TechTips - the Application-specific Permission Settings Do Not Grant Local Activation Error

I found yet another problem with my SharePoint 2007 MOSS install that was random and sudden, just like many other errors with MOSS 2007. My SharePoint Farm was running just fine and then all of a sudden, I get this error:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID

{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}

to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

Well, luckily this problem isn't that complex to fix; a simple configuration change should fix it without too much work. Basically, the error is telling us that there is a problem with the Component Service not allowing this account to perform the action that SharePoint is trying to do. So, we need to go in and give the account permissions to perform the action. I know you are thinking it should already have the permissions because it was working before, but hey it's SharePoint!

So to give permissions to the account name you simply need to do the following:

1 - Click Start

2 - Click Run

3 - Type dcomcnfg and hit enter (this will open the component services tool box)

4 - Expand the Component Services option (double click it or click the + sign to expand)

5 - Expand the Component Services option (double click it or click the + sign to expand)

6 - Expand the Computer option (double click it or click the + sign to expand)

7 - Expand the My Computer option (double click it or click the + sign to expand)

8 - Expand the DCOM Config option (double click it or click the + sign to expand)

9 - Find the IIS WAMREG admin service under the DCOM Config, Right Click and choose Properties

10 - Click the Security Tab

11 - Under Launch and Activation Permissions, click the Customize Radio button

12 - Click Edit

13 - Click Add

14 - Enter the name of the account or service you need to add

15 - Click OK

16 - Check all permissions needed (click Allow for Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation, or just the ones you need, in our error case Local Activation should be enough)

17 - Click OK

18 - Click OK

19 - Close Component Services Tool box

20 - Reboot your Server (not always necessary but probably a good idea)

The error should be gone now. If you still have the error, check you log files for any other messages it might be giving you, you might have to add additional permissions for the account. Also just a side note, this error isn't always specific to SharePoint MOSS 2007 so if you are getting this error and don't have SharePoint installed, then you will want to do the following to find out what application entry you need to change.

1 - Click Start

2 - Click Run

3 - Type Regedit

4 - Click Enter

5 - Click Edit, Click Find Next (or just click F3)

6 - Type in the CLSID Number (copy and paste is faster)

7 - Click Find Next button

8 - Once it finds the CLSID it will have the application entry name listed as the value for the Default - in my case it was IIS WAMREG Admin Service, but yours might be different.

9 - If it is different go back to the above steps and do the same changes only for the Application Entry that you found tied to your CLSID.

Well, there you have it, the simple way to fix the "application-specific permission settings do not grant local activation" error, hope this helps you out with your problem.