Problems Installing the CAM Agent

In some cases, you may experience problems with installing the CAM Agent to machines from CAM Administrator. The following are examples of situations where this problem may occur:

  • Cause: Microsoft XML may need to be upgraded or the WMI repository may be corrupt.

    Symptom: You receive Error 1904 in the distribution log when installing the CAM Agent. The distribution log is located on that machine in the %windows%\system32\wex4962 folder (or, on 64-bit machines, in the %windows%\syswow64\wex4962 folder), and is named DistributionLog.txt.

    Solution: Download and install Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 to the targeted machine, reboot the machine, and then re-install the CAM Agent. MSXML is available for download at the Microsoft website.

    If the above doesn't resolve the problem, you need to repair WMI on the target machines. Search the Microsoft website for help with WMI.

  • Cause: WMI is not installed on machines.

    Solution: Use the Add/Remove Windows Components feature in the Windows Add/Remove Programs Control Panel to install WMI on the affected machines, or install the CAM Agent manually.

  • Cause: A machine has an earlier version of the Microsoft Installer program, MSI.

    Solution: Visit Microsoft's website to find out how to download a newer version of MSI.

  • Cause: A personal firewall on the machine is blocking the agent installation.

    Solution: Read on to diagnose and fix this problem.

Overview of Firewall Issues

Personal firewalls installed on agent computers may interfere with remote CAM Agent installations. Machines with personal firewalls may cause the installation to fail.

Diagnosing Firewall Issues

To check whether a firewall is causing agent installations to fail, check the system log and event viewer log. The following messages in those logs usually indicate invalid login credentials but can also indicate a firewall conflict.

System log:

DCOM was unable to communicate with the computer <computer-name> using any of the configured protocols.

Event viewer log:

Message: The machine could not be reached.

(This error message is then followed by a stack trace.)

Solutions to Firewall Conflicts

To install the CAM Agent on machines that have a personal firewall, you have the following options:

  • Manually install the agent on the affected machine.
  • Disable its firewall and then install the agent.
  • Run the appropriate command for the machine's operating system, as described next.

Windows Commands

Run the following commands on a Windows 7 or later machine to allow access to it for installing the CAM Agent:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=Yes

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)" new enable=yes

If you receive a "Group cannot be specified with other identification conditions" error after running the above command, make sure the command does not include "smart" (curled or angled) quotation marks.