Microsoft KB Archive/816296

= SMS Client service account password is reset every 30 days =

Article ID: 816296

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Standard Edition

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Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry



SYMPTOMS
In Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4) and earlier, the password for the account used by the SMS Client service on SMS clients is never changed after it is created. In domain environments where Group Policy Objects (GPO) require regular password changes, a lockout of the SMS Client Service account may occur. This may cause SMS client tasks to fail and may affect the domain when the SMS client is installed on a domain controller. The administrator must reinstall the SMS client to establish a new password.

The SMS Client Service account used by most SMS client computers is created as SMSCliSvcAcct&. However if the SMS client is installed on a domain controller, the account used by the SMS Client Service running on the domain controller is SMS&, where  is the computer name of the domain controller. The term &quot;SMS Client Service account&quot; will be used to represent both accounts in this article.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server 2.0. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

288239 How to obtain the latest Systems Management Server 2.0 service pack



MORE INFORMATION
With SMS 2.0 Service Pack 5 (SP5), the SMS Client service has been modified to automatically change its password every 30 days. Two registry values are now available in the SMS client registry to control this process. Both registry keys are in the following location on the client:

The two new values are described in the following table:

The first value, Service Reset Interval, must be created manually. This key is used to change the default 30-day interval.

Note Although you can set this value to as low as 1 second, the actual interval will depend on the service interval of the SMS Client service. By default, the SMS Client Service will execute this process every 2 hours.

The second value, Last Service Reset, is automatically created and set by the SMS Client service. To force a password change, modify the Service Reset Interval, and then manually start a Client Configuration Installation Manager (CCIM) cycle. To force a CCIM cycle on the client computer, use one of the following methods:  Restart the client computer.

 Stop and restart the SMS Client service.

To do this on a Windows 2000 client:  Click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services. Stop and then restart the SMS Client Service.</ol>

To do this on a Windows XP client: <ol> Click Start, and then click Performance and Maintenance (in Category view).</li> Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.</li> Stop and then restart the SMS Client Service.</li></ol> </li> Wait 23 hours. The CCIM cycle will start automatically.</li></ul>

Note If the clock on the client computer is set to a future date during the upgrade to SP5 and then restored to the current time, the SMS Client Service account password may not be reset. In this scenario, the value for Last Service Reset in the client registry is set to a future value. The password will not be reset until the client clock reaches this future date.WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. To resolve this issue, change the Last Service Reset key in the client registry to 0.

The Last Service Reset value is a CTime structure that represents the number of seconds that have passed since midnight Coordinated Universal Time, January 1, 1970. Use the Cvtime.exe utility to convert this value to a readable time. The output that is returned from the utility varies with the time zone.

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STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section.

Additional query words: ccim32

Keywords: kbsms200presp5fix kbperformance kbsetup kbsecurity kbfix kbbug KB816296

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