Project Server fails on Windows Update

Matthew McDermott — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 10:16:00 GMT

I run most of my demos and all of my portal development on Virtual PC 2004 (SP1). Recently I made a little time to update all of my virtual PC images from Windows Update. I was able to update all of my virtual PC images (DC, SQL Server, and SPS) without a problem except for my Project Server 2003 image.

Windows Update returned:

"Error number: 0x80244017"

I Googled the result and the top hit was:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896226

My response was "I am not using Proxy Server!"

Time ran out and I decided to give it a rest, returning to the problem the next day I opened the Windows Update.log and discovered a bunch more errors, but few were of any use. Later in the day a friend was telling me about his trials attempting to update his project server; I asked to see the logs and they were virtually identical to the log from my VPC.

HMMM...I tried to consider what was different about Project Server...then the answer jumped out of the log. In each log there was an entry that read...

WARNING: WinHttp: SendRequestToServerForFileInformation failed with 0x80190191
WARNING: WinHttp: ShouldFileBeDownloaded failed with 0x80190191
WARNING: DownloadFileInternal failed for http://download.microsoft.com/v6/windowsupdate/redir/wuredir.cab: error 0x80190191
* WARNING: Failed to synchronize, error = 0x80244017
WARNING: WU client failed Searching for update with error 0x80244017
>>-- RESUMED -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = WindowsUpdate]
- Updates found = 0
- WARNING: Exit code = 0x00000000, Result code = 0x80244017
---------
-- END -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = WindowsUpdate]
-------------
WARNING: Operation failed due to earlier error, hr=80244017
FATAL: Unable to complete asynchronous search. (hr=80244017)

Then I noticed...

* WU client version 5.8.0.2469
WARNING: Failed to obtain SusClientId
* Base directory: C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution
* Access type: Named proxy
* Default proxy: https://PECOS;http://PECOS
* Default proxy bypass: ;pecos;intranet.initech.com
* Network state: Connected

Hmmm...a common step in the configuration of Project Server to facilitate integration with WSS is to issue the following command"

proxycfg -d -p "YourProxyServer" "ServerName;IPAddress; FQDN"

It appeared that Windows Update (or more correctly WinHttp) was really trying to use the local machine as a Proxy Server and the requests were failing.

I Googled "windows update proxycfg" and it returned:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;883821

Solution

Note: The resolution detailed below MAY temporarily disable the connection between Project Server and WSS. If you are running a production environment you will want to perform these steps during a scheduled maintenance period so you don't cause your users undo stress.

Armed with this information I did the following...

From the command line run:

proxycfg

The result should look something like:

Microsoft (R) WinHTTP Default Proxy Configuration Tool
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Current WinHTTP proxy settings under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
    SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\
      WinHttpSettings :

    Proxy Server(s) : https://PECOS;http://PECOS
    Bypass List     : ;pecos;intranet.initech.com

Make note of the settings then clear the settings by running:

proxycfg -d

You should see:

Microsoft (R) WinHTTP Default Proxy Configuration Tool
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Updated proxy settings
Current WinHTTP proxy settings under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
    SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\
      WinHttpSettings :

     Direct access (no proxy server).

Run the following two commands to stop and start the Automatic Updates service

net stop wuauserv

net start wuauserv

Rerun Windows Update and everything should work fine.

Following the updates test your project server to WSS connection by opening the Project Server home page. Under Issues and Risks you should not see an error like:

"There is a problem establishing a connection with the Web server running Windows SharePoint Services. Contact your system administrator."

If the communication is working correctly don't bother with proxycfg. If you need to reset your proxy configuration refer to the settings you saved previously and run proxycfg from the command line with the appropriate switches.

proxycfg -d -p "[PROXY line Server(s)]" "[BYPASS line List]"

Substitute the contents of the quotes with your settings, for my VPC it was:

proxycfg -d -p "https://PECOS;http://PECOS" ";pecos;intranet.initech.com"

Retest your Project Server to WSS connection.

UPDATE

You can also add *.microsoft.com to the bypass list.

proxycfg -d -p "https://PECOS;http://PECOS" ";pecos;intranet.initech.com;*.microsoft.com"

Other Issues

Note: The following procedures could take hours depending on how many sites you have on the virtual server. During the process IIS is stopped and restarted.

Upgrade Windows SharePoint Services Virtual Servers

Following the upgrade both virtual servers on my Windows SharePoint Services machine showed the version of “6.0.2.6361” and status of “Upgrade”.

I ran:

stsadm –o upgrade –url [VIRTUAL server]

You should receive the following message in the command window.

Operation completed successfully.

The complete list of virtual servers now shows a version of “6.0.2.6411” for each virtual server.