WindowsUpgrade broke PDF-generation?

After the latest updates from WindowsUpdate were installed (automatically) on our Win2K/IIS, DynamicPDF doesn't work anymore:

Server object error 'ASP 0177 : 8000ffff'

Server.CreateObject Failed

/test/Examples/Generator/ASP/HelloWorld.asp, line 8

8000ffff

I used to use V3.01, but as PDF-generation was broken this morning, I tried installing V4.0.0
Didn't help...

I (perhaps blindly, suggested by googling on "Server.CreateObject Failed" on other objects) tried to

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\ceTe Software\DynamicPDF v4.0.0 for COM Community Edition\bin\DPAsm.dll"

This got me the error: ...DynamicPDF.dll was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found.
This file can not be registered.

(Luckily, I still have the old non-pdf version of Invoice printing available, otherwise our packing department would be more annoyed than they are right now... )

Leif

Well, a blind hen can find a corn too, if you know that saying...

Tried manually running Installv2.0.50727.bat in the C:\Program Files\ceTe Software\DynamicPDF v4.0.0 for COM Community Edition\bin directory. It runs
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\regasm DynamicPDF.dll /codebase /tlb

Now DynamicPDF works again...

And now it is broken again.

Running the installer again doesn't help.

What Can I do to debug/give you more info?

Leif

Hi we have the same issue !!

Please help !

Hello,

Can you please let us know what exactly you mean by "it broke again"? Does the application stop working? What operating system are you using? After registering the DLL file, are you able to run the VBScript examples? That will help us ensure if the DLL files are registered correctly.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

We are using a Windows Server 2003.

The problem is that this line

Set MyDocument = Server.CreateObject( "DynamicPDF.Document" )
return an error Server.CreateObject Failed 8000ffff

I used DynamicPDF since tomorrow and it works correctly. But yesterday I made some Windows update and now It doesn't work.

It seems that windows have unregistred the dll but if I try to register dll another time it doesn't work anyway..

Please let us know.. best regards

By "It broke again", I mean I again get the error

Server object error 'ASP 0177 : 8000ffff'

Server.CreateObject Failed

/test/Examples/Generator/ASP/HelloWorld.asp, line 8

8000ffff

As you can see, it fails in your HelloWorld example.

(Btw, it would be good, if people signed with their name, as appearently 2-3 people already have posted their trouble in this forum, besides the ceTe-person)

Leif

Hello,

Do the VBScript examples work for you or not? Are you using Windows Server 2003 on a 64 bit machine? What windows update did you perform and what version of .NET framework are you using?

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Hello Leif,

What changes have you made after it started working for you again? After registering the DLL file manually using the RegAsm utility, can you restart IIS once and also check and see if VBScript examples work fine, so that we know if the DLL file was registered correctly.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

System Windows server 2003 32bit
.Net Framework 2.0

These are the last update that we had done:

  Title = Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB936181)
  Title = Security Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB936782)
  Title = Security Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB921503)
  Title = Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - August 2007 (KB890830)
  Title = Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 6.0 and Microsoft XML Core Services 6.0 Service Pack 1 (KB933579)
  Title = Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 (KB937143)
  Title = Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 (KB938127)
  Title = Security Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB936021)

The examples doesn't work.

Andrea

Hello Andrea,

It looks like the DLL file is not registered since the VBScript examples are not working. Can you run the Installv2.0.50727.bat file located in the bin folder, and then restart IIS and then try running the VBScript examples and ASP examples and see if the error continues to occur? Also make sure that you have sufficient permissions (Read and execute) on the DLL file.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

I have just tried all.. and It doesn't work.

Hello,

At this point, we are not exactly sure what could be causing the error since everything was working fine until doing Windows Update. I would recommend you to back trace and try uninstalling the windows updates and then try registering the DLL files once again and see if that does solve the problem. The COM product seems to be working fine on Windows 2003 Server on our end.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

we have same problem.
I tried all, but still doesn't working.

HELP !!!!

We using the Windows 2003/ IIS6 / .NET Framework 2.0.
It have worked very well, but all of sudden ( actually after run the windows update) it doesn't work.

we got same error message.
006~ASP 0177~Server.CreateObject Failed~8000ffff

so, we re-register dll again, but still doesn't work.

Please help..

