I ran into a strange error recently on an Exchange 2013 server. The WWW Publishing Service was stopped. When I tried to start the service it failed on a dependency. A quick check revealed the Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) was stopped. When I tried to start WAS, I received the following error.
Windows could not start the Windows Process Activation Service service on Local Computer. Error 13: The data is invalid.
The Event Viewer was littered with equally cryptic Event IDs, such as WAS 5005 and WAS 5036.
Not the first time
I’ve actually encountered an error like this before. I am not sure what causes it. But evidently, something in Internet Information Services (IIS) becomes corrupt. Thankfully this blog from GrinGod jogged my memory. It all came flooding back.
The applicationHost.config file was messed up. For me, the file was completely empty. Not a line of code to be found.
Luckily IIS takes backups that can be found in C:\INETPUB\HISTORY. Under here you will see several folders with a prefix of CFGHISTORY. The folder with the highest revision number will be your latest backup. Copy this file and overwrite the existing file at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\INETSRV\CONFIG.
Once the file has been replaced start the WAS service.
If WAS starts successfully then you should be able to start the WWW Publishing Service. If that starts successfully, then you can restore all Exchange Web Services.
Have you run into this problem? Maybe something similar? Do you know what causes this? Drop a comment below and let me know how you fixed it.
G.T. says
It solved my problem
Thanks
Blogging academy says
Very helpful and it’s work for me….keep posting. Thank you…!!!
Ravi says
Thanks a lot, its work for me 🙂
Dr. Strangelove says
Works, thanks! Had to use a shadow copy tho.
AZAD says
It solved my problem in two minutes. Thank a lot.
Alyosha says
THX it worked for me.
Marcelo says
it worked for me!!!
windows 2008 r2 +exchange 2013, replacing this file, the was service has started normally.
tanks!
Mahesh Keshav Dalavi says
Great !!!! it worked for me. my exchange server was not starting and i replace the applicationconfig file and all is well now.
Boris says
Worked for me! Many thanks.
Pollemanden says
Did not work for me, but this one did:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/315841e1-b8b2-4084-8224-580ef3d13420/upgrade-to-windows-10-1709-iis-fails?forum=win10itprosetup
Albert says
Did not work for me, any other ideas………anybody?
mayzrane says
Thank you very much it works for me 🙂
Brett G says
Fantastic, thanks so much. Even though my file appeared to be the same size as the backed up version, copying it over fixed the problem
himanshu says
Thanks a lot it solved mine, Why this happens. how to prevent this issue.
Rasmus says
Im in a hurry but i’ll just have to thank you:
I love you! THANK YOU!!
Saved my day.
Jason says
I’ve had this happen 3 times over the last 3 months now. I wonder what is corrupting the config file.
Gareth Gudger says
Hey Jason,
Strange behavior like this is often antivirus. Do you have antivirus running on that server? If so, make sure you have all the exclusions in place for Exchange.
Tito says
Thanks man!
AD says
This helped me fix my exchange issues 🙂 Thanks
sujil says
thanks a lot sir
Rick says
Gareth, thank you! I’m still working on my particular problem but this article helped get me over at least one hurdle. Kudos!
Gareth Gudger says
Glad to be of service. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. 🙂
Bobby says
What if the history in the inetpub is empty?
Gareth Gudger says
Hey Bobby. I can’t say I have run into that situation yet. I have always had several versions of the Config in the History folder. Without researching, and off the top of my head, I would suspect you would be restoring the history files from backup.
Andy S says
Kudos Sir. That post dug me out of a hole very quickly when I just could work out what was wrong. Many thanks.
Gareth Gudger says
Glad to be of service! Be sure to check out the other articles on the site.
blackpanteraxxx says
Thank you very much it works for me 🙂
Gareth Gudger says
Glad to help!
GPS says
Thank you Gareth! My client’s SBS 2011 server failed trying to run “fix my network” and adding a SSL certificate. Tried many other fixes with no luck. Tried your fix and everything that was failing is now working. Saved me much troubleshooting time.