WMI corrupt - how to reinstall/repair?

Hi,

WMI Control\General reports "Failed to connect to <local computer> because of "WMI: Generic failure". The same also displayed in services.msc and Service\Dependencies attribute.

Executing a restore from last backup file does not change a thing. WMI service is running. Running winmgmt /verifyrepository (or salvagerepository) completes with success as long as WMI is stopped. If started the same error is displayed.

The WMidiag is too old for Windows Server 2008 (I haven't found a 2008 version), and is incorrectly reporting missing files.

I have not found any means to remedy this, nor reinstalling WMI. Do I have to run OS installation+repair?

Regards

Morten Ross

September 10th, 2008 9:55am

Hello,

This error message usually indicates that the WMI repository is corrupted, but sometimes may also indicate that some other system files are corrupted.

If you have any previous backup, I would highly suggest that you try restoring to that backup to see if the problem remains.

Or, would you please try the following steps to see if they can be of any help?

1. Disable and stop the WMI service.

sc config winmgmt start= disabled

net stop winmgmt

2. Run the following commands.

Winmgmt /salvagerepository %windir%\System32\wbem (I noticed that you have run this command, but I would suggest that you try it again)

Winmgmt /resetrepository %windir%\System32\wbem

4. Re-enable the WMI service and then reboot the server to see how it goes.

sc config winmgmt start= auto

If the problem remains, then try the following steps to rebuild the repository:

1. Disable and stop the WMI service.

sc config winmgmt start= disabled (note that there is a blank between '=' and 'disabled')

net stop winmgmt

2. Rename the repository folder (located at %windir%\System32\wbem\repository) to repository.old.

3. Re-enable the WMI service.

sc config winmgmt start= auto

4. Reboot the server to see if the problem remains.

If the above steps cannot help, you may also need to check if some disk sectors or system files are corrupted. You may try "chkdsk" and "sfc /scannow" commands to see if they can help. Otherwise, you may need to reinstall the whole server.

Best regards,

Chang Yin
  • Marked as answer by Chang Yin Friday, September 19, 2008 9:11 AM
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September 12th, 2008 12:38pm

We had similar problems and the procedure above worked, however in addition we had to rejoin the computer account to the domain.

 

June 22nd, 2011 12:06pm

This worked.. Thanks!

 

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November 9th, 2011 12:28am

Thanks for the great post.

it worked for me without restart.

Kind Regards,

Ali

December 10th, 2012 7:19am

This procedure worked for me on an SBS 2011 server which has had SBS console crashing and other applications crashing.

I've been looking everywhere for a solution to this problem and was going to rebuild the server.

I know you posted this a very long time ago but thank you Chang Yin you rock !

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January 8th, 2013 7:00am

Thank you so much Chang. It worked like a miracle.
May 10th, 2013 11:43am

Thanks for the solution Chang Yin. Still valid after 5 years.

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August 29th, 2013 7:55am

Just had this issue and this solution still works like a charm. You are the man Chang
September 24th, 2013 7:23pm

Chang,

Thanks for helping me out. I have had this problem on our 8 year old DC for the last few months and nothing has worked until I finally saw your post. It took some tweaking but in the end it finally stopped. The WMI CPU was up around 35-55% after just a few mins of stop and restarting the service. My users will be happy, well as happy as users get anyways, with an increase in responsiveness. 

Just wanted to thank you.

Brian

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November 24th, 2013 4:26am

Awesome Post! It just worked like a charm. Thanks Chang.
November 25th, 2013 5:55am

Worked again.  Still Valid and important information.
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June 10th, 2014 2:16pm

What is the procedure for Windows 7 pro with SP1?
June 12th, 2014 6:17pm

What is the procedure for Windows 7 pro with SP1?
Well chkdsk fixed the issue. Thanks Chang Yin. 
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June 14th, 2014 11:59am

Did this on windows 2012 r2 server and fixed issue. Thanks buddy. great fix
September 26th, 2014 10:36am

That worked!

Happy Holidays and THANK YOU!

Pat

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December 2nd, 2014 7:55pm

hi Chang

Mine is same OS platform Windows Server 2008 R2. Its under domain group with hardening. But the error was different.,

Out of disk space [0x8004103b].

- Initially I tried with stopping and restarting the wmi serveices, but no luck.

- then Winmgmt /salvagerepository & winmgmt /verifyrepository, this time it was access denied error.

- lastly I took reboot of this server. Guess

- It fixed the issue.

Can you provide your inputs for my below query please .. 

Why most of the windows OS issues will get fixed by simply just reboot. Its good, but want to know what exactly the actions taken place during the booting process.

Thanks

praveen



May 30th, 2015 9:27am

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