"Operation Failed for Unspecified Reasons" Error Message When You Start the Telephony Snap-In or Refresh the Display (814250)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP3
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

SYMPTOMS

If you try to start the Telephony snap-in or it is already running, when you try to refresh the display, you may receive the following error message:
The following error occurred while contacting the server ServerName

The operation failed for unspecified reasons.
For example, you might press F5 to refresh the display.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you specify a large number of users as Telephony administrators or if the users who you specify have long user names. The actual number of users may vary between 4 to 15 users depending on the length of the user names. In this situation, the buffer that contains the Telephony administrator list is not allocated correctly.

RESOLUTION

Service Pack Information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix Information

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows 2000 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The Global version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.
   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   -------------------------------------------------------
   03-Feb-2003  16:36  5.0.2195.6666  173,328  Tapisrv.dll

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, remove users from the list of Telephony administrators:
  1. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate the %SystemRoot%\Tsec.ini file. The Tsec.ini file contains the list of users who are Telephony administrators.
  2. Double-click the Tsec.ini file to open it. Each line represents a user who you added as a Telephony administrator.
  3. Delete the lines that represent the users who you want to remove.
  4. On the File menu, click Save.
  5. On the File menu, click Exit, and then quit Windows Explorer
  6. In the Telephony snap-in, press F5.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

When you specify a user as a Telephony administrator, the user has administrative credentials to the Telephony service only. Adding a user to the list of Telephony administrators does not make it possible for the user to perform administrative tasks on other resources on the computer. Telephony administrators must be in the same domain as the telephony server or in a fully trusted domain. users who are members of the Administrators group can already perform administrative tasks with the Telephony service.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/10/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbWin2kSP4fix kbWin2000preSP4Fix kbfix kbbug KB814250
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.