SMS: SMSRUN16 Seems to Stop Responding When Selecting a Logon Server (171589)

SYMPTOMS

SMSRUN16 may appear to stop responding during Systems Management Server logon server selection when underlying networking problems exist. There is no way to stop SMSRUN16's server selection process.

CAUSE

SMSRUN16 attempts to verify that at least one Systems Management Server logon server is accessible to the current logged-on user. In Systems Management Server 1.2, SMSRUN16 attempts to connect to the server listed as the CurrentLogonServer in the Sms.ini file. If this connection is unsuccessful, SMSRUN16 will try each listed server in the [Servers] section of the Sms.ini file until it successfully connects to a server or exhausts the list.

If networking problems exist or some of the logon servers are unavailable during SMSRUN16's server selection process, the connection timeout, in conjunction with the number of servers in the [Servers] section, may give the appearance that the computer has stopped responding. However, control will be returned to the user after SMSRUN16 has completed its server selection process.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

MORE INFORMATION

With the hotfix installed, if SMSRUN16's attempt to connect to the CurrentLogonServer is not successful, a "Logon server not found" message box appears. This message box asks:

Continue looking for logon servers?

The user can click Yes to continue looking for logon servers or No to stop the SMSRUN16 server selection process.