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SQL browser service is not running on server.

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We ran into a situation when SQL browser service was not running on the server, we followed the following steps to reach a state of getting browser service to run.

Environment
Windows Server 2003
SQL Express 2005
Service Pack: SP2

· We followed the KB https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;914277

· SQL browser service was already set to “automatic”.

· When we try to start the service ,we got this error :

TITLE: Surface Area Configuration
------------------------------

The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion, you need administrator privileges to be able to start/stop this service. (SQLSAC)

· The application event logs had the following errors :

The configuration of the SQL instance MSSQLServer is not valid.
The configuration of the AdminConnection\TCP protocol in the SQL instance <instance name> is not valid.

The SQLBrowser service was unable to establish SQL instance and connectivity discovery.
The SQLBrowser is enabling SQL instance and connectivity discovery support

To get more information on reason for service failure, you can start the SQL Browser as a console application

· When we try starting SQL browser as a console application we got the following errors :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared>sqlbrowser.exe -c
SQLBrowser: starting up in console mode
SQLBrowser: starting up SSRP redirection service
SQLBrowser is successfully listening on 0.0.0.0[1434]
SQLBrowser: failed starting SSRP redirection services -- shutting down.

What is SSRP Redirection?
SQL Server Resolution Protocol (SSRP) was developed to listen on port 1434, beginning with SQL Server 2000. This was how we managed to have multiple SQL Server instances on the same machine. The SSRP redirector as the name suggests “redirected” the client requests to the appropriate instance based on the Instance Name or Port # or Named Pipe.

· We found a key under SQL server registry hive:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\CurrentVersion

· This is from an older default installation of SQL server 2000. This should not exist anymore since SQL Browser is a replacement for the SSRP mechanism.

· If above key exists, SQL Browser during startup tries to connect to this instance (non-existent) and hence fails

· So we renamed above key it to CurrentVersion_Old and tried to restart the browser services, this time we were able to do so.

Note: -
1. Please check for the existence of this key under the wow6432node key as well.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432\Microsoft\MSSQLSERVER

2. Please make sure that you do not have any SQL Server 2000 instances running anymore before making the registry change.

Amrutha Varshini
SE, Microsoft SQL Server

Reviewed by

Sudarshan Narasimhan
TL, Microsoft SQL Server

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 25, 2009
    1 How do you know it was not running 2 Where is the option to request that it runs 3 How to verify from the network it can be reached

  • Anonymous
    September 28, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2010
    Is sqlbrowser related to internet browser sudi? How fast can it run? Should I have one running per instance?

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2010
    Amrutha: I tried all the above steps - No luck. Can I repair the sqlbrowser? its sql 2k8.

  • Anonymous
    February 03, 2010
    >> Is sqlbrowser related to internet browser sudi? SQLBrowser is not related to Internet browser. >>How fast can it run? Not clear with this question. >>Should I have one running per instance? One service would be installed for one machine. this would take care to answer all incoming request. Refer http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181087.aspx

  • Anonymous
    March 16, 2010
    We found a key  under SQL server registry hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerCurrentVersion could you please tell me which key??? I don't see any related key in this node.

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2011
    hi sudharshan i have a peculiar problem my Sql service when started goes back to stopped status im running the sql i think 2000 version.how can i get this to work again.. pls also copy mail to aejaz.ahamed@gmail.com

  • Anonymous
    April 02, 2011
    Hi aejaz, Could you please check SQL ERRORLOGs and see if there is any error message causing this problem? I would also suggest you to post your question in MSDN forum where many peoples can provide help. Regards, Balmukund

  • Anonymous
    December 06, 2012
    how to know from sql server whether the service is running or not like SMTP, sql server agent?

  • Anonymous
    July 19, 2015
    Hi. I have the same problema as you have, but when I try to start the sqlbrowser in console mode, it only writes the first message: "SQLBrowser: starting up in console mode". Then, the program stops. I don't have the registry keys you mentioned in this blog in the problematic computer. It is running Windows server 2008 R2. Can you think of anything else I can do to overcome this Issue? Thanks in advance. Regards. Ariel.