Troubleshooting Agent Installation Issues

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This article provides guidance for troubleshooting issues that may occur when you are installing System Center Virtual Machine Manager agents. The precise wording of an error message that you observe may differ from this catalog if your VMM installation has been updated with any hotfixes or service packs.

Some error messages contain placeholder text, such as <specified server>. The placeholder text indicates a value that VMM provides in the actual error message.

VMM Agent Installation Issues

Issue Possible cause Solution

Host agent installation fails with error: "Setup has detected AMD processor with hardware-assisted virtualization capability. Installation of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 cannot proceed until the required patch is installed as per instructions outlined in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=924131."

This problem can occur when you try to install the agent on a host (or library) with all the following conditions:

Update the host according to the directions in KB article https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98567.

Host agent installation on VMM server (running Add-VmHost on the VMM server) stops the VMMService.

Adding the VMM server as a host installs or updates Virtual Server on the VMM server. This can cause a network reset and stop the VMM service.

Restart the VMMService.

Or, stop the VMMService, install Virtual Server manually, restart the VMMService, and then use the Add host action in the Administrator Console to add the VMM server as a host.

Host deployment fails with error 407: "The agent operation with server <computer name> was not successful."

Host agent installation will fail if you specify port connections that are different than the port connections that were specified during server setup.

Ensure that you use the same port values for WinRM and BITS during agent installation that were specified during server installation.

Alternatively, locally uninstall the agent. Then reinstall the agent locally.

Agent installation fails with error 415: "Agent installation failed copying <source location> to <install location>"

There are several possible causes, including:

  • Communication between the VMM server and the destination host or library server cannot be established or might have been interrupted.
  • There may be insufficient disk space on the host or library to install the agent.
  1. Ensure the destination server is online and not blocked by a firewall.
  2. Verify that the ADMIN$ share on the destination server exists, with sufficient unused disk space for agent installation (5 MB or more). If the ADMIN$ share does not exist, restart the destination server and then try the operation again.
  3. If the disk is full, create sufficient unused disk space for agent installation, and if necessary for virtual machine installation.
  4. If this does not work, install the agent locally on the host or library computer and add it by using the Administrator Console.

Adding a host fails with error 426: "The agent is not responding on the perimeter network machine <computer name> because either the agent is not installed; or <computer name> is not accessible from Virtual Machine Manager server."

Adding a perimeter network host or a host with disjointed AD/DNS namespace requires local agent installation.
  1. Install the agent on the host locally selecting the option This host is on a perimeter network. Save the credentials you used for the install (such as to a USB flash memory device).
  2. Using the Administrator Console, add the host as a perimeter network host and use the certificate file that contains the saved credentials from step 1.
  3. Destroy the credentials and secure the media you used (such as a floppy disk or USB flash memory device) to make sure they are not compromised.

If this does not work, and the agent is already installed then ensure that the vmmagent, wmi, and winrm services are running and firewall port exceptions for HTTP/HTTPS were created.

Host agent installation fails with error 439: "VMM is unable to add the server <computer name> as a managed computer because the server is not listed in Active Directory Domain Services."

The Add hosts Wizard displays the DNS name but VMM uses that name to identify the computer object in Active Directory.  Adding a host that has a mismatch between the DNS FQDN and the Active Directory FQDN is not supported.

On the Select Host Location page of the Add Hosts wizard, select Yes for the Is the host you want to add in a perimeter network? option, and try again.

Agent installation fails with error: "Agent installation failed on <computer name> because WS-Management is not installed or it is disabled."

The required version of WinRM supported by VMM is not installed.

Download and install the version of WinRM supported by VMM at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=84599 and try the operation again.

Host agent installation fails with error 2916: “VMM is unable to complete the request. The connection to the agent <computer name> was lost.”

The system has a proxy setting for all http traffic that is preventing communication to the host server.
  1. Verify by sending a test ping to the https://<server.domain.com>, which should fail. Then try a test ping to <server.domain.com>, which should succeed.
  2. Disable the proxy setting that is preventing the communication, or, add an exclusion rule for <domain.com> to allow the communication.

Cannot connect to a virtual machine on a host in a perimeter network using VMRC. VMRC thumbnail view is not showing.

The firewall port exception for VMRC was not set during agent installation.

Set the firewall port exception for VMRC access (default port 5900) locally on the host.

VMRC fails with error 412: "SCVMM cannot configure Virtual Machine Remote Client (VMRC) on host server <computer name>."

If you have administrator rights and VRMC access to the host or virtual machine, there may be a firewall rule blocking communication.

By default, VMRC uses port 5900. If there is a firewall between the computer running the VMRC (either a computer running the Administrator Console or a computer a self-service user is using to browse the Self-Service Portal) and the host, a firewall port exception must be established to allow the communication through the firewall.

Create a firewall port exception. For example, if you are using Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004 create a new server publishing rule as follows:

  • Name == VM control
  • Primary Connection
  • Protocol == TCP
  • Direction == Inbound
  • Port Range == 5900-5900

If the VMRC port on a host is changed from the default of 5900, the Administrator Console and Self-Service Portal won’t be able to connect to that host until it is changed back to 5900.

  1. Open the Virtual Server 2005 R2 Administration Web site on the host using administrator credentials for the host.
  2. Click Server Properties.
  3. Click Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) Server.
  4. Type 5900 in the TCP/IP port box, and then click OK.

"Access Denied" error or host/library state shown as "Not Responding" after reinstalling a host or library agent locally.

If you locally uninstall the VMM agent on a library server or host, the resources will not appear or appear as "not responding" in the Administrator Console. The resource metadata can be recovered by running a Windows PowerShell cmdlet at the VMM command shell.

Run the Reassociate action on the agent by right-clicking the agent in the Agent Management view.

Alternatively, run the following cmdlet at the Windows Powershell - Virtual Machine Manager command shell prompt:

$c = Get-VMMManagedComputer | where {$_.ComputerName -eq '_<Computer Name>'}
Reassociate-VMMManagedComputer $c

Additional Resources