M@rkJakes.com

Today during a maintenece period, I noticed the following in a Windows SBS server log:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission
for the COM Server application with CLSID {some-cls-id-here}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (some-sid-here). 
This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administration tool.

Setting about this problem might seem a little daunting at first but it is easy to fix.  First you need to find out which applicaion is causing the problem, and if you trust it, you need to give IIS rights to run it.

To find out the application, cut and past the CLSID from the log onto your clipboard, this is the part in the curly brackets after the work CLSID in the example report above.

Once you have it on your clipboard, run the registry editor (Start | Run | Regedit).   Highlight the top of the tree (normally your server name) and use the search tools to find the entry.

Once found you will see the name of the application that is causing the problem.

Now run the component services widget.  Start | Admintools | Component Services.

In the DCOM section of the component services, find the name exactly as you were shown in the registry editor, right click on it and go to the security tab.  Add NETWORK SERVICE with Launch and Execute rights.

Don't forget to restart IIS !!!

This should cure your DCOM error in the event viewer and re-enable any service that was lost.

Screen shots will be uploaded as soon as I can grab them for you.

Hope this helps anyone else.