"Unspecified error" when starting a VM

Article
2009-03-01

Question

_{Sunday, March 1, 2009 5:07 PM}

Sometimes we get this error message:

[Window Title]
Hyper-V Manager

[Main Instruction]
An error occurred while attempting to change the state of virtual machine VSTEST01.

[Content]
'VSTEST01' failed to initialize.

Could not initialize machine remoting system. Error: 'Unspecified error' (0x80004005).

Could not find a usable certificate. Error: 'Unspecified error' (0x80004005).

[Expanded Information]
'VSTEST01' failed to initialize. (Virtual machine 70841B77-2533-487D-9FE7-B9AF907A31C0)

'VSTEST01' could not initialize machine remoting system. Error: 'Unspecified error'(0x80004005). (Virtual machine 70841B77-2533-487D-9FE7-B9AF907A31C0)

'VSTEST01' could not find a usable certificate. Error: 'Unspecified error' (0x80004005). (Virtual machine 70841B77-2533-487D-9FE7-B9AF907A31C0)

[V] See details [Close]

After restarting the Virtual Machine Management Service, the problem goes away. Any ideas how we can prevent this from occuring?

All replies (6)

_{Wednesday, March 4, 2009 1:37 AM ✅Answered}

Hi,

It seems that this issue occurs because the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service (VMMS) certificate has expired.

Please perform the hotfix in the following article to see whether the issue continues.

You cannot connect to a virtual machine when the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V VMMS certificate has expired

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=967902

Best regards,

Vincent Hu

_{Thursday, October 7, 2010 6:51 PM}

Hi,

I get the same bug but on 2008 R2 and I have noticed that I'm not the only one. I thought it was supposed to be fixed for 2008 R2?

Anyways, I found information on a blog saying that for 2008 you only need to apply the KB fix but that under 2008 R2 you only need to reboot the host to fix everything.

Since I'm not very fond of rebooting a production server because of a certificate problem is there any other way around this?

Thanks,
Sebastien Chamberland

_{Thursday, November 18, 2010 1:32 AM}

Hi Sebastian

Note that even though the certificate is not expired - there must be something that is stopping VMM from using it.

Check if ACL'd is correctly

2. this KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967902 applys also to Windows 2008 R2. Information confirmed by Ben Armstrong. Microsoft Virtualization Program Manager : The behavior that is being seen is one where VMM could'nt find a suitable certificate for to use.

And if you want to learn more about the way Hyper-V uses Certificates, please read http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff935311(WS.10).aspx

If this post is helpful, please mark it as such
________________________________________
Alessandro Cardoso
MVP | Microsoft Heroes | MCT
blog: http://virtualisationandmanagement.wordpress.com
http://virtualizacaoegerenciamento.wordpress.com

_{Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:06 PM}

Hi Alessandro

1. I'm not too sure what you really mean here?

2. I don't think KB967902 applies also to Windows 2008 R2 since when I try to install it it gives me an error message saying "The update is not applicable to your computer". Could it be something else preventing me from installing it?

Thanks,

Sebastien Chamberland

_{Friday, November 19, 2010 12:50 AM}

Hi Sebastian

When VMMS starts, Hyper-V searches for an existing, valid certificate to prepare for future communication requests. If one is not found, Hyper-V generates a self-signed certificate in the VMMS certificate store.

Also, you need to ensure that Virtual Machine group security identifier has read access, be verifying the Access control list (ACL) .

To Check the VMMS certificate store for a self-signed certificate :

1. Open Microsoft Management Console. Click Start, click Run, type mmc, and then click OK.
2. Under the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in.
3. Under Available snap-ins, click Certificates.
4. Click Service account, and then click Next.
5. Click Local computer and then click Next.
6. In the Service account list, select Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management and then click Finish.
7. Expand Certificates - Service , expand Vmms\Personal , and then click Certificates.
8. Check the Certificate and expiration date in the VMM Service certificate window

Please take a lok in this article : Configuring Certificates for Virtual Machine Connection. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff935311(WS.10).aspx

_{Friday, November 19, 2010 1:09 AM}

I also post about this issue : http://virtualisationandmanagement.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/how-to-fix-the-unspecified-error-0x80004005-could-not-find-a-usable-certificate-windows-2008r2/[

](http://virtualisationandmanagement.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/how-to-fix-the…windows-2008r2/)

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"Unspecified error" when starting a VM

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