N-central Troubleshooting
PME and Windows Update Agent Error Codes
Last Modified
Tue 11 Jun 12:00 GMT 2024
Description
- Patch Management Engine and Windows Update Error codes introduced in N-able N-central 2021.1
Environment
- N-able N-central 2021
Solution
| Error Code | Example Error Messages | Meaning | Logs to Check | Troubleshooting Steps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
PME001 Windows Update Service is failing when reading information for the patch [{updateId}]. Please use Windows Update Troubleshooter tool to check the Windows Update Service. | All Previous Errors of this state have been resolved by running Troubleshooting Steps or bug fixed. Troubleshooting steps should be tried first, if those fail then it may be necessary for development team to look at it. | Generic error from WUA. Can and has meant a number of things in the past. More often than not caused by Windows Update Agent having issues locally. | QueryManager.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Run Windows Update Troubleshooter Purge the Windows Update storage using these steps: 1. Stop the Windows Update windows service 2. Delete all files and folders inside the %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ folder 3. Start Windows Update Windows service |
PME002 Windows Update Service is failing when searching for new patches. Please use Windows Update Troubleshooter tool to check the Windows Update Service. Error message: {ex.Message} | Exception from HRESULT: 0x80072F8F | From Microsoft: This error generally means that the Windows Update Agent was unable to decode the received content. Install and configure TLS 1.2 by installing the update in KB3140245. | QueryManager.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Verify TLS 1.2 Protocol is installed and active on the device. If TLS 1.2 is not available, update the device’s TLS Protocols. This is covered in the Microsoft article: How to enable Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 on clients The device’s Windows Update Service version may still support TLS 1.1, as of RFC 8996 this is a deprecated protocol and the recommendation is to use TLS 1.2 for increased security. For more information, refer to the Microsoft article: TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 deprecation in Windows. |
| Exception from HRESULT: 0x80072EE2 | This is usually caused by internet connectivity issues. | QueryManager.log | Check Internet Connection. This error is used by Microsoft when WUA is having connection issues. This may be caused by poor bandwidth, firewall, AV and web protection. | |
| Exception from HRESULT: 0x80072F8F | Time and date were wrong on devices. | QueryManager.log | Check the time and date on your devices. Microsoft trouble shooting advise this error code is caused by it. | |
| Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024001E | Auto resolved quite quickly but looked to be linked to connection issues. | QueryManager.log | First check Internet connections. Purge the Windows Update storage using these steps: 1. Stop the Windows Update Windows service 2. Delete all files and folders inside the %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ folder 3. Start Windows Update Windows service | |
| PME003 FileCacheServiceAgent.exe cannot download files from SIS server | [PME003] FileCacheServiceAgent.exe cannot download files from SIS server. | SIS Server is the main server PME and the Agents communicate with to see new updates, agent version changes and updates to various features. This error advises that the Patch Engine is unable to communicate with it. This will have an impact on most aspects of the platform and it is highly recommend you ensure connection is available for each agent unless using the offline patching engine where only the probe should need connection to it. | Various logs, the error of connecting to SIS should show in logs for Patch, Agent and other features. | Ensure devices and or probe can connect to: http://sis.n-able.com/GenericFiles.xml If other features can connect but patch still has an issue then further investigation from development may be required. |
| PME004 ThirdPartyPatch.exe cannot download files from SIS server. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure this file and/or server has not been blocked | PME004 ThirdPartyPatch.exe cannot download files from SIS server. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure this file and/or server has not been blocked. | SIS Server is the main server PME and the Agents communicate with to see new updates, agent version changes and updates to various features. This error advises that the Patch Engine is unable to communicate with it. This will have an impact on most aspects of the platform and it is highly recommend you ensure connection is available for each agent unless using the offline patching engine where only the probe should need connection to it. | Various logs, the error of connecting to SIS should show in logs for Patch, Agent and other features. | Ensure devices and or probe can connect to: http://sis.n-able.com/GenericFiles.xml If other features can connect but patch still has an issue then further investigation from development may be required. |
| PME005 Windows Update Service search took too long and was canceled. Please use Windows Update Troubleshooter tool to check the Windows Update Service | All previous cases have self resolved quickly. Improvements have been made to wait before displaying this error to let it attempt to self resolve within 6 hours. | Typically generated when WUA is taking to long to scan for updates. | QueryManager.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Check Internet Connection, this error is used by Microsoft when WUA is having connection issues. This may be caused by poor bandwidth, firewall, AV and web protection. |
| PME006 PME helper utility {ExtProcessExeFileName} cannot save files to local disk. Please check your AV configuration to ensure that the helper utility has not been blocked | ExtProcess.exe cannot save files to local disk. | This error is generated when something is on the device preventing the capability of a process to write to disk. All investigated so far have been caused by 3rd party AV. | QueryManager.log | Exclude Patch Management from AV software:
