When attempting to open up the PXE Configuration Utility, the following error message is displayed:

Cause 1: The Altiris PXE Manager service is not able to communicate with the Altiris Deployment Server DB Management service. This communication issue can be caused by the "Allow encrypted sessions" being disabled in the Deployment Server Control Panel applet. This can also be caused by timeout issues when the two services take an excessive amount of time to connect.

Cause 2: The port that the Axengine uses to accept communications has been changed from the default of 402, and the PXE Manager is still trying to connect to the server on port 402. The Altiris PXE Manager service requires a connection to the Deployment Server axengine on TCP port 402. If the "Connection" options are used to allow or block any IP's or subnets they check to make sure that the DS is allowed, not blocked or rejected based on subnet or IP address this will cause PXE Manager to not fully function.

Cause 3: The MMAccessKey (Middle Man Access Key) is not correctly authenticating to the Deployment Server security key. The failure to authenticate will show this error message.

Cause 4: PXE Manager logging is enabled and has grown too large.

Cause 5: The PXE Manager was not installed correctly or is corrupted.

Cause 6: The logon account used by the "Altiris Deployment Server DB Management" and, or "Altiris PXE Manager" services does not have administrator rights to the local computer the services are running on.

Cause 7: The IP address of the Deployment Server has been filtered out.

Cause 8: The PXE Manager has been re-installed which can reset the credentials for the PXE Manager service to use the local system account.

Cause 9: Incorrect UNC path in the PXEManager.ini file.

Cause 10: Incorrect IP address showing in the pxemanager.ini

Cause 11: The PXE Configuration Utility (pxeconfig.exe) does not have access to read the registry value ServiceInstallPath in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris eXpress\Options\ or the key or value don't exist.

Steps to resolution for cause 1

1. Verify that the encrypted sessions is enabled by going to Start > Control Panel > Altiris Deployment Server > Options > Transport, and making sure that the option "Allow Encrypted Sessions" is enabled.
   
2. After checking this option and clicking on Apply and then OK, you will need to restart the following services:
   • Altiris eXpress Server
   • Altiris Deployment Server DB Management
   • Altiris PXE Manager
3. Wait for about five minutes for all of these services to perform their startup routines against the database, then attempt to open the PXE Configuration Utility again. This will avoid any timeout issues from occurring after restarting the services.   

 

Steps to resolution for cause 2

1. Open PXEManager.ini in the .\Deployment Server\PXE directory.
2. Go to the [PXEServer\Shared\DS] section of the .ini file and find the entry "DSServerPort."  Change this value to equal the value  of the "TCP Port" in the Altiris Deployment Server Control Panel applet.
   
3. Restart the PXEManager Service.
4. Open the PXE configuration utility.

Steps to resolution for cause 3

First you need to determine if the problem is truly being caused by the MMAccessKey not authenticating correctly with the Deployment Server. If in the PXE Manager log file (which can be enabled in the PXEManager.ini file) it shows "failure" after an authentication, then this is most likely the cause. You can also verify that this is the cause with the PXE key match utility. (See the linked article KB 179613.) This utility will show if the keys are matching or not, and it can also regenerate the MMAccessKey.ini file if they are not matching.

Steps to resolution for cause 4

Delete the PxeLog_Manager.Txt file on the Deployment Server before trying to open the PXE Configuration Utility. Once the PXE Configuration Utility opens successfully, choose the Data Logs tab and disable logging. 

Steps to resolution for cause 5

When the above steps do not resolve the issue, and the PXE Manager log file does not show any failures or errors, then the installation most likely was corrupted or not completed successfully. When this occurs you will generally need to reinstall the PXE Manager and PXE server. (See the linked article KB 181140.)

In some cases even after a full and complete reinstall the issue can persist. In this case it was found that other software on the system was conflicting with the install. You can remove any possible other software conflicts by first completely un-installing PXE Manager and PXE Server (as per the above knowledgebase article), but then before reinstalling disabling all other software temporarily.

This can be done by running Start > Run, type in "msconfig". Go to the Services tab, check the box that says Hide all Microsoft services, and then click on Disable All. Then go to the Startup tab and click on Disable All. Then click on Apply and OK. This will prompt for a reboot, which is needed for these changes to take place.

After reinstallation of PXE is complete you will want to go back into msconfig and re-enable all of the services and startup programs that were previously disabled, and then reboot the server one last time.

Note: It has been noted that within the PXEmanager.ini, the entry CurrentLockHolder="172.17.51.130" needs to be deleted.

 

Steps to resolution for cause 6

 1. Open the "Services" console.
 
 2 Right click on "Altiris Deployment Server DB Management", select "Properties" and then "Log On"
 
 3. Examine the log on account and verify if that account (if not set to "Local System Account") has local administrator rights. If not then add the account to the local administrators group.
 
 4. Perform the same steps for the "Altiris PXE Manager" service.
 

Steps to resolution for cause 7

 

 

The IP address of the server must be allowed for the PXE Manager utility to connect to Deployment Solution.

To check if connection filtering is enabled, navigate to Start > All Programs > Altiris > Deployment Solution > Configuration and choose Options and then the Connections tab.

Ensure the IP Address of the Deployment Solution server is allowed.

 

 

Steps to resolution for cause 8

 

 

Change the PXE Manager service account to use a service account and restart the PXE services.

 

Steps to resolution for cause 9

 

 

In the PXEManager.ini, change the following line from the UNC path to the actual directory path.

From:

     DataStorePath=\\<DSServerName>\<eXpressShare>

To:

     DataStorePath=C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\PXE

 

 

Stop the Altiris PXE Config Helper service, re-start the Altiris PXE Manager service, then start the PXE Config Helper service.

Steps to resolution for cause 10

In the PXEManager.ini, make sure the DSServerIP line is correct. If it isn't then stop the pxe manager service, make the change in the pxemanager.ini file and save the changes, then restart the service.

Steps to resolution for cause 11

If the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris eXpress\Options and value ServiceInstallPath exist, verify that the user launching the PXE Configuration Utility has permission to access the key and value. If the key or value do not exist, either compare against a working PXE Manager to create the registry settings, or reinstall the PXE Manager and verify the registry keys and values are created. If they are not created, confirm the installing user has permission to write to the registry.