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RPC Server Unavailable when auditing machines running Windows 2003 SP1 or XP SP2

Last updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2005
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This article discusses the RPC Server Unavailable error message that you may receive when trying to audit machines remotely after installaing Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows 2003 SP1 on the machines on your network.

Article Details

Enable RPC permissions in the Domain Group Policy:

  • Run Microsoft Management Console on a Windows XP machine (Start|Run|mmc).  Note: The Group Policy Object Editor for Windows 2000 does not have the required template to edit Windows XP Firewall settings, thus it must be run under Windows XP. 
  • Add "Group Policy Object Editor" snap-in (File|Add/Remove Snap-in...|Add...|Group Policy)
  • Select the Group Policy Object for which you want to enable RPC ( Normally this will be the "Default Domain Policy", but if you already have other Group Policy Objects enabled for your networks, select the appropriate one )
  • Navigate to: [Group Policy Object]|Computer Configuration|Administrative Templates|Network|Network Connections|Windows Firewall|Domain Profile ( for a Domain administered network - Standard Profile for a Workgroup network )
  • Edit Setting: "Windows Firewall: Allow Remote Administration Exception"
  • Set "Enabled".
  • Set "Allow unsolicited incoming messages from:" to "localsubnet" (without the quotes)
  • Apply settings
  • These settings will not generally take effect immediately.  You can use Microsoft’s Group Policy Update Utility to force immediate updates ( see Microsoft’s article: "A Description of the Group Policy Update Utility" )

OR: Enable RPC permissions on a single target machine:

  • Run Microsoft Management Console on the target machine (Start|Run|mmc)
  • Add "Group Policy Object Editor" snap-in (File|Add/Remove Snap-in...|Add...|Group Policy)
  • Select the "Local Computer" Group Policy Object for which you want to enable RPC
  • Navigate to: [Group Policy Object]|Computer Configuration|Administrative Templates|Network|Network Connections|Windows Firewall|Domain Profile ( for a Domain administered network - Standard Profile for a Workgroup network )
  • Edit Setting: "Windows Firewall: Allow Remote Administration Exception"
  • Set "Enabled".
  • Set "Allow unsolicited incoming messages from:" to "localsubnet" (without the quotes)
  • Apply settings
  • These settings will not generally take effect immediately.  You can use Microsoft’s Group Policy Update Utility to force immediate updates ( see Microsoft’s article: "A Description of the Group Policy Update Utility" )
For more information, see: