WSUS 3.0 Snap-in error

[randle]

I'm having a problem with WSUS3.0. When opening the console i get "An unexpected error occurred in the WSUS snap-in. The snap-in will be unloaded". There are Two buttons under this error that say "Unload WSUS Snap-in" which just seems to freeze the screen with the egg timer icon and "Copy Error to Clipboard" which produces the error:

The WSUS administration console has encountered an unexpected error. This may be a transient error; try restarting the administration console. If this error persists,

Try removing the persisted preferences for the console by deleting the wsus file under %appdata%\Microsoft\MMC\.


The WSUS administration console has encountered an unexpected error. This may be a transient error; try restarting the administration console. If this error persists,

Try removing the persisted preferences for the console by deleting the wsus file under %appdata%\Microsoft\MMC\.


System.NullReferenceException -- Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source
Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess

Stack Trace:
at Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess.AdminAp iTools.GetLocalInstallDir()
at Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess.Constan ts..cctor()
** this exception was nested inside of the following exception **


System.TypeInitializationException -- The type initializer for 'Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess.Consta nts' threw an exception.

Source
Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess

Stack Trace:
at Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.AdminApiAccess.AdminAp iTools.GetLocalInstallType()
at Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.SnapIn.Scope.RootScope Node.InitializeChildNodes()
at Microsoft.UpdateServices.UI.SnapIn.Common.SnapInMa nager.OnInitialize()

Deleting this file does not solve the problem.

I've googled around and found another with this issue but the only resolution so far has been to restore the HKLM hive which i don't fancy doing on a server unless you can restore individual sections of the registry from a backup image!!? Not something i've had to do before so not sure if it can be done

Has anyone else seen this issue and managed to fix it?

[Diello]

Have you got MMC 3 installed?

[randle]

Yes i have. This has been working fine for a long time now so is not a case of a new installation.

[Ric_]

I had a similar problem to this recently (I had this and other error messages as I attempted to fix WSUS).

I tried re-installing and all sorts but it just wouldn't work. In the end I had to move WSUS to a different server where it now works perfectly again.

[randle]

I found that the registy section for WSUS was missing.....Don't know how this happend but importing the below regfrag fixed the problem.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Update Services\Server\Setup]
"WmsdeInstalled"=dword:00000001
"PsfsipInstalled"=dword:00000001
"TargetDir"="C:\\Program Files\\Update Services\\"
"ContentDir"="D:\\WSUS\\Updates"
"CreatedContentDir"=dword:00000000
"SqlServerName"=hex(2):25,00,63,00,6f,00,6d,00,70, 00,75,00,74,00,65,00, 72,00,\
6e,00,61,00,6d,00,65,00,25,00,5c,00,4d,00,49,00,43 ,00,52,00,4f,00,53,00,4f,\
00,46,00,54,00,23,00,23,00,53,00,53,00,45,00,45,00 ,00,00
"SqlAuthenticationMode"="WindowsAuthentication "
"SqlDatabaseName"="SUSDB"
"SqlUserName"=""
"SqlEncryptedPassword"=""
"InstallType"=dword:00000001
"EncryptionKey"=hex:01,00,00,00,d0,8c,9d,df,01,15, d1,11,8c,7a,00,c0,4f, c2,97,\
eb,01,00,00,00,0f,bb,b9,dd,4e,00,28,47,a0,04,8b,e5 ,50,2a,a4,d4,04,00,00,00,\
02,00,00,00,00,00,03,66,00,00,a8,00,00,00,10,00,00 ,00,9f,94,54,fa,cd,78,00,\
7b,7d,cc,0a,ea,35,ca,46,a3,00,00,00,00,04,80,00,00 ,a0,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,\
b7,49,38,75,86,3e,0a,01,2d,f9,7b,a4,78,5e,98,c0,20 ,00,00,00,a1,f7,2e,cc,1b,\
72,17,8f,b3,4f,aa,28,94,be,37,9f,a2,bb,f4,2a,c9,9e ,7f,0e,d9,f6,51,c7,08,a7,\
c2,33,14,00,00,00,d9,59,26,4a,ea,f4,54,7d,11,c6,fe ,92,66,39,47,0e,12,24,ac,\
25
@=""
"Version"=dword:00000003
"VersionString"="3.0.6000.374"
"ConfigurationSource"=dword:00000000
"ServicePackLevel"=dword:00000000
"EnableRemoting"=dword:00000001
"WsusAdministratorsSid"="S-1-5-21-2055268292-2202182507-604799366-1 008"
"WSUSReportersSid"="S-1-5-21-2055268292-2202182507-604799366-1011& quot;
"SqlInstanceIsRemote"=dword:00000000
"wYukonInstalled"=dword:00000001
"IISInstallRevision"="3.0.6000.374"
"IISPreviousInstallRevision"=""
"IISUninstallConfigFilePath"="C:\\Program Files\\Update Services\\setup\\UninstallSettings.xml"
"IISTargetWebSiteCreated"="False"
"IISTargetWebSiteIndex"=dword:00000001
"SmtpUserPassword"=""
"ProxyPassword"=""
"PortNumber"=dword:00000050
"IIsDynamicCompression"=dword:00000000