Patch Manager Engine exclusions |
| PME007 Third party patch scan took longer than {timeoutInMinutes} minutes and was canceled. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure that ThirdPartyPatch.exe has not been blocked. | PME007 Third party patch scan took longer than 10 minutes and was canceled. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure that ThirdPartyPatch.exe has not been blocked. | Caused by a product taking longer than x mins as stated within error code to download. | QueryManager.log | 1. Ensure devices and or probe can connect to: http://sis.n-able.com/GenericFiles.xml If other features can connect but patch still has an issue then further investigation from development may be required. 2. Check Internet Connections 3. Create support case for raising to development. (Improvements have been made here to accommodate in the past) |
| PME008 WUA search finished with warning{0}. HResult=0x{1:X} | Context=uecWindowsDriver. HResult=0x80240439 | This error is reported from WUA but in all cases had no impact on our ability to patch the device. It is however still recommended to fix WUA errors encase it causes further issues in future. | PMEWrapper.log QueryManager.log WindowsUpdate.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Unfortunately Microsoft do not list this error code. All help from them points to the generic troubleshooting steps. Investigations with our software seem to show people have only resolved this when a newer set of updates have been released and installed. 1. Ensure you have all the latest updates installed where possible. If error persists: Run Windows Update Troubleshooter Purge the Windows Update storage using these steps: 1. Stop the Windows Update windows service 2. Delete all files and folders inside the %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ folder 3. Start Windows Update Windows service This will likely resolve itself in time, when newer updates have been released from Microsoft. |
| Context=uecGeneral. HResult=0x80247140 | Was caused by en expiration of certificate on update.microsoft.com. | PMEWrapper.log QueryManager.log WindowsUpdate.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Issue self resolved, a support case and development case is advised to investigate in future. | |
| PME009 Direct access to the Internet is disabled in your Patch Profile and there is no Probe set up for this device. We recommend enabling direct internet access or configuring a Probe for this device. | Device has no direct access to the internet and no Probe is configured. | PatchCacheMonitor.log | This error can be resolved by changing Patch Profile settings to allow direct access to the Internet or configuring Probe for that device. | |
| PME010 Device cannot connect to the Probe. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure that the Probe has not been blocked. | N-central Agent has some Probe set up, so the device probably just cannot connect to the Probe. | PatchCacheMonitor.log | Make sure device has an access to the configured Probe. Its configuration can be found in “…\N-able Technologies\Windows Agent\config\ApplianceConfig.ProbeRepositoryEndpoints”. | |
| PME900 Error in {dataProvider.Name}: {e.Message} | Error when getting data from C:\ProgramData\MspPlatform\PME\Archives\xxxxx | Issue caused by a PME release which broke dependencies needed to extract from zip. | PMEWrapper.log QueryManager.log | This error should be raised to development. |
Error in ThirdPartyDataProvider: ThirdPartyPatchWrapper.ExecuteCommand => Executable not found: C:\Program Files (x86)\MspPlatform\PME\ThirdPartyPatch\ThirdPartyPatch.exe Could not find file 'C:\ProgramData\MspPlatform\PME\ThirdPartyPatch\installed_patches.xml | Recurring issue with FileCacheServiceAgent where it did not have permissions to write to needed folders. | FileCacheServiceAgent.log | Ensure we have permissions to write in to C:\ProgramData\MspPlatform\FileCacheServiceAgent\config | |
| P501 Cannot connect to Patch Management Engine (PME) on N-central Agent. Please check your firewall and AV configurations. | Various | All cases have had different route causes more often than and always due to device level issues. | PMEWrapper.log QueryManager.log WindowsUpdate.log NWindowsUpdate.log | Support case required and local device level troubleshooting. |
| P502 Couldn't submit patches, products, classifications metadata to N-central. Error message: {0} | Error message: Thread was being aborted. | Cases have had different route causes but similar themes. Mainly caused by issues in WUA, bandwidth issues and connection to SIS server which has the knock on effect of being unable to upload to N-central. | 1. Ensure devices and or probe can connect to: http://sis.n-able.com/GenericFiles.xml If other features can connect but patch still has an issue then further investigation from development may be required. 2. Check Internet Connections 3. Create Support Case | |
| N-able.CacheService.exe cannot download files from SIS server. Please check your firewall and AV configurations to ensure this file and/or server has not been blocked | SIS Server is the main server PME and the Agents communicate with to see new updates, agent version changes and updates to various features. This error advises that the Patch Engine is unable to communicate with it. This will have an impact on most aspects of the platform and it is highly recommend you ensure connection is available for each agent unless using the offline patching engine where only the probe should need connection to it. | Various logs, the error of connecting to SIS should show in logs for Patch, Agent and other features. | Ensure devices and or probe can connect to: http://sis.n-able.com/GenericFiles.xml If other features can connect but patch still has an issue then further investigation from development may be required. |