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There was a problem starting PolicyAgentProvider.dll error when installing a Configuration Manager client

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This article helps you fix an issue where you receive the There was a problem starting PolicyAgentProvider.dll error when installing a Configuration Manager client.

Original product version:   Configuration Manager
Original KB number:   2737378

Symptoms

When installing the Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) client, the process fails with the following error:

There was a problem starting PolicyAgentProvider.dll The specified module could not be found

You may also see the following in ccmsetup.log after selecting OK on the error above:

MSI: Action 11:53:11: CcmRegisterWmiMofFile. Registering WMI settings
MSI: Setup failed due to unexpected circumstances
The error code is 80004005
MSI: Action 13:01:48: Rollback. Rolling back action:
Installation failed with error code 1603

Cause

This can occur if the value of CWDIllegalInDllSearch in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager registry subkey is set to 0xFFFFFFFF.

Resolution

There are two resolutions to this issue:

  • Remove the CWDIllegalInDllSearch entry or change it to a different value.

  • Add the full path to the CCM folder (C:\Windows\CCM) to the environment variable PATH.

More information

CcmSetup is running the rundll32.exe PolicyAgentProvider.dll,setup_checknamespaces command when this failure occurs.

If CWDIllegalInDllSearch is configured to 0xFFFFFFFF, rundll32.exe is unable to find the PolicyAgentProvider.dll when running in the current working directory.