I am working on a remote site, and am having a problem that is preventing our web application from starting. This is a critical item that is affecting a system that is used by 200+ users. I would appreciate any help ASAP. The System is running using JBoss Application Server 5.1.0 GA. JBoss is installed as a windows service. Whenever I try to run the service it reports that it started then stopped. The service was running fine until about an Hour ago. After restarting the service it began producing this error. Within the Windows Event Log > Application Logs I found the following error that coincides with every start of this service. Activation context generation failed for "C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="6.0.7600.16823" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis. I ran sxstrace for this, and the following information was generated: ================= Begin Activation Context Generation. Input Parameter: Flags = 0 ProcessorArchitecture = AMD64 CultureFallBacks = en-US;en ManifestPath = C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe AssemblyDirectory = C:\Windows\system32\ Application Config File = ----------------- INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe. INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is Microsoft.Windows.ConsoleHost.SystemDefault,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="5.1.0.0". INFO: Reference: Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="6.0.7600.16823" INFO: Resolving reference Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="6.0.7600.16823". INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture amd64. INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral. INFO: Applying Binding Policy. INFO: No binding policy redirect found. INFO: Begin assembly probing. INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_64\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible\6.0.7600.16823__6595b64144ccf1df\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\system32\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\system32\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible.MANIFEST. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\system32\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\system32\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible\Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible.MANIFEST. INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral. INFO: End assembly probing. ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df",type="win32",version="6.0.7600.16823". ERROR: Activation Context generation failed. End Activation Context Generation. I have tried uninstalling Windows Update KB2507938 and it does not resolve my issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am having the exact same issue. Removed all updates from 7/13/2011 with no change. I am on a IBM x3500 Windows 2008 R2 64 bit. Intel Xeon x5650 12Gb memory. Just keeps launching this conhost over and over and generating errors in the log. Any ideas would be appreciated!

I think it has to do with Windows Activation. Are you running a legitimate copy of Windows?

Hello Areamike. The server was running on a validated version of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. For everyone else, we updated the server to SP1 and it resolved the issue. Nathan Mitchell

Hello Areamike. The server was running on a validated version of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. For everyone else, we updated the server to SP1 and it resolved the issue. Nathan Mitchell I spoke too soon. This was not what resolved the issue. Here are the steps we took: 1.) installed SP1 [jboss fails to start] 2.) uninstall windows updates from 07/13 [jboss fails to start] 3.) revert JBoss root drive to a backup 07/23 [jboss starts] We are still unsure as to what caused this in the first place. Nathan Mitchell

Hi, I would like to confirm what is the current situation after installing SP1, uninstalling Windows Updates and reverting JBoss root drive? If there is anything that I can do for you, please do not hesitate to let me know, and I will be happy to help. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

We have the same issue on our Windows Server 2008 R2 machines.. In our case no JBoss application, but Event ID: 33 is flooding the application Eventlog. Recently some security-updates and other hotfixes were installed and appearently the 'Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible'-dll was updated. The conhost.exe process that uses the dll wasn't updated and that's why the Event appears. I've heard from a Microsoft consultant that the process will be updated after the installation of SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and the issue should be resolved after that.

Hello Areamike. The server was running on a validated version of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. For everyone else, we updated the server to SP1 and it resolved the issue. Nathan Mitchell I spoke too soon. This was not what resolved the issue. Here are the steps we took: 1.) installed SP1 [jboss fails to start] 2.) uninstall windows updates from 07/13 [jboss fails to start] 3.) revert JBoss root drive to a backup 07/23 [jboss starts] We are still unsure as to what caused this in the first place. Nathan Mitchell I believe we determined the cause of this. We had recently installed a new JRE and this changed the JAVA_HOME environment variable. JBoss was unable to start because it could not find a valid JDK. To resolve this we could have changed the JAVA_HOME variable to point back at the JDK. Nathan Mitchell