HJ

We have the same error - it's brought our production department to a crawl as all servers auto-updates and killed this component.

Are you guys close to haveing a fix or work-around? None of the above suggestions worked and we are dead in the water.

Thanks,

AK

Hello,

Does the VBScript example run or not after registering the DLL again? Can you try registering the DLL file manually from command prompt using the RegAsm utility of the .NET Framework 2.0 and see if that solves the problem for you?

We will try to run those windows updates on the Windows 2003 server and see if we are able to reproduce the same behavior.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

No manual re-registration helped.
Neither re-installation of DynamicPDF.

My last option is to generate the pdf's on php running under linux.

Hello,

We are not able to recreate the problem. We are working on trying to recreate it. The examples on our live site are running on Windows Server 2003 and I also checked that the server did have windows update done.

According to you the VBScript examples also do not work after registering the DLL files and reinstalling the product?

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Re-registering worked but it kept un-registering so I built a script to do it and set up a taks to do it every 10 minutes. That worked for about a day - now re-registering doesn't fix the problem. Why don't you guys contact one of us so you can inspect a broken box? You can reach me at alex.kasper (-at-) gmail (-dot-) com.

AK

Re-register doesn't work for us.

But we have a server with all the update done that doesn't give any problem and another one that give the problem with DynamicPdf

I hope you can Give us a solution..

Regards Andrea

Hello Andrea,

It is strange that it works fine on one machine with all updates and does not work for another machine with the same windows updates. It appears to be a permission issue. Can you please call customer service and explain to them that you need to speak to support about this issue on our forum?

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Yeah - it's going on 6 days strange and you guys haven't offered any suggestions.

Do you realize how serious this is? It's causing huge problems in production for anyone who uses your component. From the messages here, it seems like you're not that concerned. No patches, suggestions, and it's obvious no one did any work over the weekend.

Sorry if this is caustic, but seriously guys - what is the problem? This needs to get fixed or you're going to get a nasty reputation and developers will start using products like <a href="http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/creator/">Foxit Creator</a> instead of ceTe and leave you in the dust.

Please step up!

Hello,

We would definitely like to help you resolve this problem but at this point nothing within our product likely seems to be causing the problem. The problem appears to be with the permissions on the DLL file.

After you tried reinstalling the product and registering the DLL file again, can you please try running the sample VBScript example downloaded with the product. The example will be located in the Examples folder. Double click on HelloWorld.vbs file and see if it creates a PDF file in that same folder. If the PDF is generated, the problem is related to permissions and if the file does not get created then the DLL file is not registered correctly.

Can you please call customer service and explain to them that you need to speak to support about this issue on our forum?

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Hello,

We have not been able to recreate the behavior on our end so far. Our Support Team is actively working with customers one on one to fix this issue. If you would like to receive one on one support, please email our Support Team and they will be able to keep proper track of things you have tried and steps that can be taken that will likely fix the problem.

The issue has been resolved for couple of customers by registering the DLL file again using the RegAsm utility and then restarting the server.

If anyone else has found a solution that fixes the problem, kindly please post the steps undertaken to fix it.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

If it's a permission issue, what should the permissions be?

Leif

Hello Leif,

Make sure that the user identity (typically "IUSR_MACHINE" or "ASPNET") you are logged in with has at least “Read & Execute” permissions on the DLL file.

Also you will have to check the permissions on the registry entries created for DynamicPDF objects when registering the DLL file. Make sure that the IUSR_XXX user account has permissions to access our product. This user will typically need “Read” permission.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Anyone solved this problem?

FYI

It maybe same problem?
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=294241

OKAY -- That's it.

If you have a Windows 2003 Server box with Internet Explorer 7, that's what caused the problem: IE7.

The fix: Remove service pack KB937143.

- Go to add remove programs.
- Check the "Show updates" box at the top
- Scroll down to Internet Explorer 7
- Find and select KB937143
- Click "Remove" (You may get a warning - ignore it)
- Restart the server.

Microsoft is aware of this problem and will probably release a patch soon to cover the orginal patch issue in IE7, but this gets it working again.

