying Calendar list items.  You begin troubleshooting.

NOTE: this posting addresses this problem when experienced for lists.  Not for document libraries.  If you are seeing this message when modifying document properties, please see this article.

Troubleshooting

1. When did problem first appear? You do not recall having ever experienced this problem for this farm.  Some ad hoc review shows that you were able to modify list properties several months previously without issue.
2. What changed? The farm is updated through the September 2015 CU.  There was no August 2015 CU, aside from individual updates, which were skipped.  There have been no changes to IIS, certificates or permissions.  Your first guess is that the problem was introduced by the September 2015 CU.
3. Determine scope: two web applications in farm: Central Administration and user.  Only occurs for user. Ad hoc testing finds issue occurs for: Custom List, Announcements content types.  Does not occur for Calendar content type.
4. Literature Review and Testing
1. Restarted SharePoint Search Host Controller service per this article, and then tested: unresolved.
2. Modified web application's web.config file per this article, and then tested: unresolved.
3. Added my standard account to Site Collection Administrators group and the site's Owner group, and then tested: unresolved.
4. Created new SharePoint group in site collection presenting this problem, configured this group with Read permission, and then added my standard account to this group (left my standard account in Site Collection Administrators and Owner groups): unresolved.
5. Restarted the SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool and then IIS: unresolved.
6. Cleared the farm configuration cache per this article, and then tested: unresolved.
7. Restarted SharePoint server (two-tier farm), and then tested: unresolved.
5. A hunch: implemented equivalent solution to that which worked (per this article) when this message was seen for document property modifications.  Added Link content type to list, and then tested: resolved.
• Repeatability: when Link content type is removed from list, issue reappears.

Solution

1. Go to the list's Settings page.
2. Scroll down to the Content Types group.  By default, you'll see just one content type here:
   
   .
3. Now scroll back up, and then click Advanced settings.
4. On the Advanced Settings page, look for the Content Types group.
6. Select Yes, and then click OK.
7. Back on the Settings page, scroll down to the Content Types group, and then click Add from existing site content types.
8. In the Available Site Content Types multi-select box, select Link.
   
   .
10. Click Add >, and then click OK.
11. Back on the Settings page, again scroll down to the Content Types group, and now you will see two content types there.
    
    .
12. The change is implemented immediately.

References

1. SharePoint 2013 Error: "The Server was Unable to Save the Form at this Time. Please try Again"
2. C# Corner: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again
3. SharePoint 2013: Product Configuration Wizard stuck on task 9 of 10
4. Anil Avula's SharePoint Blog: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again
5. "Uber" packages for September 2015 CU for SharePoint 2013 have been released
6. SharePoint 2013: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again. [for document libraries]
7. MSDN SharePoint Forum: The server was unable to save the form at this time. Please try again

Notes

• Two-tier farm, externally facing.
• The solution presented here does not, in my opinion, actually resolve the cause of the problem.
• As best as I recall, this issue first appeared after installing the September 2015 CU.

SQL Server 2012: Execution Error: Restore of database failed

Problem

From within SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), you attempt to restore a SharePoint Server 2013 database, but then experience this error message:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------
 Restore of database 'YOURDATABASE' failed. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.RelationalEngineTasks) ------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: The operating system returned the error '32(The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.)' while attempting 'RestoreContainer::ValidateTargetForCreation' on 'D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.CSSP\MSSQL\DATA\YOURDATABASE.mdf'. (Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended) For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&ProdVer=11.0.5058.0+((SQL11_PCU_Main).140514-1820+)&LinkId=20476

 This solution is simple.

Solution

1. In SSMS, launch the Restore Database dialog, 
2. Select Files, and then enable Relocate all files to folder.
   
   .
3. Click OK.

References

• Restore a Database Backup (SQL Server Management Studio)