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Event ID 257 — WDSServer Service Availability

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The state of the WDSServer service determines whether the service is started and operating normally. WDSServer is the main server-side service of the Windows Deployment Services solution. It provides basic service functions such as memory management, thread pooling, and network interface binding.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 257
Source: WDSServer
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: E_WDSSERVER_FAILED_START
Message: An error occurred while trying to start the Windows Deployment Services server.

Error Information: %1

Resolve

Modify Group Policy settings

To resolve this issue, do the following in the specified order: 

  • Restart the WDSServer service.
  • Check your Group Policy settings.
  • Resolve additional errors.

Restart the WDSServer service

To restart WDSServer:

  1. Open the Command Prompt window.
  2. Run net stop wdsserver.
  3. Run net start wdsserver.

If you continue to encounter this error, check your Group Policy settings by using the procedures in the following section.

Check your Group Policy settings

Your Group Policy settings must specify a Domain Name System (DNS) server that is inside the domain. If the DNS server is outside the domain, you must reconfigure your settings. To resolve this situation, do one of the following:

  • Set your Group Policy settings to point to a DNS server that is inside the domain (this is a requirement for running a Deployment Server).
  • Unlink the Group Policy setting that points to the DNS server so that the Windows Deployment Services server will discover the DNS server on its own.

Note: To perform these procedures, you must either be a member of the Domain Admins group or have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To set your Group Policy settings to point to a DNS server that is inside the domain:

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Group Policy Management (if it is not there, you must install it by using Server Manager).
  2. Right-click the organizational unit that contains the Windows Deployment Server computer object. Click Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here. Type DNS Server Assignment Policy in the Name box. In the Source Starter GPO list, click none. Click OK.
  3. Right-click DNS Server Assignment Policy and then click Edit.
  4. In the console tree under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates and then expand Network. Click DNS Client.
  5. In the view pane, double-click DNS Servers. Click Enabled.
  6. Type a space-delimited list of IP addresses (in dotted decimal format) in the IP Addresses box. Click OK.
  7. Click File and then click Exit. Close the Group Policy Management Console.
  8. Restart Windows Deployment Server to apply the new Group Policy object.

To unlink the Group Policy setting:

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Group Policy Management (if this feature is not already installed, you must install it by using Server Manager).
  2. In the console tree, click the organizational unit that contains the Windows Deployment Server computer object.
  3. In the view pane on the Linked Group Policy Objects tab, right-click the Group Policy object that deploys DNS server settings, and then click Link Enabled.
  4. Click OK to close the Group Policy Management warning dialog box**. The Link Enabled** column for the selected Group Policy object displays No. This confirms that the Group Policy object is not linked.
  5. Close the Group Policy Management Console.
  6. Restart Windows Deployment Services to remove the affects of this Group Policy object.

If you continue to encounter this error, use the procedure in the following section to check Event Viewer for additional errors that may be causing this event.

Resolve additional errors 

To check for other errors: 

  1. Open Event Viewer. (Click Start, type Event Viewer in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.)
  2. In the left pane, expand Custom Views, expand Server Roles, and then click Windows Deployment Services.
  3. Click to sort the events based on the Date and Time column.
  4. Review the events that have a similiar date and time as this event (WDSServer event 257 or 259).
  5. Click the related event, and then click Event Log Online Help at the bottom on the General tab.
  6. Follow the instructions to resolve the error.
  7. When you resolve the root error, restart the WDSServer service.

Verify

To verify that the state of the WDSServer service is active:

  1. Open Computer Management (click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management).
  2. Expand Services and Applications, and then click **Services. **
  3. Verify that the status of Windows Deployment Services Server is Started.

Note: Alternatively, you can run sc control wdsserver 130 at a command prompt and verify that the state is equal to 4.

WDSServer Service Availability

Windows Deployment Services