Causes of ErrMsg: "Couldn't Retrieve All Machines..."

• Microsoft Systems Management Server versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2

SYMPTOMS

When you start the SMS Administrator, the following error message appears:

   Couldn't retrieve all machines.  SMS administrator has encountered a
   problem attempting to load machines from the database.

   Couldn't execute the specified query.

CAUSE

These errors are general and can be caused by any of the following problems:

1. TEMPDB is in single user mode.

2. TEMPDB is full.

3. The Transaction log is full. For more information see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

         Article-ID: Q125487
         Title     : SMS Administrator Unable to Retrieve Machine List
   
   

4. The stored procedure sp_GetSubSite, created by the SMS setup program, may be missing or corrupted. To reload the SMS stored procedures, SP_SITE.SQL can be rerun in the Query Window.

5. One or more tables in the SMS database has been dropped.

Enabling SQL Tracing may help narrow down the problem, and will log errors to the SMS\LOGS\UI.LOG on the site server when the SMS Administrator is run at the site server.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.

To enable SQL Tracing, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Rededt32.exe).

2. Go to the following location:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Tracing

3. Set the parameter SQLEnabled to 1.

4. Restart the SMS Administrator and recreate the error.

5. Check the SMS\LOGS\UI.LOG using SMSTrace or Notepad.