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Q165786: SMS: Program Group Control Stops Responding on Win16 Clients

Article: Q165786
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork kbPGC smspgc
Last Modified: 30-JUL-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Program Group Control (PGC) stops responding on client computers running Windows
or Windows for Workgroups, and displays the following message:

  Program Group Control
  Please wait for configuration to complete
  Checking current Configuration

The client does not recover until the user stops Appctl16.exe by depressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL and ending the task.

CAUSE
=====

Program Group Control is incorrectly returning to query User-Group membership
from the domain under which the computer was last verified by a Systems
Management Server logon script, rather than querying the domain under which the
user is currently logged on. The following are two examples of how this
situation may occur:

- Logging into a domain without any Systems Management Server logon servers
  from a Systems Management Server client that had previously been inventoried
  into a Systems Management Server domain through the use of logon scripts (for
  example, running Smsls.bat from the logon script).

- Logging into a Systems Management Server domain without running a logon
  script from a Systems Management Server client that had previously been
  inventoried into a different Systems Management Server domain through the use
  of logon scripts (for example, running Smsls.bat from the logon script.

The net effect of not running a Systems Management Server logon script is that
Setls16.exe does not run, and consequently does not update the ValidatingServer=
entry in the [SMSLSIni] section of the Sms.ini file with the current logon
server. As a result, Program Group Control continually uses the old
ValidatingServer= entry to determine which domain controller to query for
User-Group membership.


WORKAROUND
==========

To work around this problem, remove the entry for the server listed in the
ValidatingServer section of the Sms.ini file. When this entry is left blank,
Appctl16.exe determines the actual current logon server and proceeds to only
query this server for User-Group membership.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server
version 1.2. We are researching this problem and will post new information here
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words: prodsms sms

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Keywords          : kbnetwork kbPGC smspgc 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.2
Issue type        : kbbug

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