"Management server connection failed. Could not connect to the Management Server." and "Could not start the Sophos Management Service...". Error 0x80004005: Unspecified error

When you attempt to launch the Console the following error is displayed:

Management server connection failed
Could not connect to the Management Server.
This may be due to one of the following:
• Local network problems
• Management service has stopped on the server
• Your database service has stopped.
Either attempt to reconnect or close the application. Attempting to reconnect may take a few minutes.

Clicking 'Reconnect' fails.

And when you attempt to start the Sophos Management Service from the Windows Service Control Manager, an error is displayed:

Could not start the Sophos Management Service on Local Computer.
Error 0x80004005: Unspecified error

Known to affect the following Sophos products and versions
Enterprise Console 4.0.0
Enterprise Console 4.5.1
Enterprise Console 4.5.0
Enterprise Console 4.7.0
Sophos Enterprise Manager 4.7.0

What to do

For Enterprise Console version 4.5 (or later) or Enterprise Manager version 4.7 please first see:

For Sophos Control Center please see:

Please read the following notes carefully before you start to work through this article.

NOTES:

1. If you are running Enterprise Console with a distributed installation, i.e. the database is on a different computer to the 'Sophos Management Service', you should follow the procedure in the knowledgebase article 66224.
2. This article only applies to Enterprise Console or Enterprise Manager.  If you see this issue on Sophos Control Center please go to knowledgebase article 66222.
3. The term SOPHOSX is used in this article to refer to the name of the new database. You must replace the X with the correct version number. Please see the table below.
4. The term SOPHOSX-1 is used in this article to refer to the name of the existing database. You must replace the X-1 with the correct version number. Please see the table below.

Table of Console versions and related SOPHOS database name

* Possible upgrade path from either console version 4 (SOPHOS4) to version 4.7 or from version 4.5 to version 4.7

If the troubleshooting steps described in this article do not solve the problem, DO NOT uninstall the product. You should instead contact Sophos Technical Support for guidance. Failure to follow this instruction could compound the problem!

To troubleshoot this error work through each of the following sections in turn.

1. Is the required database service running?

1. Go to Start | Run | Type: services.msc | Press return.
2. Locate the service which represents the instance in which the Sophos database resides. This is typically named:
   SQL Server (SOPHOS)
however, the service may have a different name if you are using a custom database instance or a different version of SQL.
   • If this service is running, go to section 3.
   • If this service is not running, start this service, then go to section 2.

2. Can you restart the Sophos Management Service?

When the above service which represents the instance in which the Sophos database resides has started, try to restart the Sophos Management Service. If you

• can restart the Sophos Management Service then the problem should be resolved.
• cannot restart the Sophos Management Service, go to section 3.

3. Does the designated Sophos instance contain a SOPHOSX database?

1. At a command prompt, run the command:
   OSQL -E -S .\SOPHOS -Q "SELECT Name FROM SYSDATABASES"
   where:
   .\SOPHOS represents the local Sophos named instance.

   NOTE: To confirm that SOPHOS is the correct instance name, you can check one of the following registry keys depending on your operating system environment:

   • HKLM\Software\Sophos\EE\Management Tools\Database Installer\Instance
   • HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Sophos\EE\Management Tools\Database Installer\Instance

   In this example, the above registry key should contain SOPHOS, as this is the instance name in this example. This command should return a list of databases attached to this instance, such as: master, tempdb, model, msdb, SOPHOSX.

2. If running the command

• does not return a database named SOPHOSX you need to create a SOPHOSX database in this database instance. For details of how to do this go to section 4.
• lists a SOPHOSX database, please go to section 5.

4. Steps to create a SOPHOSX database

WARNING: Only perform this section if you have been redirected here from another section in this article.  This will drop and re-create the SOPHOSX database. If you are in any doubt please contact Sophos technical support before carrying out this section.

For instructions on manually installing the Sophos database please see: How to install the SOPHOS47 database manually

1. Once the new database has been created, test connecting to it by running the command from a command prompt:
OSQL -E -S .\SOPHOS -d SOPHOSX
   If this fails please repeat the steps in section 3 to check the SOPHOSX database exists in the database instance.
2. If this is an upgrade from a previous console version go to section 9, otherwise continue.
3. Attempt to start the Sophos Management Service.
   • If the service starts this issue is now resolved.
   • If the Sophos Management Service does not start go to section 6.

