SQL Server Configuration Manager Cannot Connect to WMI Provider

By: Manvendra Singh   |   Updated: 2011-06-08   |   Comments (19)   |   Related: > Install and Uninstall

Problem

I am getting this error message - "Cannot connect to WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2005 and later servers with the SQL Server Configuration Manager. Invalid namespace[0x80041010]" when trying to launch SQL Server Configuration Manager. I have been uninstalling some SQL Server instances on my machine. Could this have contributed to the issue? Check out this tip to learn more.

Solution

I have seen this error message ("Cannot connect to WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2005 and later servers with the SQL Server Configuration Manager. Invalid namespace[0x80041010]") when you install a 32-bit version of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 on 64-bit machine and you install an 64-bit version of SQL Server 2008 on the same machine. If you uninstall any instances you will receive the error message when you open SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Here is a screen shot of the error:

This problem occurs because the WMI provider is removed when you uninstall an instance of SQL Server 2008. The 32-bit instance and the 64-bit instance of SQL Server 2008 share the same WMI configuration file. This file is located in the %programfiles(x86)% folder.

The WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) provider is a published layer that is used with the SQL Server Configuration Manager snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and the Microsoft SQL Server Configuration Manager. It provides a unified way for interfacing with the API calls that manage the registry operations requested by SQL Server Configuration Manager and provides enhanced control and manipulation over the selected SQL Server services. The SQL Server WMI Provider is a DLL and a MOF file, which are compiled automatically by SQL Server Setup.

Microsoft SQL Server provides the WMI Provider for Configuration Management. This lets you use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to manage SQL Server services, SQL Server client and server network settings, and server aliases. SQL Server services, network settings, and aliases are represented by WMI objects in the root\Microsoft\SqlServer\ComputerManagement10 namespace of the computer. After a connection is established with the WMI provider on the specified computer, the services, network settings, and aliases can be queried using WQL or a scripting language.

To fix this problem, type the following in a Command Prompt window and then press ENTER:

mofcomp "%programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof"

Note: For this command to succeed, the sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof file must be present in the %programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared folder. If you do not see this file in above location then you can search this for this file on that server and then you can refer the new location in the command above.

Next Steps

• If you run into this issue, use the command above in order to use the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
• If possible, when uninstalling a SQL Server instance on a machine with multiple instances, try to keep the shared files during uninstallation.
• Check out these related tips:
  • SQL Server Install and Uninstall Tips
  • SQL Server Service Packs and Patches Tips

About the author

Manvendra Singh has over 5 years of experience with SQL Server and has focused on Database Mirroring, Replication, Log Shipping, etc.

This author pledges the content of this article is based on professional experience and not AI generated.

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