Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) console crashes with messages "A fatal error has occurred. The application will now close." when the file assets.xml is blank.

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to launch the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) console, the console fails to open and instead displays an error message "A fatal error has occurred. The application will now close."

A pop up window is displayed with the text "A fatal error has occurred. The application will now close".

 

In the application event log, the following event is written:

Source:        Symantec Mail Security Managed Components
Event ID:      0
Level:         Error
Description:
A fatal error has occurred. The application will now close. : Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

Source : System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext::OnThreadException Thread:1
OnThreadException at offset 159 in file:line:column <filename unknown>:0:0

Cause

The assets.xml file in the <install drive>:\Program Files(x86)\Symantec\CMaF\<version>\Settings directory is 0 bytes, with no text inside if it is opened with a text editor such as notepad.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in SMSMSE 7.5.5. Upgrade to 7.5.5 to resolve this problem.

Workaround

Delete the existing assets.xml file. The SMSMSE console will generate a new, default assets.xml with the information necessary to load the console. 

Note: The assets.xml stores the list of servers added to the SMSMSE console, this workaround will cause the console to only see the local server. Any remote servers must be re-added to the console after deleting the blank assets.xml and relaunching the console. This can be accomplished via the Assets... -> Add servers menu.