“Windows could not start Windows Process Activation services on Local Computer. Error 193 0x1.”

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: IIS Support Blog articles.

PROBLEM AND SYMPTOMS:

Unable to start the  WAS service , fails with error

"Windows could not start Windows Process Activation services on Local Computer. Error 193 0x1."

In the event logs,we see  below error:

The Windows Process Activation Service service terminated with the following error:

Windows Process Activation Service is not a valid Win32 application.

-- "World Wide Web Publishing Service" fails to start as it dependent on WAS - Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start.

 

CAUSE  AND RESOLUTION

“not a valid Win32 application “-This message may seem confusing, but it simply means that your version of Windows isn't able to run the app since it can't understand what's in the file

Probable cause  could be the  application is for a newer or older operating system than you're running. Another is that the file itself is somehow corrupt or just incompatible with Windows.

Lets check in our case:

 

We checked the procmon and we see its unable to find the WAS service  even though  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS  key is present

 

 8:21:11.9771833 PM        wmiprvse.exe        2844        RegOpenKey        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Performance        NAME NOT FOUND        Desired Access: Read        NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE

8:21:15.4498411 PM        services.exe        692        RegOpenKey        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\StartOverride        NAME NOT FOUND        Desired Access: Query Value        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4498719 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\ServiceAccountManaged        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4498792 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Tag        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4498939 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\DependOnGroup        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 268        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4499012 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Group        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 268        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4500196 PM        services.exe        692        RegOpenKey        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\StartOverride        NAME NOT FOUND        Desired Access: Query Value        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4500493 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\ServiceAccountManaged        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4500559 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Tag        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4500706 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\DependOnGroup        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 268        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.4500779 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Group        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 268        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.5403730 PM        services.exe        692        RegOpenKey        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\StartOverride        NAME NOT FOUND        Desired Access: Query Value        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.5404042 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\ServiceAccountManaged        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

8:21:15.5404111 PM        services.exe        692        RegQueryValue        HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Tag        NAME NOT FOUND        Length: 16        NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

 

Config files C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config  files were intact

--we checked the registry and got the binary associated with WAS  %windir%\system32\inetsrv\iisw3adm.dll and found that  we  don’t see  details tab. Suspected it to corrupt

 

clipboard_image_1.png

 

--We   copied the "iisw3adm.dll" from working machine

--this fixed the issue . So issue was  due to corrupt "iisw3adm.dll". After replacing binary we were able to start the services successfully.

 

More Information:

Reinstalling the IIS metabase compatibility should be our recommended approach. But if the installation binaries themselves are corrupted,  then this is the only option we’ve got.

 

You can also use  /scanfile=file or /verifyfile         to scan the binary and check if there is any issue with that file.

/scanfile=file      This sfc option is the same as /scannow but the scan and repair is only for the specified file.

/verifyonly          This sfc command option is the same as /scannow but without repairing.

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