Sophos

Online support

Product maintenance

Contact support

Support services

Sophos Anti-Virus SBE, version 2.x: opening Sophos Control Center displays error

When you attempt to open the Sophos Control Center, version 2.0, the following error is displayed:

Sophos Control Center could not contact the component that downloads the latest updates from Sophos

When you click 'Advanced', the following text is displayed:

The error detected was:
Could not create EMLibrary proxy instance

The context of the failure is:
The last HR was .......

What to do

To troubleshoot this error, work through each of the following 3 procedures in turn.

1. Ensure that you have the latest versions of Sophos software installed

Check that your software is up to date, if it is not, you should update it. (If it is not up to date, refer also to Knowledgebase article 22518)

2. Check that your account properties are correct

This problem is caused by the account that was created during installation. It is possible that the password for this account has expired or the account does not have sufficient privileges to perform the required tasks

Complete the following procedure to check the properties of the account.

Check the properties of the account

On the computer on which Sophos Control Center is installed

  1. Open Windows Control Panel, and select 'Administrative Tools'. Do one of the following:
    • If you can see 'Active Directory Users and Computers', select this, and then from the tree select 'Users'.
    • If you cannot see 'Active Directory Users and Computers', select 'Computer Management', and then from the tree select 'Local Users and Groups'|'Users'.
  2. Double-click 'Sophos_AU_Server' account, and select the Account tab.
  3. Ensure that 'User must change password at next logon' is deselected.
  4. Ensure that the 'Account expires' radio button is set to 'Never'.

After you have completed this procedure, if you still experience difficulties when you attempt to open Sophos Control Center, carry out the following procedure to change the account that the software uses.

Change the account that the software uses

Sophos recommends you use the Administrator account.

  1. Click Start/Run.
  2. Type DCOMCNFG:
    • In Windows XP/2003,
      • in the 'Component Services' window, select 'Component Services|Computers|My Computer|DCOM Config'
      • locate the smtemlib icon
      • right-click the icon and select 'Properties'
    • In Windows 2000,
      • a DCOM Configuration warning is displayed. Select 'DCOM Configuration Properties|Applications'
      • browse through the list to 'smtemlib'
      • click 'smtemlib' and select 'Properties'
  3. Select the Identity tab and change the credentials so that they reflect the administrator account.
  4. Once completed, reopen the Control Center.

3. Check that your shared folders are correctly named

  1. Browse to C:\Program Files\Sophos\SCC\
  2. Right click on the Library folder and select 'Sharing and Security'.
  3. Ensure that the share name for the folder is 'Sophos'.
  4. If not, rename it to 'Sophos' then go to step 8.
  5. If it is called Sophos, unshare it.
  6. Then reshare the folder again, as 'Sophos'.
  7. Click on the 'Permissions' button and give 'Everyone' full control.
  8. Now re-open the Control Centre. This time you should not get the error message.

If the above steps do not fix the error, refer to knowledgebase article 34601.

If you need more information or guidance, then please contact technical support.