Solving SharePoint Server 2010 - 503. The service is unavailable, After installation

Question

Installed: SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Enterprise Beta (x64) On: Windows Server 2008 Standard (x64) on 64 bit hardware

Attempts to access the Central Administration console led to IIS returning 503. The service is unavailable

And this error was found in the Application log

The Module DLL 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\isapi\owssvr.dll' could not be loaded due to a configuration problem. The current configuration only supports loading images built for a x86 processor architecture.

After much ado, the solution turned out to be:

1) Ensure that the enable32BitAppOnWin64 seeting for the "SharePoint Central Administration" app pool is set to False, and the same for the "SharePoint Web Services Root" app pool

2) Edit applicationHost.config:

Change:

  <globalModules>
 ...
 ...
 <add name="SharePoint14Module" image="C:\Program Files\Common
 Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server
 Extensions\14\isapi\owssvr.dll"
 preCondition="appPoolName=SharePoint
 Central Administration v4" />
 </globalModules>

To:

    <add name="SharePoint14Module" image="C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
 Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\isapi\owssvr.dll" preCondition=
"appPoolName=SharePoint Central Administration v4,bitness64" />

I hope this helps somebody :-)

bitness64 being the magic word here

Answer 1

1) Ensure that the enable32BitAppOnWin64 seeting for the "SharePoint Central Administration" app pool is set to False, and the same for the "SharePoint Web Services Root" app pool

2) Edit applicationHost.config:

bitness64 being the magic word here

Answer 2

Helped me a million!!! Thanks! Brian

Answer 3

Thanks, that's really helpful.

I didn't add the magic word "bitness64", but it seems work now.

Answer 4

I was having a similar issue with a customer and none of the posted resolutions did the trick. I granted the "Log on as a batch job" permission via the Local Security Policy and that finally made the Central Administration web page come up properly.

Regards, Craig Huck www.integritasystems.com

Answer 5

I had trouble finding the applicationhost.config file. It was in c:\windows\System32\inetsrv.

After I changed that setting, I also had to change the way IIS loads the aspnet_filter.dll. Open the IIS Manager, go under "Sites", "SharePoint - 80", in the "IIS" grouping, under the "ISAPI Filters", make sure that all of the "Executable" paths point to ...Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v#.#.####\aspnet_filter.dll. Some of mine were pointed to the \Framework\ (not 64).

You also need to restart the WWW service to reload the new settings.

Answer 6

Thanks for sharing this. It helped a lot. The one difference in my applicationHost.config was

            <add name="SharePoint14Module" image="C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\isapi\owssvr.dll" preCondition="appPoolName=SharePoint Central Administration v4,bitness64;SharePoint - 80" />

Note the multiple semicolon seperated entries. This is probably because I have a single box install of SPS.

Answer 7

Thanks. this was my needle in the haystack. I was able to get the Sharepoint Central Administration site working it work with implenting only the 1st step (Never had to touch the applicationhost.config file.)