MMC: Failed to Create Empty Document
Jeremn
will drop remote desktop requests after you login to it.
=========================
Hi everyone,
We rebooted our server over the weekend to complete some Windows
updates. Now after the reboot, anything that uses Microsoft Management
Console (MMC) will not work. Instead a warning stating:
"Failed to create empty document"
is displayed. When you click OK, nothing happens. This happens with
anything requiring a snap in. I have tried "Server Maintenance,
Eventviewer, DNS, Services, etc). All of these give the same result.
What is weird, is at times we can access MMC related applications by
connecting to the server via "Remote Desktop Connection"
I read a post that was talking about a similar situation.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs/br...
The proposed solution is to reinstall MMC. I want to avoid having to
resort to this because this is a production server running an ERP
Program/Database and Exchange. Any weirdness that would might occur as
a result of a reinstall would cripple us for days. There is also a few
differences between the problem in the post above and my problem.
We have also tried rebooting since this happened and this has not
helped.
Does anyone know what I can try to resolve this problem, or what caused
it in the first place?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;231757
FWIW, I always want a pretty good indication that a reinstall is going to
solve my problem - I like to troubleshoot to the point where I believe a
reinstall is necessary, rather than to do a reinstall just in the hope that
it'll work. If I were in a situation where a reinstall would be as
disruptive as you describe, I'd definitely call PSS first.
"Jeremn" <Jer...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:969C7BF2-0359-4730...@microsoft.com...
Licher xX@discussions.microsoft.com Xx Licher xX
I originally posted this thread in another newsgroup, and a coworker posted
it here.
Yes, I have seen KB 231757. Unfortunately it didn't get me anywhere. (unless
a reboot was required, but the article didn't mention it)
I have also tried running sfc /scannow, but that didn't solve the problem
either.
I saw a site that referred me to KB
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319101, but when I clicked the link, it
said the article was not available.
I tried copying the MMC.exe file over from another machine (Win 2003) that
was not having the problem, but that failed to fix anything.
I have also read somewhere that somewhere there may be a corrupt registry
key somewhere, but couldn't find anything telling me what key to check.
Lastly I want to try and reregister some .DLL files related to MMC, but I am
not sure which ones it uses.
I also want to note that it doesn't matter how I try to run something with
MMC (Double clicking, Command Prompt, .msc extension, .exe extension, etc)
They all result in the same problem.
Also, I was wondering if someone could explain the meaning error I am
getting, since it doesn't seem logical to me. Consoles such as server
management or eventviewer have content in them, thus I would not consider
them empty, so why would MMC try to create an empty document?
Thanks eveyone for your help.
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
command prompt and type "set" without the quotes -> Enter. It'll show you
what variables are set.
I can't find that KB either and it's not on the TechNet CD. I do find
numerous references in google, so you may be able to find it on the web
somewhere. My guess is that if MS withdrew it, they no longer think it
applies.
If you type "mmc" on the run line it'll open an empty console, which I'm
guessing is where the "empty document" reference comes from. If you can
open an empty mmc this way, the problem is with the snap-in and not with the
mmc itself. Since you're seeing this with multiple snap-ins, I'm guessing
it is the mmc rather than a corrupt snap-in.
I don't think I'd start copying files or registering DLLs unless you can
find something pointing to that as a solution.
I don't think you will have any problems with a reinstall of the MMC, and I
don't see how you could be worse off anyway. At least theoretically you
shouldn't have any more disruption than a normal reboot. See:
How to Reinstall the Small Business Server 2003 Consoles
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829622
"Xx Licher xX" <Xx Licher x...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DC3A6D06-5445-4E39...@microsoft.com...
Xx Licher xX
Thanks again for your response. You are correct in your guess that it is the
console and not the snap-ins. I have seen some posts and KB articles that
suggest that the XML Parser my be at fault. They suggested using regsvr32.exe
on the following .dll files:
MSXML.DLL
MSXML2.DLL
MSXML3.DLL
I have tried that once, but it didn't solve the problem. I got another
strange error when I went into add/remove programs, that makes me believe
that something may be messed up with the XML parser:
The title was "Parser Message" and the text was.
"Value creation Failed at Line 5"
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
means seems to be introducing more problems than it's solving. You could
try installing the newest version of the XML parser, but I haven't seen
anything indicating that as a possible cause of the MMC error. I can't
imagine that a simple MMC snap-in like the event viewer would even use XML.
Is there some reason why you think reinstalling will generate more issues?
It seems like it would be pretty straightforward and simple.
How To Upgrade the Microsoft XML Parser
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324460
"Xx Licher xX" <XxLic...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B5560A89-398F-46D4...@microsoft.com...
Xx Licher xX
I was about to try reinstalling the MMC, when I thought I would give
something a try to see what would happen. I remoted into the server with
another UserID. This time remote desktop worked (It stopped working for
administrator).
