Getting "Could not restart services" or "Couldn't Retrieve Services" when trying to configure SMP7 using SIM7.

Products

IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Getting the following error when trying to install (during the Configuration process) or repair SMP7 using SIM7:

"Could not restart services" or "Couldn't Retrieve Services"

The following error message was present in the NS logs:

Priority: 1
Date: 5/5/2010 7:18:20 AM
Tick Count: 61639953
Host Name: NSServer
Process: SymantecInstallationManager (5952)
Thread ID: 23
Module: SymantecInstallationManager.exe
Source: Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.RepairProducts
Description: Unable to stop services.

( Exception Details: System.InvalidOperationException: Client found response content type of 'text/html; charset=utf-8', but expected 'text/xml'.
The request failed with the error message:
--
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Configuration Error</title>
        <style>
         body {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size: .7em;color:black;}
         p {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;color:black;margin-top: -5px}
         b {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:bold;color:black;margin-top: -5px}
         H1 { font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size:18pt;color:red }
         H2 { font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size:14pt;color:maroon }
         pre {font-family:"Lucida Console";font-size: .9em}
         .marker {font-weight: bold; color: black;text-decoration: none;}
         .version {color: gray;}
         .error {margin-bottom: 10px;}
         .expandable { text-decoration:underline; font-weight:bold; color:navy; cursor:hand; }
        </style>
    </head>

<span><H1>Server Error in '/Altiris/NS' Application.<hr width=100% size=1 color=silver></H1>

<h2> <i>Configuration Error</i> </h2></span>

<b> Description: </b>An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.
<br><br>

<b> Parser Error Message: </b>Could not load file or assembly 'Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d516cb311cfb6e4f' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.<br><br>

<b>Source Error:</b> <br><br>

Line 97:         <add assembly="Altiris.Common, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 98:         <add assembly="Altiris.Common.UI, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
<font color=red>Line 99:         <add assembly="Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
</font>Line 100:        <add assembly="Altiris.Resource, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 101:        <add assembly="Altiris.NS.StandardItems, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" /></pre></code>

                  </td>
               </tr>
            </table>

<br>

<b> Source File: </b> C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\web.config<b> �� Line: </b> 99
<br><br>

<b>Assembly Load Trace:</b> The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d516cb311cfb6e4f' could not be loaded.<br><br>

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].
</pre></code>

                  </td>
               </tr>
            </table>

<br>

<b>Version Information:</b>�Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.1433; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1433

</font>

</body>
</html>

--.
   at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
   at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
   at Altiris.NS.Installation.ServiceConfigurationWebServiceProxy.GetRegisteredServices()
   at Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.RepairProducts(ComponentCollection productsToRepair) )
( Exception logged from:
   at Altiris.Diagnostics.Logging.EventLog.ReportException(Int32 severity, String strMessage, String category, Exception exception)
   at Altiris.Diagnostics.Logging.EventLog.ReportException(String strMessage, Exception exception)
   at Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.RepairProducts(ComponentCollection productsToRepair)
   at Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.RepairOlderVersions(Product productNewer)
   at Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.UninstallSingleProduct(Product productToUninstall, List`1 packagesToSkip, Boolean suppressIISBounce)
   at Symantec.Installation.PerformUninstall.UninstallProduct(Product productToUninstall, Boolean suppressIISBounce)
   at Symantec.Installation.Context.WizardProcess.UninstallManager.PerformUninstall(Product product)
   at Symantec.Installation.Context.WizardProcess.UninstallManager.<BeginPerformUninstall>b__1()
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
)
( Extra Details: Type=System.InvalidOperationException Src=System.Web.Services )

When we tried to to open one of the webservices pages used during the SMP7 Configuration, we got the following ( using http://localhost/Altiris/NS/Services/NSConfigurationWebService.asmx ):

Server Error in '/Altiris/NS' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration Error
Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Could not load file or assembly 'Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d516cb311cfb6e4f' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Source Error:

Line 97:         <add assembly="Altiris.Common, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 98:         <add assembly="Altiris.Common.UI, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 99:         <add assembly="Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 100:        <add assembly="Altiris.Resource, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />
Line 101:        <add assembly="Altiris.NS.StandardItems, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=D516CB311CFB6E4F" />

Source File: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\web.config Line: 99

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Altiris.NS, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d516cb311cfb6e4f' could not be loaded.

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.1433; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1433

Cause

Unknown. Apparently the issue could be caused by a faulty upgrade process. There is the chance that during the removal and reinstall of some components during the upgrade process, some assemblies pointers were not created/updated properly. As well there were some double entry for NS Core 7.0 in the local MSI database.

Resolution

We uninstalled manually some of the SMP7 pieces using MsiZap that were left behind.
As well we remove Altiris entries in the registry keys as well we uninstalled some of the Altiris assemblies:

A) Under %SystemRoot%\assembly
(Generally any entries beginning with the following can be considered for removal)
• Altiris.*
• policy.x.x.Altiris.*

B) Under the following locations, we removed any SMP related files and directories in the following locations if they still exist:
• \Program Files\Common Files\Altiris\*
• %SystemRoot%\Installer\*.msi (related to Altiris in the file Properties)
• %SystemRoot%\system32\AeX*

C) We deleted any SMP related keys and values in the following registry trees, if they still exist:
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\*
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes (keys and values related to Altiris)
Including anything under the sub-keys…
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Folders (values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components (keys and values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products (keys and values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes (keys and values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls (values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall (keys and values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fusion\PublisherPolicy\Default (keys and values related to Altiris)
• HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services (see Services section below)

D) Reboot the server

After that we tried again to install SMP7 and it passed the issue. We no longer got the same message again.
We were able to install the remaining Solutions.

Applies To
Symantec Management Platform 7.0 SP4