5. Check the upgrade status of the SOPHOSX database.

To establish the upgrade status:

1. Go to Start | Run Type: cmd.exe | Press return.
2. Type: OSQL -E -S .\SOPHOS -d SOPHOSX -Q "SELECT UpgradeStatus from UPGRADE"
   where:
   SOPHOSX represents the database name - see table at the beginning of this article.
   .\SOPHOS represents the local Sophos named instance.
3. This should return a value of 2 if: 
• This is a fresh install
• The upgrade from a previous version has completed successfully.
4. According to the value returned, proceed as follows
• If the returned value is 0 refer to the knowledgebase article Using upgradeDB.exe with Enterprise Console or Sophos Control Center.
• If the returned value is a "2" go to section 6.
• If this is not a 2 or 0 AND this is a fresh installation, go to section 6.
• If this is not a 2 or 0 AND it is an upgrade from a previous version, go to section 8.

6. Check the registry keys related to the database if the management service still fails to start.

1. Read the warning about editing the registry, then take a backup of the relevant key before editing it.
2. Open Regedit and depending on your operating system environment navigate to one of the following:
   • HKLM\Software\Sophos\EE\Management Tools\DatabaseUser\
   • HKLM\Software\wow6432node\Sophos\EE\ Management Tools\DatabaseUser\

3. This key contains 4 values:
   DatabaseUserDomain
   DatabaseUserName
   DatabaseUserPassword
   UseClearText

   For Enterprise Console version 3.x and 4.x, as the database in this scenario is on the same machine as the Sophos Management Service, ensure that the first three contain blank values and UseClearText is set to 0. 
   
   IMPORTANT: For Enterprise Console 5.x even when the database is on the same machine as the Sophos Management Service an account should be specified.

4. Restart the Sophos Management Service.
   • If the service starts this issue is now resolved.
   • If the service does not start, go to section 7.

7. Check the database connection string

1. Read the warning about editing the registry, then take a backup of the relevant key before editing it.
2. Open Regedit and depending on your operating system environment navigate to one of the following:
   • HKLM\Software\Sophos\EE\Management Tools\DatabaseConnectionMS
   • HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Sophos\EE\Management Tools\DatabaseConnectionMS
3. This value should enable the Sophos Management Service to locate the correct database instance and database. In the scenario where the database is on the same machine as the Sophos Management Service it should contain:
   Provider=SQLOLEDB;Integrated Security=SSPI;Initial Catalog=SOPHOSX;Data Source=[servername]\SOPHOS;
   where the values to check are:

   Initial Catalog=SOPHOSX is the name of the SOPHOS database - see table at the beginning of this article.
   Data Source=[SERVERNAME]\SOPHOS is the combination of the machine name and the database instance name.
   
   If the values in the string differs from the above, correct the string with the right database name, server name and instance name.

4. Try again to start the Sophos Management Service.
   • If the service starts this issue is now resolved.
   • If the service does not start, contact Sophos Technical Support.

8. Check the previous databases

1. Check that the previous SOPHOS database exists in the instance. For example, if the current database is SOPHOS47, you must check for the previous database,  SOPHOS45 (if upgrading from console v4.5), exists - see the table at the beginning of this article for the exact database name.
   OSQL -E -S .\SOPHOS -Q "SELECT Name from sysdatabases"
   where:
   .\SOPHOS represents the local Sophos named instance.
2. If the command returns a SOPHOSX-1 database and a SOPHOSX database attempt to upgrade the data, to do so, go to section 9.
   If the command does not list a SOPHOSX-1 database, this is not an upgrade and the previous Upgrade Status check (as tested in section 5) did not return a 2 we can safely attempt to recreate the SOPHOSX database as per section 4.

This will move the data from the existing database into the database used for the version you are upgrading to.

For instructions on upgrading the new Sophos database please see: Using the UpgradeDB.exe tool to upgrade the Sophos database

1. Once this completes it should set the UpgradeStatus in the database to a 2.
2. Check the UpgradeStatus
   • Go to Start | Run | Type cmd.exe | Press return.
   • Type: OSQL -E -S .\SOPHOS -d SOPHOSX -Q "SELECT UpgradeStatus from UPGRADE"
     where:
     SOPHOSX represents the database name - see table at the beginning of this article.
     .\SOPHOS represents the local Sophos named instance.
3. If UpgradeStatus = 2, attempt to restart the Sophos Management Services.
   If UpgradeStatus is not 2, please contact Sophos technical support mentioning this article for further guidance.