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Error – The following feature couldn’t be installed – .NET Framework 3.5
I got error this message on a pop window while running a new application after installing it on my Windows Server 2012 Azure VM.
This feature can be installed from the “Windows Server Manager”, you will see its icon on the task bar besides the Start button, as shown below. Or you can directly type “servermanager” on CMD or Run prompt.
Click on the “Add Roles and Features”
A new window will open up “Add Roles and Features Wizard”, click Next.
On “Installation Type”, click Next again.
On “Server Selection”, select the current/default server and click Next.
On “Server Roles” click Next.
Now on Features select the “.NET Framework 3.5 Features” option, an click Next.
On Confirmation page you will see “Specify an alternate source path” link, click on that link, and a new window opens up, as shown below:
Here on the highlighted text box you need to specify the “side-by-side (SxS) folder” path of the OS installation media. So, if you have an ISO file you can mount it or if you have a dump of the setup, provide the path form the respective location. Finally click on Install button.
If you are on an Azure Windows VM, you will not have access to the ISO or installation media. In this case you can simply run a Windows Update from Control Panel–> System and Security –> Windows Update.
Windows Service stuck at “Starting” status
Today while installing an ETL utility one of the related Windows Service got stuck on Starting mode. I tried restarting the server 2-3 times but everytime it got stuck on “Starting” status. So to know what happening behind the scene I thought to check in Event Viewer.
–> You can open “Event Viewer” by any of the below options:
1. Shortcut: Eventvwr.msc
2. Type “Event Viewer” in search box on Windows 8 and above.
3. Open Control Panel –> System and Maintenance –> Administrative Tools –> Event Viewer
Now on the “Event Viewer” window go to: Windows Logs –> Application
Check the logs on the General or Details tab:
Timestamp: 12/14/2016 9:39:21 AM
Message: HandlingInstanceID: d87a52b3-0b01-4c7f-b044-06f00e02fb6a
An exception of type ‘System.Exception’ occurred and was caught.
—————————————————————-
12/14/2016 09:39:21
Type : System.Exception, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Message : Service has not started for ‘6.0’ minutes due to unavailable/inaccessible SQL Server ‘SQL_Instance_name’ / Database ‘dbName’. Service will start once server / database is online or permissions are granted.ETLxyzService
The above error log means that the Service account that I was using to run the service was not setup on the SQL Server instance.
So, I added the Service account from SSMS, under Object Explorer –> Security –> Logins:
– General Tab: Provide the Service Account as Login name
– Server Role Tab: set as “sysadmin”
Now after few seconds the Service that was stuck on Starting mode changed to Running status.
So if you also observed similar “Starting” status for your service, there could similar or some other reason, but by checking on the “Event Viewer” you will get to know the exact reason and fix it !!!
Leap Second coming this June 2015, will it affect SQL Server?
And it’s not big and concerning like Y2K !
Every few years a Leap Second needs to be added to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), so that we keep the time of the day as close to the mean solar time as is possible. On a Leap Second day, an extra second ss is added to our clocks at midnight. This is done to match the time shown by the official atomic clocks. Last time it happened in 2012.
So, officially the time actually goes from 23:59:59 to 23:59:60 instead of directly to 00:00:00.
–> So, on June 30 2015 midnight the Leap Second aware and Windows clock will tick like this:
– Leap Second clock : 23:59:59 , 23:59:60 , 00:00:00 , 00:00:01
– Windows clock : 23:59:59 , 00:00:00 , 00:00:01
–> Now question comes will it affect SQL Server and the time it stores?
No, because SQL Server gets time from Windows and Windows does not honor Leap Seconds. Windows just skips the 23:59:60 time and thus its clock becomes 1 second faster. Which slowly gets synced-up with the correct time using Network Time Protocol (NTP). That’s why you can also not set or store this time on Windows and in SQL Server.
–> Impact on SQL Azure (SQL Database):
No, Azure service has been designed to be resilient to clock discrepancies across Microsoft’s numerous infrastructure components and regions. Azure has proven application compatibility for handling Leap Seconds given it uses the Windows time-synchronization protocol, which is used by all Windows systems including the Windows client OS, Windows Server, Windows Phone, and Hyper-V.
The KB Article 909614 also explains how Window treats Leap Second:
“The Windows Time service that is working as a Network Time Protocol (NTP) client does not indicate the value of the Leap Indicator when the Windows Time service receives a packet that includes a leap second. (The Leap Indicator indicates whether an impending leap second is to be inserted or deleted in the last minute of the current day.) Therefore, after the leap second occurs, the NTP client that is running Windows Time service is one second faster than the actual time. This time difference is resolved at the next time synchronization.”
–> Check here on MSDN Blogs for more info:
1. What is Leap Second: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mthree/archive/2015/01/08/leap-seconds-010815.aspx
2. Leap Second and Windows: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mthree/archive/2015/01/14/leap-seconds-011415.aspx
3. Impact on Microsoft products: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mthree/archive/2015/06/01/2015-leap-second-060115.aspx
Top SQL Blogs – Windows 8 App | from MSDN, MVPs and Top Bloggers
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And today I’m very happy to announce the release of my 2nd Windows 8 App for and its availability on Windows 8 store.
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Thanks!!!
Off topic | ERROR: The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
Today while setting up the DEV Environment as part of Windows Server 2012 & SQL Server 2012 upgrade I faced this error.
I was installing an MSI from one system via a client (MSI deployment tool) to another remote system (on same domain) and was getting this error:
The RPC server is unavailable. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800706BA)
I checked on internet all possible options to resolve this error, which were:
1. “Remote Procedure Call (RPC)” service should be running on the remote computer.
2. “Windows Management Instrumentation” service should be running on the remote computer.
3. “TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper” service should be running on the remote computer.
4. “DCOM Server Process Launcher” service should be running.
5. File and printer sharing should be enabled, on LAN properties.
I checked all the above options and lot of other suggestions available on internet forums and they were all set correctly.
–> Finally my colleague suggested me to check the “Group Policy Object Editor”, and check the firewall properties “Remote Administration Exception” and “File and Printer Sharing Exception”. And yes he was right, they were not enabled.
So to enable the properties you have to go to “Group Policy Object Editor” by executing gpedit.msc command. A winodw will open, goto: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> Network Connections -> Windows Firewall -> Domain Profile:
Here, enable the following properties:
– Allow inbound remote administration exception
– Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception
And when I enabled these two, the MSI deployed successfully without any error!!!
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