Configuration Manager 2012 failed to start DP health monitoring task . . .
2013-03-01 28 Comments
I ran into a strange Configuration Manager 2012 issue today on a client site. The “Configuration Manager Client” package for some reason was failing to be processed by Distribution Manager. The status of the Distribution Manager component was critical, and the distmgr.log file was repeatedly displaying the following errors;
~Failed to start DP health monitoring task for package ‘xxx00003’. Error code: -1
. . . and~Failed to process package xxx00003 after 35 retries, will retry 65 more times
All of the other packages were healthy.
After a bit of digging, I found a thread on Technet forums suggesting that a file in the root of a drive on the site server named “Program” may be the culprit. Sure enough, I found a mysterious file named Program in the root of drive D:\ on the Site Server. After renaming the file, we initiated a validation of the package on the DP. Within minutes the issue was resolved, and the package was successfully processing again.
I have no idea how the “program” file came to be on the drive, nor why it was interfering with Distribution Manager’s normal operations, but I’m sure glad that I stumbled upon the resolution, so thought I’d share it in case others encounter the issue.
NOTE: Based on the comments it seems that, while for me the file was named “Program” others are finding a file named “System” or “Microsoft” in the root of their drives, so be on the lookout for those as well.
About Douglas Griffin
Yet Another System Center Blog 
Working also for me, thanks a lot!
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Worked like a charm, thank you!
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Reblogged this on IT Info.
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perfect! thank you!….but I still can not understand the link between this issues….somebody knows what program generates this file and what is it for?
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In my case the file was just called “Microsoft”. I renamed it to be Microsoft.old and the package was successful
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Great find! renaming the ‘program’ file resolved my issue.
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DOUBLE U – TEE – EF!
Thanks a lot mate! What’s you home addy? Send you a truck load of “Insert your favourite drink here”!
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In my case it was also “Microsoft”, deleting this file did the trick. What a pain!
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Sorted out this very frustrating problem. Thanks a bunch.
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Thanks for sharing – saved me lots of time. ‘Program’ was the file in my case
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Same error, but i’cant find a file called ‘Microsoft’ or ‘Program’? Where do you’ve found this file?
Thanks for your help!
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Okay, i found the file wich cause the problem. It was called System. After renaming to System.old I was able to update the distribution point again and everything was fine
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I too found “program”. Looks to just be a log file of some sort. No clue why it was interfering, but renaming it totally worked. Thanks a bunch.
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What is the extension does it show for the ‘Microsoft’ or ‘Program’ that needed to be renamed? I’m looking for this file in my root of OS (C:) and each of my other partitions and I am unable to find.
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There is NO extension for the file in my case.
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Thank you solved the issue for me
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Thank you so much! Solved my issues with the DP.
I was able to locate the file ‘microsoft’ in the folder where SCCM was installed.
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Thanks!
I’ve been seeing this error all week and couldn’t figure it out.
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Thanks! No idea how I would have figured this out without this blog post.
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Thank you very much! This strange issue occurred even in our SCCM 2012 R2 SP2 environment.
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As we don’t have a comment for 2016. Thanks I had a “rogue” file called “Program” in my DP root dir. Why I’ve know idea. One of the many oddities SCCM likes to throw you now and then.
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me too had same issue, I have opened program file as notepad and found lot of lines i suspect the SCCM itself creating this file
=== Verbose logging started: 8/24/2016 10:28:22 Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.9600.00 Calling process: C:\Windows\ccmsetup\cache\ccmsetup.exe ===
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Machine policy value ‘Debug’ is 0
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: C:\Windows\ccmsetup\{6241CB95-11E9-4108-92B3-06AABA463A4E}\client.msi
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Cloaking enabled.
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Attempting to enable all disabled privileges before calling Install on Server
MSI (c) (C8:B8) [10:28:22:729]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0
MSI (s) (A0:7C) [10:28:22:745]: Running installation inside multi-package transaction C:\Windows\ccmsetup\{6241CB95-11E9-4108-92B3-06AABA463A4E}\client.msi
MSI (s) (A0:7C) [10:28:22:745]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (s) (A0:78) [10:28:22:745]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (s) (A0:78) [10:28:22:745]: Machine policy value ‘Debug’ is 0
MSI (s) (A0:78) [10:28:22:745]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: C:\Windows\ccmsetup\{6241CB95-11E9-4108-92B3-06AABA463A4E}\client.msi
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
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Got this problem after upgrading the OS on the primary site server from 2012 to 2012r2. Have had other issues as well after the OS upgrade.
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Same issue here. My file was under the c:\ drive and after the installation of CU3. You saved my day ! 🙂
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This thread has saved me some sanity. 2019 and on CM 1810, had the same issue but different exit code:
Failed to start DP health monitoring task for package ‘TSV0081E’. Error code: 193
We were getting a heap of packages failing, especially driver packages, and in turn messing up osd task sequences. Re-naming the suspect ‘Program’ file has solved it…. unreal, just unreal.
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Works like charm…. but did not understand whats the connection between that…
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Your article just saved me hours of troubleshooting and calling Microsoft. Thanks!!!!
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Can anyone let me know where is the root of that file , i mean the exact path
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