Unable to start Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange. Error Message: "The Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange service could not be started." when Operating System File rpcns4.dll is Missing

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

The Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) service fails to start and errors are written to the application event log.

Symptoms
When attempting to start the service via the command prompt you receive the error "The Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange service could not be started. The service did not report an error."

 

• This may occur directly after installation of SMSMSE.

Conditions:
 

• In the application event log, you will see the following events:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Event Category: Error
Event ID: 110
Description:
The process SAVFMSEUI.EXE failed to start (0xC009008A).

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Event Category: Service
Event ID: 28
Description:
Service failed to start. Check the log for other errors.

• If you enable the "LogAllFailures" key as per this document: 'How to Obtain a DebugView Log File From Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE)' you will also see the following events during attempted service start:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Event Category: Error
Event ID: 170
Description:
Process: SAVFMSESrv(1344), File: \ServiceMgr.cpp, Line: 914: HRESULT=0x1 - Incorrect function.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Event Category: Error
Event ID: 170
Description:
Process: SAVFMSESrv(1344), File: \ServiceMgr.cpp, Line: 232: HRESULT=0xC009008A

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
Event Category: Error
Event ID: 170
Description:
Process: SAVFMSESrv(1344), File: \NAVEApi.cpp, Line: 289: HRESULT=0xC009008A

• If you obtain a Process Monitor log file during attempted service start, you will see entries similar to the following:

Process Name Operation Path Result
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\6.0\Server\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\system\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\Program Files\Support Tools\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\wbem\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\windowspowershell\v1.0\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Bin\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\Scripts\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND
SAVFMSEUI.EXE QueryOpen C:\Program Files (x86)\ExchangeMapi\RPCNS4.dll NAME NOT FOUND

 

• If you look in the C:\Windows\System32 directory, no file named rpcns4.dll exists.

 

Cause

rpcns4.dll, a core Windows OS component on which SMSMSE is dependant is missing.

Resolution

To correct this issue, replace the file rpcns4.dll in the C:\Windows\System32 directory with a copy from a working server of the same operating system. If you do not have another server with the same operating system, or are uncomfortable taking these steps, please contact Microsoft for assistance with this OS .dll file.


References
When Clicking Reports in the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) Console Error Message is displayed: "No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:58081"