Update « blog.jemm.net

TFS 2008 SP1 RTM installation problem, reason and solution

August 13, 2008

While VS 2008 SP1 and SQL Server 2008 were relatively painless to install, I run into some issues with the TFS 2008 SP1.

I’ll tell briefly my case so you can avoid this or find the solution, should you have the same reason for the problem.

The TFS 2008 is installed on a single Windows Server 2008 machine (except SharePoint) and uses SQL Server 2005 SP2.

When I tried to install the KB949786 (TFS SP1), the first part went always fine (TFS Build), but it ended in Fatal Error during the update of the actual TFS. TFS got into unusable state (clients couldn’t connect etc)

The errors in the Event Log were:

“Product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server - ENU - Update ‘KB949786′ could not be installed. Error code 1603. Additional information is available in the log file <file>”

and

“Product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server - ENU — Error 29003.TF 230001: The error mode for the Team Foundation Server Web application could not be configured properly. This problem occurred because the application root for the Team Foundation Server Web application does not exist. For more information, see the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) log.”

After some googling, I found similar symptoms from the MSDN Forums. Logins etc were alright in my case, so the reason was elsewhere. (Tip: don’t change TFS service accounts unless you have a very good reason and if you do, use the tools mentioned in the forum)

Finally I just had to go through the installation log and from there I found the reason:

08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: Commandline: "C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe" set config "Team Foundation Server" -section:httpErrors -existingResponse:PassThrough -commitpath:apphost
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: IgnoreExitCode: 0
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: Silent: 0
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: ActionStart: 0
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: Cost: 0
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: WorkingDirectory:
08/13/08 10:51:15 DDSet_Status: HideCmdLine: 0
ERROR ( message:Cannot find SITE object with identifier "Team Foundation Server". )
08/13/08 10:51:16 DDSet_Status: Process returned 1168
08/13/08 10:51:16 DDSet_Status: Found the matching error code for return value ‘1168′ and it is: ‘29003′
08/13/08 10:51:16 DDSet_Error: 1168
MSI (s) (B8!94) [10:51:16:127]: Product: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server - ENU — Error 29003.TF 230001: The error mode for the Team Foundation Server Web application could not be configured properly. This problem occurred because the application root for the Team Foundation Server Web application does not exist. For more information, see the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) log.

I have the habit of putting server port in the names of the web sites in the IIS and I had renamed the “Team Foundation Server” to “Team Foundation Server – 8080”. The patch was obviously looking for the original name and failed because it didn’t find a web site with exactly the same name.

I just renamed the web site hosting the web services back to “Team Foundation Server”, run the patch again (without uninstalling it first) and everything went fine.

Microsoft, you could modify that part of the patch to search the web site with partial match or better: with some kind of unique ID of the web site instead of the name.

TFS is still very new product and it relies on so many other services and products that there are many places where something can go wrong. This is why it is better not to mess with anything directly without using official tools.

No Comments » | IIS, Microsoft, SqlServer, TFS2008, Troubleshooting, Update, WindowsServer2008 | Permalink
Posted by jemm

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 (and TFS2008 SP1) is here as promised

August 11, 2008

In the last post I hinted that the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 RTM would be available today.

It is required by the SQL Server 2008 when you want to install it on computers with Visual Studio 2008. Be sure to install the VS2008 SP1 before installing SQL Server 2008 on the same machine.

Of course, besides SQL Server 2008 support, Visual Studio 2008 SP1 includes lot’s of other exciting features like ADO.NET Data Services, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, Entity Framework (loved by many, hated by even more;) ) and much more.

You can read about the new SP1 features from here. Oh, and the SP1 for the TFS 2008 is also available :))

Here are the links to the downloads:

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (exe)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fbee1648-7106-44a7-9649-6d9f6d58056e&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (iso, stand-alone, 831MB)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=27673c47-b3b5-4c67-bd99-84e525b5ce61&DisplayLang=en

Team Foundation Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (exe)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9e40a5b6-da41-43a2-a06d-3cee196bfe3d&DisplayLang=en

Here are other related downloads (Remote Debugger etc):
Search From Microsoft Download Center

Credits for notifying about the update goes to johnrummel, thx

Updates:
SQL Server Express Edition is also available! (thx, wisemx)

Guy Burnstein has also a nice list of downloads in his blog.

No Comments » | .NET, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, EntityFramework, Microsoft, Silverlight, Software, SqlServer, Update, VisualStudio | Permalink
Posted by jemm

SQL Server 2005 Security Update (KB948109) fails to install with error code 0×773F – how to fix

July 9, 2008

Today I got a batch of updates via Windows Update. Most updates installed fine, but the “Security Update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (KB948109)” failed with error code of 0×773F.

This computer runs Windows Vista and SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition.

There is also a named instance (MSSMLBIZ) for Outlook with Business Contact Manager (or whatever). I had disabled this instance for performance reasons as I never use the add-on. However, I had to enable and start the service through the SQL Server Configuration Manager to get the update to install.

Then I downloaded the stand-alone security update from the Microsoft Downloads. You can find it from here: Security Update for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (KB948109). This isn’t probably necessary, as long as all the instances are running, but if you still get errors, you can check the separate log file with more verbose information.

In short, all you need to do is:

Make sure all the SQL Server 2005 instances are running able to start
…or uninstall unnecessary instances, including hidden ones
Download and run the manual update

This fixed it for me.

Update #1:

Make sure that you don’t have NTFS folder compression on for the folders where the database files (*.mdf, *.ldf) are located. This may prevent the instances from starting.

Update #2:

I just installed the patch through Windows Update on my home computer (Vista Ultimate, SQL Server Developer Edition) and it went fine (with services already stopped).

I’m now certain that my first problem was caused by the disabled service and starting the services has nothing to do with it (as commenters has pointed out).

One solution that I found was disabling the firewall (the error code was also different, though).

There are probably many causes for this issue, so if you succeed to fix it, please comment here what you did, thanks

Update #3:

Updated SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition and Windows Server 2008 that hosts it. Through the Microsoft Update with no problems. Still recommend to proceed with caution on production servers before these symptoms are explained/fixed.

Update #4:

Found some good related discussions and solutions:

Especially this excerpt from the first link explains the 733F:

“Error: 733F– Services Failed to Start “From MS Support”

“Description: This error occurs when the installation program can’t start the SQL Server services. This can happen for several reasons including: expired account password, invalid user account, user account does not have permission to start the service, or there is something else wrong with the service.”

34 Comments | Microsoft, SqlServer, Update, Vista, Windows, WindowsServer2008 | Permalink
Posted by jemm

Windows Vista SP1 finally generally available

March 18, 2008

I just read from a reliable source that Windows Vista SP1 is finally available for download through the Download Center or Windows Update. There are both x86 and x64 -versions available.

I installed it a while ago and so far I haven’t had problems at home (Vista Ultimate) or work (Vista Business). Reserve some time for it, though.

2 Comments | Software, Update, Vista, Windows | Permalink
Posted by jemm