How to Repair SCOM Agent on Windows Computers

In this post, I will show you multiple ways to repair SCOM agents on Windows computers. These repair methods are helpful if you are experiencing problems with agents crashing, connectivity issues with the management point, etc.

An SCOM agent is a service that keeps track of a computer’s performance, health, and configuration data, gathering data for reporting and analysis. SCOM can monitor Windows, Linux, and UNIX operating systems, as well as the components of IT services installed on them.

There is no single solution for fixing troubled SCOM agents, but if the agent is not working, you must try repairing it. Repairing the agent reinstalls the files and fixes the corrupted registry entries pertaining to the SCOM agent.

Common issues encountered with faulty SCOM agents

During my consulting, I have dealt with several issues related to SCOM agents. Among the frequent problems with agents are the following:

1. The agents do not show up in the operations manager console.
2. The console displays the agents, but they are grayed out.
3. Firewalls blocking the agent communications due to TCP port 5723 being blocked.
4. The RPC server is unavailable with error 800706BA.
5. The slow network connection is causing connectivity issues for the agent.

Ways to Fix SCOM Agent Issues on Windows Computers

SCOM administrators can use one of the following methods to fix the agent issues on Windows endpoints.

• Repair SCOM agents from the Operations Console.
• Use the setup wizard to repair Operations Manager agents using MOMAgent.msi.
• Fix SCOM agents using the MOMAgent.msi command line.
• Use Repair-SCOMAgent PowerShell cmdlet.

1. Repair Operations Manager Agents using Operations Console

The easiest way to repair operations manager agents is using SCOM console. You don’t have to log in to a remote Windows computer to perform repairs; it can be done from the console itself.

To repair the SCOM agents, use an account that is a member of the Operations Manager Administrators role. In other words, this account must have administrative rights on the computer for the repair to succeed.

Here are the steps to repair the SCOM agents using Operations Console:

• Launch the SCOM console.
• Go to Administration workspace and navigate to Device Management\Agent Managed.
• Under Agent Managed section, right-click on the computer that you wish to repair the agent and select Repair.

You’ll be presented with a Repair Agents window where you must select Administrator account for SCOM agent repair. There are two options here:

• Use selected Management Server Action Account
• Other user account

The account that you specify here must have administrative rights on the computer for the repair to succeed. Select one option: Use selected Management Server Action Account or Other user account. Click Repair.

To monitor the SCOM agent repair progress on a Windows computer, open Agent Management Task Status dialog box. Here look at the status for each selected computer, it changes from Queued to Success. Success means the Operations Manager agent has been repaired successfully.

2. Using MOMAgent.msi Setup Wizard

The second method you can use to repair operations manager agent is MOMAgent.msi setup wizard. The setup wizard appears when you attempt to change the Monitoring Agent properties from Programs and Features.

On the client machine, launch the Control Panel. Click Programs and Features and right click Microsoft Monitoring agent. You get two options – Uninstall and Change. Click Change.

On the Microsoft Monitoring Agent setup wizard, click Next.

On the Program Maintenance page, select Repair, and then click Next.

On the Ready to Repair the Program page, click Install. On completing the Microsoft Monitoring Agent Setup Wizard page, click Finish.

3. Repair SCOM Agents using MOMAgent.msi Command Line

The third method to repair the SCOM agents is using the MOMAgent.msi command line. Copy the SCOM agent setup files from Operations Manager installation source to a folder on client computer.

For example, in my case the SCOM agent setup files are copied over to SCOM folder on desktop. On the client computer run the command prompt as administrator. Change the path to SCOM agent source folder. Type the below command to repair the agent.

MsiExec.exe /f {CEB9E45B-2152-4C10-A022-0825B53B632F}

You can get the uninstall string from the below registry path. Ensure you replace {CEB9E45B-2152-4C10-A022-0825B53B632F} with the key present on your machine.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

You can also repair the agent using the below command.

msiexec.exe /f MOMAgent.msi /qb

You must restart your computer after the SCOM agent repair is complete.

4. Repair-SCOMAgent PowerShell cmdlet

The Repair-SCOMAgent cmdlet repairs Operations Manager agents. Using this cmdlet is easy; launch the PowerShell on the Windows computer on which you want to repair the agent. Run the below command by substituting the DNS host name with your server name.

Get-SCOMAgent -DNSHostName "server01.prajwaldesai.com" | Repair-SCOMAgent

SCOM Agent Repair Event Logs

When you repair operations manager agents using any of the above methods, you can use the event viewer to verify the repair operation.

On the client computer check the Application Event Log to confirm it completed successfully or if it had errors while repairing the agent. When you repair the agent, the first important event ID to look for is Event 1040. It shows beginning a Windows installer transaction.

Check the next Event ID 11728. Product: Microsoft Monitoring Agent — Configuration completed successfully confirms the Microsoft Monitoring agent configuration.

Finally, check the Event ID 1035 which clearly tells us that Windows Installer reconfigured the product Microsoft Monitoring Agent. This confirms the SCOM agent has been repaired successfully.