[SIMS] Error message on SIMS

[Gatt]

Getting the following error on only 1 PC when i launch sims before the login prompt...

SIMS error message: Generic Failure 
Fault Code: 4695-1446-8000 

More Details: 
at System.Management.ManagementScope.Initialize() 
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Initialize() 
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Get() 
   at SIMS.Utilities.FileSystemUtilities.IsLocalDrive(String descriptor) 
   at SIMS.Utilities.INIFile.ResolveCorrectLocalINIFile(String ini) 
   at SIMS.Processes.ConnectINIDatabasesProcess.LoadConnectINIDatabases() 
   at SIMS.UserInterfaces.LoginUI.buildSIMSDatabaseList() 
   at SIMS.UserInterfaces.LoginUI.OnLoad(EventArgs args) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl() 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl() 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) 
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Had a look ok SupportNet - but they dont have a record of that Fault Code
Have tried re-installing SIMS but to no avail...

[NetworkGeezer]

Do you rename/delete the SIMS.net app folder before you reinstalled?

[Gatt]

i deleted it first

[GrumbleDook]

A similar one from a few months back (different error code but I recognise some of the error) was fixed by unmounting the share to the SIMS folder, trying to launch, getting the error, remounting the share and then doing an over to the top install.

IIRC it relates to a corruption of the connect.ini (it has a local copy somewhere that it will not relinquish) so you caouls also search for *.ini and get rid (or rename) those that may be a problem.

I have also had issues with machines with teachers desktop on (not bothering with it now)

[Gatt]

AFAIK we dont use Teachers Desktop, but i'll look at the INI file and the shares

It's only 1 PC (touches laminated wood) so may be easier to reformat/system restore the machine

[alan-d]

We find that copying the connect.ini file from the server and pasting it over the local copy and deleting the local DB usually sorts out most of the weird errors that SIMs throws out.

Worth a try - may save you a reformat.

[sidewinder]

Had this randomly on the 2 SIMS managers workstations this morning and was thinking about a re-format, but replacing the connect.ini works fine!

I know its an old post but thankyou!

[vikpaw]

Well, 6 years on, and i just got this error. Slightly different fault code, but same error message and identical symptoms.
Tried all the tricks, unmapping, remapping, clean install of SIMs, nothing works. The only thing that sorted it, was to put a direct connect.ini on the machine as opposed the redirect to the S drive.
What is going wrong on these machines, randomly?

[PhillipHamlyn]

The call stack suggests that we are using the Windows Management Interface (WMI) subsystem to see whether the drive letter used is a mapped drive, or a local drive, and that the Windows WMI subsystem is throwing an error. After a brief web search, there are some suggested fixes here System.Management generic failure which may be helpful.

The reason that the SIMS Fault Code is different is that it is created as a hash of the call stack, and because this may well have changed since 2006 the calculated fault code would be different from that originally reported.

[vikpaw]

The call stack suggests that we are using the Windows Management Interface (WMI) subsystem to see whether the drive letter used is a mapped drive, or a local drive, and that the Windows WMI subsystem is throwing an error. After a brief web search, there are some suggested fixes here System.Management generic failure which may be helpful.

The reason that the SIMS Fault Code is different is that it is created as a hash of the call stack, and because this may well have changed since 2006 the calculated fault code would be different from that originally reported.

Cheers @PhillipHamlyn for the pointer in the right direction. The link you gave didn't have much useful info, but it led me to the Microsoft WMI Diagnostic utility, which you can find if you search microsoft downloads for WMI Diag or similar. Current link is this Download: The WMI Diagnosis Utility - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

It is a vbscript that you can run on the machine in question. It can be stored centrally, and initiated from afar, but it needs to run locally, and will diagnose issues with the WMI installation. It has comprehensive documentation. Essentially, it runs and creates a log file in the local Temp folder.

It's worth running from the command prompt with admin privileges so you can see what it's doing as it can take quite a few minutes to do the check and there is no obvious progress indicator.

Also it works best with Cscript as the scripting engine as it echos feedback to the screen, so if wscript is your default as mine was you'll need to run this first:

cscript.exe //h:cscript

(double or single slashes worked for me)

On my machine it found quite a few issues - apparently it's common.

On the machine in question it found even more issues, lots of missing files, namespaces unavailable, registry keys incorrect or pointing to the wrong place.
The key thing i picked up on from the report file was that the Windows Firewall was on. I thought this was not supposed to be the case as we have the ISA firewall client, and network firewalls in place. Turning it all off, still resulted in the same error which in my case was fault code 1046-5947-6900:

<System.Management.ManagementException Type="System.Management.ManagementException"> <FaultCode>1046-5947-6900</FaultCode>
<ErrorCode>InvalidClass</ErrorCode>
<Message>Invalid class </Message>
<StackTrace> at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExt endedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.Manag ementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
at SIMS.Utilities.FileSystemUtilities.IsLocalDrive(St ring descriptor)
at SIMS.Utilities.INIFile.ResolveCorrectLocalINIFile( String ini)
at SIMS.Processes.ConnectINIDatabasesProcess.LoadConn ectINIDatabases()
at SIMS.UserInterfaces.LoginUI.buildSIMSDatabaseList( )
at SIMS.UserInterfaces.LoginUI.OnLoad(EventArgs args)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Mes sage&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Mess age&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message&amp ; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.O nMessage(Message&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc(Message&amp; m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)</StackTrace>
<HelpLink />
<Source>System.Management</Source>
</System.Management.ManagementException>

Next step was to try and rebuild the WMI / fix issues with missing files and mis-registered entries. It all looks pretty complicated in the log, and could be a lot of trial and error going through and fixing each of the failing parts of the namespaces.

I ended up running two commands that seemed to do the trick. The first was as per the log file recommendation was to run "winmgmt /syncperf" this doesn't work on Windows 7, and i actually used:

winmgmt /resyncperf

This said it was all okay and consistent, so not sure that did much. Having found the above mistake in syntax i saw some other useful commands, which included verifyrepository, salvagerepository and resetrepository. The first two gave indication that there was nothing wrong. The last one did a reset and seemed to sort out a lot of the errors, as a re-run of WMIDIAG showed thousands less.

So it looks like the way to go is:

winmgmt /resetrepository

Be warned that doing this, could cause issues with other installed programs that have made changes or installed their own components as this is essentially going back to initial install settings. However, if you think a machine re-image is on the cards anyway, then that can be the fall back option.

Even putting the firewall back on, didn't affect anything, but i can now go back to a proper redirected connect.ini which points to the S drive, having that single manual one out there was just too painful for me.

Not sure what caused the issue, as putting the firewall back on, didn't affect anything, however the outstanding errors did have some mention of office and powerpoint, and the teacher of that PC did admit to installing a number of his own programs, so who knows what it was that caused the corruption.

Hopefully, that helps anyone else who comes across this in the future, maybe sometime in 2018