I’m responsible for a couple of SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) farms where all SharePoint servers showed the following error in the system event log:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10016
Date: 1/17/2007
Time: 4:31:48 AM
User: <DOMAIN>\sa_adm
Computer: <SERVER>
Description:
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 <DOMAIN>\sa_adm SID (S-1-5-21-162740987-2502514208-3469184634-1119). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
The error would show up at regular intervals in clusters (4-12 at roughly the same time) and there would be a few more with other usernames and other class id’s. I had two fully functional farms with 3 SharePoint servers each and a number of standalone development machines. They all exhibited similar behavior.
The error listed above is that the user running the Central Administration web application doesn’t have access to activate (instantiate) the IIS WAMREG admin Service object (search the registry for the CLSID).
Strangely enough I didn’t observe any functional errors in the farms as a result of these errors – nothing seemed amiss (plenty of stuff didn’t work but none directly related to this).
An important note here is that the service users used in the farm are all standard domain accounts and only given additional local rights by the SharePoint installer and Central Administration (The one exception is that “aspnet_regiis -ga IIS_WPG” was executed after SharePoint install and initial configuration).
The following procedure removes the errors from the event log without compromising the entire security setup (yes, assign administrative rights for the service users would do the trick too) and has been verified by Microsoft consulting services.
On each SharePoint server do the following:
- Click Start, Click Run, type “dcomcnfg” and click ok
- Expand Component Services / Computers / My Computer / DCOM Config

- Right click IIS WAMREG admin Service and choose Properties
- Click the Security tag
- Click Edit under Launch and Activation Permissions

- Click Add
- In the Select Users, Computers or Groups type computername\WSS_WPG and
computername\WSS_ADMIN_WPG
- Click ok
- In the Permissions for UserName list, click to select the Allow check box

- Click Ok twice.
- Go back to the main Component Services window, right click the “netman” node and select Properties
- Click the security tab
- Click Edit under Activation Permissions
- Click Add on the Launch Permissons Dialog
- Enter “NETWORK SERVICE” in the edit box
- Click Ok
- Enable all the checkboxes for the NETWORK SERVICE

- Click Ok twice
- Finally, run “IISReset”
That should be it!
A little less event log errors to worry about – there are plenty left on a reasonable complex SharePoint farm…
As a side note: The above error also shows up in other applications as well – I’ve heard about it for exchange servers as well and more applications are probably affected. In that case you’ll need to search the registry for the actual DCOM application and assign the rights to another local group (or username as a last resort).
20 Apr 2007 at 11:24
You are a rockstar. We have this error. Will try on Monday and see if it fixes the proble,
Cheers!
Alpesh
21 May 2007 at 14:18
Happy to help
22 Jun 2007 at 11:14
hmmm, this looks very similar to http://www.harbar.net/archive/2007/04/04/Pesky-DCOM-10016-Errors.aspx
22 Jun 2007 at 16:52
Spence you are right, it’s pretty much the same.
It appears that harbar was actually first.. Oh well.
We even used almost the same title. LOL.
03 Jul 2007 at 20:26
I was experiencing this error and I tried all different procedures to stop this error messages.
Thanx for the detailed presentation.
- Krishna
03 Aug 2007 at 9:57
[...] http://soerennielsen.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/fixing-those-pesky-dcom-event-log-error-10016-in-a-sha... [...]
04 Oct 2007 at 18:03
[...] Fixing those pesky DCOM event log error 10016 in a SharePoint farm environment [...]
03 Dec 2007 at 20:55
Thsi worked for me thanks alot
07 Dec 2007 at 21:59
This process makes sense until you get to step 11. What does it mean to “Go back to the main Component Services window, right click the “netman” node and select Properties”? What is the “main Component Services window”? What is “netman”?
Thanks,
oliver
24 Jan 2008 at 3:01
Great tip – thanks for posting!
Kenneth
07 Feb 2008 at 15:03
Good stuff.
Thanks
07 Feb 2008 at 15:06
Components Services window is the dcomconfig where you found the IIS WAMREG Admin.
Good Luck
Frank
11 Feb 2008 at 4:03
This worked great. Don’t know how or why these settings get hosed, but site is back up now.
Thanks!
13 Mar 2008 at 4:18
GREAT INSTRUCTIONS U DA MAN!!!
18 Mar 2008 at 21:05
Excellent. Thanks
15 May 2008 at 6:02
Hi I have solved this error using
http://www.sharepointlions.blogspot.com
15 May 2008 at 8:37
Manish: I see nothing new in your article. The difference is?
10 Jun 2008 at 4:45
[...] http://soerennielsen.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/fixing-those-pesky-dcom-event-log-error-10016-in-a-sha... Read More [...]
12 Jun 2008 at 19:30
[...] also need to say that much of this was drawn from a post by Søren Nielsen where he solved a SharePoint DCOM error. If you administer SharePoint, I highly recommend his blog, [...]
09 Aug 2008 at 5:59
Thank u so much
i solvel my problem
01 Oct 2008 at 9:57
Thank You!
Works like a charm!
Greets Manuel
14 Oct 2008 at 19:52
[...] is something an old colleague and I found out in October of last year, found on a blog entry from Søren Nielsen from April of last [...]
25 Nov 2008 at 23:17
Nice guide. Thanks
23 Dec 2008 at 19:47
well, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch
07 Jan 2009 at 6:17
[...] http://soerennielsen.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/fixing-those-pesky-dcom-event-log-error-10016-in-a-sha... [...]
09 Feb 2009 at 11:01
[...] Fixing those pesky DCOM event log error 10016 in a SharePoint farm environment « Thoughts on comput… ut it for exchange servers (tags: sharepoint dcom moss) [...]
09 Feb 2009 at 12:03
[...] Fixing those pesky DCOM event log error 10016 in a SharePoint farm environment « Thoughts on comput… ut it for exchange servers (tags: sharepoint dcom moss) [...]
10 Feb 2009 at 17:14
[...] [...]
11 Feb 2009 at 9:40
Another satisfied customer! Thanks
29 Mar 2009 at 2:54
I tried everything mentioned on numerous forums and nothing worked. Then I read something about Windows firewall and decided to check it since I use Kaspersky Internet Security. Under Windows Firewall, Advanced tab I cleared the check marks for all 1394 and Local Area Connections, rebooted my machine and no more DCOM errors. I’m running Windows XP Home, SP3. I hope this helps someone else. It was driving me crazy. Good luck, Mike
17 Aug 2009 at 11:37
many thanks, this simple walk through has saved lots fo frustrating afternoons trying to resolve our DCOM errors!!
08 Oct 2009 at 10:43
Great article Soeren, this solution was a help for many, apparently. I still have the error in the eventviewer with a specific AD user/serviceaccount. I have given this account Local Activation and Local Lauch permissions. Any suggestions on getting rid of this pesky error message??
09 Oct 2009 at 21:49
Hi Marlon
I would double check the object and account in question. To find what component the guid in the event log refers to, just search for it in the registry. That will usually yield a class/object name in hkey_classes_root. You might have to do two searches one for the guid from the registry and another for the guid that the first one “points to”. One is the interface the other the object.
Once objected is locatedgo to the dcomcnfg and check it’s set as you expect it to. Adjust a bit, and possibly increase the privileges.
Are you in a farm? then you might try to adjust the remote launch permissions as well. Cannot remember if the dcom error occurs on the source or dest server though.