WSUS Messages and Troubleshooting Tips

Article
03/13/2023

Applies to: Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

This article contains information about the following WSUS messages:

Computer hasn't reported status
Message ID 6703 - WSUS Synchronization Failed
Error 0x80070643: Fatal error during installation
Some services aren't running. Check the following services [...]

Computer hasn't reported status

This message is generated in the WSUS console when a WSUS client computer doesn't send information to the WSUS server to indicate its current update state. This issue is typically caused by the WSUS client computer, not the WSUS server.

The most common reasons are:

The computer has lost connectivity to the network:
- The network cable is unplugged.
- An intervening network cable is faulty.
- The computer has a faulty network adapter.
- The network port to which the computer connects has been disabled.
- The wireless adapter is unable to associate with and connect to the corporate wireless access point.
The computer is turned off. (It has been shut down or is in sleep or hibernation mode.)

Message ID 6703 - WSUS Synchronization Failed

Message: The request failed with HTTP status 503: Service Unavailable.
Source: Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy.createUpdateServer.

When you attempt to open Update Services on the WSUS server, you receive the following error:

Error: Connection Error
An error occurred trying to connect to the WSUS server. This error can happen for a number of reasons. Please contact your network administrator if the problem persists. Click the reset Server Node to connect to the server again.

Attempts to access the URL for the WSUS Administration website, for example http://WSUS01:8530, fails with the error:

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable

In this situation, the most likely cause is that the WsusPool Application Pool in IIS is in a stopped state.

Also, the Private Memory Limit (KB) for the Application Pool is probably set to the default value of 1843200 KB. If you encounter this problem, increase the Private Memory Limit to 4 GB (4000000 KB) and restart the Application Pool. To increase the memory perform the following steps:

Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console.
Select Application Pools from the Connections pane, then select WsusPool, right-click and select Advanced Settings.
Set the Private Memory Limit (KB) to 4000000.
Select OK to apply the setting.

It may be necessary to increase the Private Memory Limit to 8GB (8000000 KB) or higher depending on the environment.

Error 0x80070643: Fatal error during installation

If WSUS was set up using Microsoft SQL Server, this problem occurs because the user who is running WSUS Setup doesn't have System Administrator permissions in SQL Server. To resolve this problem, grant System Administrator permissions to a user account or to a group account in SQL Server, and then run WSUS Setup again.

Some services aren't running

Check the following services are running:

Selfupdate: See Automatic Updates Must Be Updated for information about troubleshooting the Selfupdate service.
WSSUService.exe: This service facilitates synchronization. If you have problems with synchronization, access WSUSService.exe by clicking Start, pointing to Administrative Tools, clicking Services, and then finding Windows Server Update Service in the list of services. Once you have found the service:
- Verify that this service is running. Select Start if it's stopped or Restart to refresh the service.
- Use Event Viewer to check the Application, Security, and System event logs to see if there are any events that might indicate a problem.
Web servicesSQL Service: Web services are hosted in IIS. If they aren't running, ensure that IIS is running (or started). You can also try resetting the Web service by typing iisreset at a command prompt.
SQL Service: Every service except for the selfupdate service requires that the SQL service is running. If any of the log files indicate SQL connection problems, check the SQL service first. To access the SQL service, select Start, point to Administrative Tools, select Services, and then look for one of the following:
- MSSQLSERVER (if you're using WMSDE or MSDE, or if you're using SQL Server and are using the default instance name for the instance name)
- MSSQL$WSUS (if you're using a SQL Server database and have named your database instance WSUS)
  
  Right-click the service, and then select Start if the service isn't running, or Restart to refresh the service if it's running.

Cannot add duplicate collection entry of type mimeMap

If you previously added MIME types manually, you may see errors about duplicate entries due to changes for WSUS to support UUP. If you receive an error similar to Cannot add duplicate collection entry of type 'mimeMap' with unique key attribute 'fileExtension' set to '.wim', the MIME type may not have been set at the proper level. To resolve this issue, you'll need to edit the web.config file to remove the MIME type from level where it was originally set.

Locate the web.config file where the MIME type was set:

Open MIME Types at each level and find where the Entry type is listed as local for the .wim and .msu MIME types.
- For instance, you might find that .wim is set to local at the WSUS Administration site level or at the APIRemoting30 web service. These two MIME types should only be set to local at the server level.
Once you've located where the MIME types are set to local, from that same location, in the action pane, select Explore to open the folder location.
Open the web.config file with Notepad, or another text editor.
Locate the MIME map entries for .wim and .msu. The entries should look similar to <mimeMap fileExtension=".msu" mimeType="application/octect-stream" />.

In the line directly above the file entry, insert a removal for the type such as <remove fileExtension=".msu" />. If both file types were listed, the web.config file should look similar to the following entry:

<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
      <remove fileExtension=".wim" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".wim" mimeType="application/x-ms-wim" />
      <remove fileExtension=".msu" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".msu" mimeType="application/octect-stream" />
    </staticContent>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Save the changed to the web.config file then close it.