The Manage Site Accounts tool cannot add new client connection accounts in Systems Management Server 2003 (842766)

SYMPTOMS

The Manage Site Accounts tool is included in the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Administration Feature Pack. When you try to use the Manage Site Accounts tool to add a new client connection account, the account creation process is unsuccessful. Additionally, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:

MSAC output: INFO:
Connecting to WMI.
INFO: Connection successful.
INFO: Applying '-V' option to do verbose logging.
INFO: Creating SMS account Domain\UserAccount on ComputerName server. Error Code: 0x80042335 Description: No account found for specified category on site SiteCode.
Description: IDispatch error #8501

You may experience these symptoms when you try to add a new account. For example, you type a command that is similar to the following at a command prompt:

msac.exe -add machinename domain\account smsclientconnection -pa password -v

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

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

288239 How to obtain the latest Systems Management Server 2.0 service pack

Hotfix information

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

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone 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 usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

File information

For more information about how to install this hotfix, see the "More Information" section.

The English version of this hotfix 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
   --------------------------------------------------------------
   15-May-2004  11:05  2.50.2726.101     602,112  Msac_setup.exe   
   15-May-2004  16:05  2.50.2726.101      11,264  Msa_res.dll      
   15-May-2004  16:05  2.50.2726.101     446,464  Sms_msa.dll  
   29-Jan-2004  15:50  2.50.2726.27      114,688  Msac.exe         
   29-Jan-2004  15:50  2.50.2726.27       29,696  Msac_res.dll

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can manually add an SMS client account in the SMS 2003 site before you run the Manage Site Accounts tool. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Systems Management Server, and then click SMS Administrator Console.
In the SMS Administrator Console, expand the following nested nodes:
- Site Database (SiteCode-SiteName)
- Site Hierarchy
- SiteCode-SiteName
- Site Settings
- Connection Accounts
Right-click the Client folder, click New, and then click Windows User Account.
In the Connection Account Properties dialog box, click Set.
In the Windows User Account dialog box, enter an existing domain account and password, click OK, and then click OK again.

MORE INFORMATION

Installation instructions

To install this hotfix, follow these steps on each computer where the SMS 2003 Administrator console is installed:

Create a shared folder in a location that is accessible by your computer and that has the SMS Administrator console installed.
Copy the Msac_setup.exe hotfix file to the shared folder.
Log on to the computer that is running the SMS Administrator console. To log on, use an account that has administrative credentials.
Close the SMS Administrator console if it is open.
Connect to the shared folder that contains the hotfix, double-click the Msac_setup.exe file, and then follow the instructions.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates