I recently tried upgrading to MOSS SP1 and came across 'The b2b upgrade timer job failed' error with no better explanation of what failed on the upgrade. Server is single installation Server 2003/SQL Server 2005. I installed the WSS 3.0 SP1 and MOSS 2007 SP1 binaries and then ran the configuration wizard. It got to step 8 of 9 (Updating the server) and failed out. Has anyone else seen problems like this? Is there a way to find what failed. I checked all the logs already and could not find any more descriptive errors.

Hi,try to change the accountof the "sharepoint timer service" to one that is an administrator and try again!Or just change from local service to local system or vice versa.Cheers, Daniel Bugday Web: SharePoint Forum Blog: Daniel Bugday's SharePoint Blog

Daniel, Thanks for the suggestion. I did try to change the SPSTimer service to use both an administrative account and local system and I am still getting the error about the b2b upgrader timer job failed. It is happening in the log right after it starts the services. The log looks as follows:Entering function UpgradeTask.StartAllServices01/15/2009 16:27:02 10 INF Starting Service SsoServiceInstance01/15/2009 16:27:03 10 INF Starting Service SearchServiceInstance01/15/2009 16:27:05 10 INF Starting Service SPAdministrationServiceInstance01/15/2009 16:27:05 10 INF Starting Service SPSearchServiceInstance01/15/2009 16:27:09 10 INF Starting Service SPTimerServiceInstance01/15/2009 16:27:09 10 INF Leaving function UpgradeTask.StartAllServices01/15/2009 16:28:49 10 ERR The B2B upgrader timer job failed.It appears that it has something to do with the services and possibly their accounts but that is as decriptive as the log gets.In the 12 hive log I keep seeing Critical errors about the same time the time job fails that say 'Database SharedServices_DB on SQL Server instance 'servername' is not empty and does not match current database schema.Michael

Hi Michael,It's probably the Search Service barfing (I've had it a couple of times).To confirm, you can try a manual upgrade with:stsadm -o upgrade -inplace b2b -wait -forceThis will probable error, but it'll produce a better error log (usually under Logs in the 12 hive).You see something about it being unable to upgrade the search db (the main sharepoint one, not the SSP one).To get around this, use Central Admin to disable the Windows SharePoint (Help) Search Service.Delete (or move) the Search DB on the SQL server.Start the service back up again with a fresh DB.Once it's up, re-run the stsadm command again and it should go through fine.You can then run the SharePoint Setup Wizard to ensure the whole upgrade is completed.Note: I hit this issue on a couple of servers when applying the December WSS cumulative update.Hope that helps.RegardsCraig

Hi, Craig--Thanks for your post. I think it's going to solve my problem, but how do you start with a "fresh DB" after you'e moved or deleted the old one? Thanks.

Hi Sarah,just specify a new name for the Database, it will create it when you save the config/start the service. (Same as when you original installed/configured MOSS)Hope that gets you going.RegardsCraig

Hi Craig, Close, but it's not STSADM it's PSCONFIG.exe! Plus: If you have configured your farm using the least privileges method,you need to follow these additional steps.1.Add your farm account (this is the account that runs the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service) to the local Administrators group2. Log on with that account and run the"psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -wait" command,NOT stsadm. This account should now have the required permissions to push this through.3. Once it completes successfully, remove the farm account from the local Administrators group and log off.PS: Not sure where the clean search database comes into all of this either. I think that might be a red herring?Hope this sorts the problem.Regards,Daniel

I had very similar issue after applying sp2, I realized that one of the ssp database was missing from the environment. Configuration wizard kept failing. I has to start all the app pools manually browse to central admin deleted / moved all the webapps from the ssp to working ssp. Deleted ssp ran wizard other errors started comming up. had to detach and re attach content db for couple of my webapps. Ran the wizard and all working fine.Poorvesh