Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {XXXX} failed due to the following error: 80080005

Question

What is the troubleshooting process for the "Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {XXXX} failed due to the following error: 80080005" errors in .Net? To clarify: I am getting this at runtime, on my XP machine, with client being .net code running under admin account. {XXXX} refers to one of our in-house COM components.

From what I understand, 0x80080005 refers to "permission denied", but where do I go to check/change the permissions? Or am I completely wrong here, and the error is coming from the component itself, and not out of Windows COM subsystem?

Answer 1

Your question may be too vague to receive a meaningful answer. Are you receiving this error at compile-time? Run-time? What COM component is causing the error? If error is at run-time, are you running as a non-admin user on XP or Vista?

Answer 2

0x80080005 is "Server Execution Failed", according to ERRLOOK.EXE. WinError.h lists this as CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE. Not "Access Denied".

Answer 3

Seems to be a rather generic error relating to starting up the COM server. Possible issues include timeouts, logon failures (check the Q about CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE), or security permissions, or (evidently) a VS2008 ATL bug. Hitting an error in CreateInstance would do the trick as well, I think.

I'd start by checking Event Log for anything interesting.

Answer 4

One thing that you can look at is the DCOM security configuration. It is controlled by the dcomcnfg utility. There are helpful tutorial videos on the web to explain how to use it. There is also a thread on the ASP.NET forum that discusses how to use dcomcnfg.