Error: "Another instance of Import Patch Data for Windows task is running" when running PMImport

Products

• Patch Management Solution

Issue/Introduction

When trying to run PMImport (Patch Management Import), it fails right away with the following error:

Output Properties 

Failure reason:  Another instance of Import Patch Data for Windows task is running. Only one instance of a running Import Patch Data for Windows task is allowed. You can stop the running task, schedule current task for a different time or create a job with both tasks included to run them one after another.

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

In this particular case, there were issues with running out of disk space, which caused problems when loading pages and running services. Since the SMP server was in a state of partially running tasks, the previous running PMImport tasks didn't finish properly and couldn't stop.

Resolution

Resolved the disk space limitation issues.

Restarted the "Altiris Client Task Data Loader" service (this should also restart the "Altiris Object Host Service" service).

After that, run the PMImport task again.