BUG: Vsrvsvc.exe Causes Exception If Registry Keys Are Missing (193450)

SYMPTOMS

The virtual server service (Vsrvsvc.exe) will cause a memory exception error at c0000005 on SQL Server 6.5 Enterprise Edition Clustered Servers if registry keys are missing or have become corrupted. No errors will be displayed in the SQL Server error log. Because the SQL Server service depends on Vsrvsvc.exe, the cluster manager will shut down the SQL Server service. This will appear as "Shutdown by request" in the SQL Server error log.

CAUSE

This error is caused during the release of an unallocated object when an undefined registry key is operated on (for example, SetValue/QueryValue and so on) through the virtual server service. This incorrect deallocation causes an access violation (AV) in Vsrvsvc.exe.

WORKAROUND

To repair the missing or invalid entries in the registry, you must reinstall Windows NT and SQL Server clustering. However, it is not necessary to remove the existing SQL Server installation or user databases. To do this, perform the steps below.

NOTE: Using the RegistryRebuild option of Setup will not rebuild the virtual SQL Server registry keys. This option should not be used to resolve this issue.

Remove SQL Server clustering and then remove Windows NT clustering.
Reinstall Windows NT clustering.
Confirm the operation and that resources can be failed between the two nodes.
Reinstall SQL Server clustering and confirm that the SQL Server resource group can be moved between the two cluster nodes.

MORE INFORMATION

The virtual server service, Vsrvsvc.exe, is used to communicate between the clustered virtual SQL Server and the host computer registry. This error will only occur if the SQL Server has been clustered, because this is the only time the Vsrvsvc.exe is used.