After I was logged in successfully, I was able to open MMC.exe and .msc
files. This leads me to beleive the something is possibly messed up with the
administrator's profile.
Do you think I should still try a reinstall of MMC or does this indicate
that I have an even bigger problem on my hands?
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
server rather than something with the MMC. It could be something to do with
Temp under the admin logon since each profile has its own temp directory
under Documents and Settings, so you could try emptying that temp directory.
I'd probably log in locally to the SBS with the user account that works
locally and verify that everything works normally.
It seems to me that you should be able to log in as another user with admin
rights on the server, and delete the Administrator profile from CP ->
System. The server should then recreate a user profile for Administrator at
next login. However, I've never deleted the Administrator profile from a
server before, so I'm not sure if there are any implications in doing so.
Obviously you want to delete only the profile, not the account, and if
there's anything stored in that profile, copy it out before deleting (My
Docs would be one example).
Hopefully clearing out the temp files from the profile might fix it, or the
server might log something helpful when either MMC or remote login fail.
"Xx Licher xX" <XxLic...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9BF573CA-3234-4611...@microsoft.com...
Xx Licher xX
Thanks again for responding. We just tried logging off of the server and
logging back on with another user account. We got the exact same behavior
with this account.
I hope I interpreted your statement of "logon locally" to mean physically
get in front of the server, log off administrator and then log back on to the
DOMAIN as another user vs logging onto just the machine itself. If I
misintepreted this, please let me know. (We can't log the machine off the
domain while it is in production)
Another behavior I should mention is that the display seems to be corrupt.
When you open a window, the normal blue title bar, is now clear and you can
see the desktop behind it. Also the icons on the desktop have randomly
started disappearing and reappearing.
As for the event log, nothing really useful or out of the ordinary. The only
thing that might have significance is an 8199 (category information) that
says:
"The description for Event ID ( 8199 ) in Source ( SmallBusinessServer )
cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry
information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer.
You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see
Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event:
Server Management."
Unfortunately this gives me nothing to go on.
Please let me know your thoughts on this issue.
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
opposed to over RDP. So you're saying that the Administrator account can
log in locally (right at the machine) but gets display issues and can't run
anything that uses an MMC. And the other user can RDP into the server and
have everything work normally, but when logged in locally can not use MMC
either?
You seem to have several separate issues - MMC, display, and XML - that
don't have anything apparent in common, and with no obvious troubleshooting
route. In this circumstance, I would call Microsoft Support and let them
work with you on this until it's fixed. You may need someone who can stick
with you throughout the troubleshooting process in a way that can't really
be done in a newsgroup.
If you really don't want to call support for some reason, you could try
rebooting the server to see if that resolves the display issue. If it does,
it may be something as simple as reloading the video driver will fix the
display thing. At that point you can try reinstalling MMC. However, if one
user is seeing normal video and another is not, that rules out a minor
driver glitch. Same thing with MMC - if it works sometimes, a reinstall is
not likely to fix it IMO. However, 8199 is an informational event "Console
started: Server Management" so the fact that the system can't find a
description argues for reinstall. My opinion is that there are two many
variables to speculate, and I'd call PSS.
Are you running this machine with the Administrator account logged in at all
times?
"Xx Licher xX" <XxLic...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:81E8924B-6542-428E...@microsoft.com...
XxLicherxX
***Thank you for your help on this issue Dave Nickason.***
I called Product Support today/tonight. It took me and a few Microsoft
Techs about 3.5 hours to find the solution.
The problem lies with a registry key for Terminal Services.
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\TSAppCompat. If
this key is a 1, change it to a 0 and reboot.
I asked about how this key could have been changed. The tech told me
possibly a third party app related to Terminal Services. He also said
it could have been caused by someone trying to change the SBS server
over to a TS server.
After getting off the phone with the MS Techs, I searched Google for
posts relating to MMC and the registry key mentioned above. I found one
post. It talks about people having weird behavior with MMC after
experimenting with changing this key. Don't do this.
Related errors and problems:
Failed to create empty document
MMC cannot open the file C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\Administration\itprosbsconsole.msc
This may be because the file does not exist, it is not an MMC console,
or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you
do not have sufficient access rights to the file.
In addition to the above errors, I recieved problems related to the
graphics. Black squares appeared in the upper right hand corners of
windows where the _ [ ] X icons would normally be. This would also
happen with scrollbars. Also the title bars of windows would be clear
and you could see the desktop behind them.
DO NOT try to reinstall the consoles as KB 829622 suggests above. We
tried this and this lead to another problem. We were not able to log
onto the server locally (only remote to it) KB 841188 fixed this
problem.
I hope this saves someone out there from pulling their hair out and
shouting many obscene comments. (and a call to support).
Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]
I'm glad you solved it, and glad you called PSS since this doesn't seem like
something that would have gotten resolved otherwise.
"XxLicherxX" <goldh...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1144467917....@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...