XADM: Error Message: Setup Was Unable to Set Permissions on the WMI Namespace (298928)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
This article was previously published under Q298928

SYMPTOMS

If you install Exchange 2000 Server Service Pack 1 (SP1), you may receive the following error message:
Setup was unable to set permissions on the WMI Namespace

CAUSE

Exchange 2000 Setup grants the Everyone group "Read All Properties" permission for the Exchange Organization object in Active Directory; this permission is inherited down to the Server object. The System attendant (MAD) then stamps the server permissions on the CIMV2 and Exchange WMI namespaces, so that anyone with rights to read the server object has rights to monitor that server remotely.

When you install Exchange 2000 SP1, this behavior is modified so that only objects with "Write All Properties" permission on the server object are able to remotely monitor the server. The Exchange 2000 SP1 update first removes all of the explicit permissions on the WMI namespaces, and then when the System attendant starts, it stamps the correct permissions on the namespaces.

This issue can occur if the Exchange 2000 SP1 update program cannot update the permissions for some reason; if this occurs, the error message in the "Symptoms" section of this article is displayed during Setup. This gives the administrator the opportunity to manually change the permissions in the WMI namespaces after the Exchange 2000 SP1 update is complete.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, manually update the WMI namespace permissions on the Exchange 2000 server:
  1. Click Start, click Run, and then type the following command in the Open box:

    wmimgmt.msc

    Click OK.
  2. In the Windows Management Control Microsoft Management Console (MMC), right-click WMI Control(Local), and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Security tab.
  4. Click to expand Root, click CIMV2, and then click Security.
  5. Click the Everyone group, and if the Remote Enable check box is selected, click to clear the Remote Enable check box.
  6. Click the Authenticated Users group, and if the Remote Enable check box is selected, click to clear the Remote Enable check box.
  7. Click OK to close the Security dialog box.
  8. Click to expand CIMV2, click to expand Applications, click Exchange, and then click Security.
  9. Click the Everyone group, and if the Remote Enable check box is selected, click to clear the Remote Enable check box.
  10. Click the Authenticated Users group, and if the Remote Enable check box is selected, click to clear the Remote Enable check box.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, if the WMI service was disabled when the error message was displayed during Exchange 2000 SP1 Setup, enable the WMI service by setting it to Automatic or Manual, and then run Exchange 2000 SP1 Update.exe again.

MORE INFORMATION

The CIMV2 namespace allows methods to be run so that you can perform file operations on the local computer, provided that you are granted these permissions on the file system.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/28/2005
Keywords:kberrmsg kbprb KB298928
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