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"RPC server is unavailable" error when provisioning service accounts during SQL Server Setup

This article helps you troubleshoot an "RPC server is unavailable" error when you set up Microsoft SQL Server instances. This error can occur during the service account provisioning phase of SQL Server Setup.

Symptoms

During the service account provisioning phase of a SQL Server installation, the installation fails and generates an "RPC Server is unavailable" error message.

The following example log entry shows a failure that occurs during a service account provisioning. In this example, the service account is a domain account named CONTOSO\SQLSvcAcct.

(05) 2024-01-19 15:00:42 Slp: Sco.User.LookupADEntry - Attempting to find user account CONTOSO\SQLSvcAcct
(05) 2024-01-19 15:00:42 Slp: Sco: Attempting to check if container 'WinNT://CONTOSO of user account exists
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: Prompting user if they want to retry this action due to the following failure:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: ----------------------------------------
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: The following is an exception stack listing the exceptions in outermost to innermost order
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: Inner exceptions are being indented
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: Exception type: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.ScoException
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:     Message:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         The RPC server is unavailable.
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:        
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:     HResult : 0x84bb0001
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         FacilityCode : 1211 (4bb)
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         ErrorCode : 1 (0001)
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:     Data:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:       WatsonData = Domain
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:       DisableRetry = true
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:     Inner exception type: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         Message:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:                 The RPC server is unavailable.
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:                
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         HResult : 0x800706ba
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:         Stack:
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:                 at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.Find(String name, String schemaClassName)
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp:                 at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.User.LookupADEntry()
(05) 2024-01-19 15:01:03 Slp: ----------------------------------------

This log entry shows that the System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntries.Find() method fails and returns the error message, The RPC server is unavailable.

You can look up the "HResult" error, 0x800706ba, by using the Certutil.exe command line tool:

certutil /error 0x800706ba

You should receive the following output:

0x800706ba (WIN32: 1722 RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE) -- 2147944122 (-2147023174)
Error message text: The RPC server is unavailable.
CertUtil: -error command completed successfully.

Cause

The cause of this error is typically an underlying Windows issue, such as:

  • The Remote Registry service isn't running.
  • DNS settings are incorrect.
  • Time and Time zone settings are incorrect.
  • The TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service isn't running.

For more information, see The system can't log you on with the following error: The RPC server is unavailable.

Solution

Eliminate the SQL Server setup process as the issue

To determine whether the SQL Server setup process itself is the cause of failure, use the following steps to build and run a test application that reproduces the RPC Server is unavailable error.

Step 1: Build the ADLookup application

  1. Open a Command Prompt window or a PowerShell terminal.

  2. Make sure that the .NET SDK is installed on your computer:

    dotnet --version

    If the .NET SDK is installed correctly, this command should output the SDK's version number.

  3. Create a project folder:

    md ADLookup
cd ADLookup

  4. Initialize a console project:

    dotnet new console -n ADLookup
cd ADLookup

    Note

    This step creates a basic console app structure.

  5. Use a text editor to replace the contents of Program.cs with the following code:

    using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.DirectoryServices;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace ADLookup 
{
  public class Program 
  {
    static void Main(string[] args) 
    {
      if (args.Count() < 2) 
      {
        Console.WriteLine("Specify at least 2 parameters. Closing App");
        Console.ReadLine();
      } 
      else 
      {
        string param1 = args[0];
        string param2 = args[1];
        string myADPath = "WinNT://" + param1 + ", " + param2;

        // Examples
        // user "john" in the "contoso" domain
        // string myADPath = "WinNT://contoso/john, user";
        // Domain "contoso""
        // string myADPath = "WinNT://contoso, domain";
        bool adRes = false;

        Console.WriteLine("Checking {0} for type {1}", param1, param2);

        try 
        {
          Console.WriteLine("The string ADPath is : {0}", myADPath);
          adRes = DirectoryEntry.Exists(myADPath);
          System.Console.WriteLine(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
        } 
        catch (COMException e) 
        {
          Console.WriteLine("Error Encountered: {0}", e.ErrorCode);
        }

        if (!adRes) 
        {
          Console.WriteLine("The path is invalid");
          Console.WriteLine("Press any key to quit");
        } 
        else 
        {
          Console.WriteLine("The path is valid");
          Console.WriteLine("Press any key to quit");
        }
        Console.ReadLine();
      }
    }
  }
}

  6. Add required references to the project:

    dotnet add package System.DirectoryServices

  7. Build the project:

    dotnet build --configuration Release

    Note

    This step compiles the code and generates an ADLookup.exe in the bin\Release\net<VersionNumber>\ folder.

Step 2: Run the ADLookup application

  1. Navigate to the directory in which the executable is built:

    cd bin\Release\net<VersionNumber>\

  2. Run ADLookup.exe by using the domain parameter to look up the domain name first:

    adlookup CONTOSO domain

    The output should resemble the following example:

    Checking CONTOSO for type domain
The string ADPath is : WinNT://CONTOSO, domain
1150
The path is valid
Press any key to quit

  3. Look up the account name using the user parameter:

    adlookup CONTOSO/SQLSvcAcct user

    You must use a forward slash, not a backslash, to separate the domain and account name.

    For a service account that's experiencing RPC server issues, the output should resemble the following example:

    Checking CONTOSO/SQLSvcAcct for type user
The string ADPath is : WinNT:// CONTOSO\SQLSvcAcct, user
Error Encountered: -2147023174
The path is invalid
Press any key to quit

Resolve underlying Windows issues

To troubleshoot underlying Windows issues that cause SQL Server Setup to fail, see The system can't log you on with the following error: The RPC server is unavailable.

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