MS DTC fails to start and logs Event ID: 4383 (290637)

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SYMPTOMS

Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) fails to start, and the following event is logged in the Application Event Log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSDTC
Event Category: SVC
Event ID: 4383
Date: 2/23/2001
Time: 2:49:16 PM
User: N/A
Computer: COMPUTERNAME
Description:
MS DTC was unable to determine the state of the cluster service on this machine. MS DTC cannot continue to startup. Please contact Microsoft Product Support. Error Specifics: .\msdtc.cpp:808, CmdLine: C:\WINNT\System32\msdtc.exe, Pid: 572
Data:
0000: 02 00 07 80 ...?

In addition, the following events are logged in the System Event Log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7031
Date: 2/23/2001
Time: 2:50:59 PM
User: N/A
Computer: COMPUTERNAME
Description:
The Distributed Transaction Coordinator service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 0 milliseconds: No action.

-and-

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7022
Date: 2/23/2001
Time: 2:50:37 PM
User: N/A
Computer: COMPUTERNAME
Description:
The Distributed Transaction Coordinator service hung on starting.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because a registry value that specifies whether the server is clustered is missing. By default, there is no Cluster Server subkey under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ registry key.

If this key is present, and the cluster service is not running, or the cluster service functions are failing, MS DTC fails to start, and the above-mentioned events are logged in the Event Log.

In the Application Event Log error message, the HRESULT DWORD value is 80070002, which means "file not found" or, in the case of the registry, "key not found."

RESOLUTION

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

From the Windows Start menu, click Run, and then type regedt32 to start Registry Editor.
Locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\
If the Cluster Server subkey is not present, add it to the above-mentioned key.
Add a new DWORD named ClusterInstallationState, and leave the default value of 1.
Quit Registry Editor, and start the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service.