AK

Yup! Works for me :-)
Tnx

Leif

Hello,

As noted, it looks like this issue is related to a cumulative security update for Microsoft Internet Explorer (specifically 937143).  Applying this update (or having Microsoft Automatic Updates applying it for you) seems to disrupt ASP pages that use COM components which utilize .NET COM InterOp.  It is worth noting here that this is not directly related to our DynamicPDF Generator for COM/Active’s use of .NET COM InterOp but rather any use of this technology.

The issue seems to occur on Windows Server 2003 machines with Internet Explorer 7 installed. The resolution of removing this security patch has seemed to fix the issue in all the reported cases so far. This security update for the above OS and IE combination (Win 2003 and IE 7) has an aggregate security rating of "Low" so removing security update should not be of major concern (source: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-045.mspx).

That being said, we were unable to find an official recognition or suggested solution directly from Microsoft on the issue. The issue was posted to the Microsoft Visual Studio Product Team (http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=294241) but that post was directed to the Internet Explorer blog. We would expect that Microsoft will recognize and fix this issue.

Note here that Microsoft’s Automatic Updates may continue attempting to install this update. While we can not officially recommend turning off your Automatic Updates you may consider more manual monitoring of your machines updates until Microsoft releases a long term solution.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

I am having this problem as well - has a solution been found?

Hello,

Kindly refer to the message posted in the same thread on "Aug 21 2007" at "4:43 PM" that list the steps to follow to fix the problem.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

That's all very well but i'm not keen on uninstalling securoty patches.

Hello,

There is nothing within our product that is causing this behavior. At this point the only work around to solve the problem is by uninstalling the security update (specifically 937143).

As stated in one of the earlier posts, the issue seems to occur on Windows Server 2003 machines with Internet Explorer 7 installed. Uninstalling the security patch has fixed the issue in all the reported cases so far. This security update for the above OS and IE combination (Win 2003 and IE 7) has an aggregate security rating of "Low" so removing security update should not be of major concern (source: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-045.mspx).

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Is the problem this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906294/

The use of monikers is no longer supported in Internet Explorer after installing the security updates provided by cumulative security update 896727 (MS05-038)

Hello,

The problem does not likely appear to be related to the monikers because the problem is with the security update (specifically 937143) that gets installed on Windows 2003 machines that have IE7 installed. The issue has been reported to Microsoft and we are waiting to receive suggested solution to this problem.

Following is the link to the post on Microsoft web site which has been verified by several users experiencing the same problem: (http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=294241

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Hi guys, as a developer I can confirm this issue. We're having the same problem. It doesn't seem like a fix is available yet, or even that the problem is properly recognized by Microsoft.

Have you had any further experiences with this?

Hello,

We have not received any official updates from Microsoft on this issue. We also do not have any specific timeline on when this will be addressed.

This issue has been reported to Microsoft and the discussion can be found on (http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=294241). Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find Community Discussion section. There are few recommendations made by developers that seem to have fixed the problem for them in the discussion.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

who needs ie7 on a server anyway? thanks for the solution. my component is working 100% now (and according to the solution - it always has been working 100%)

Looks like this one has reared it's ugly head again.  This time it's this update. Which is an update to the last update that broke the COM objects. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-057.mspx

Yep me too again.

Trying to uninstall IE7 now

Leif

Removing (and banning installation of IE7) helped.

Leif

Yeah -- it has come back. This time it's KB944533 that's the culprit. Remove it and it starts working again.

Sure uninstalling IE7 will probably fix it, but I use WSUS for all my servers and this means we have to create a special update group just for THAT server.

Any idea when the root cause will be fixed?

I suppose just banning IE7 will work, but that's shoddy work -- when can we fix this for real?

AK

At this point there has been no updated comment from Microsoft on either an admission of the problem or an official workaround or fix. 

We have not tried to reproduce the issue with the latest IE security patch that you mentioned (KB944533).  We will set up a similar environment to reproduce the issue and this time we will report the issue to Microsoft directly.

Unfortunately, because the root cause of this issue lies on the side of Microsoft, all we can do is continue to report it to them and hope that they will acknowledge and resolve it.

We will add additional comments to the forum if we have questions about reproducing the issue or if any new progress is made.  For now, can you send over all the specific details of the environment that you are running while getting the issue?

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

We have just received feedback from Microsoft regarding the above COM Interop issue.  At this point, they have provided us with a fix, but this fix is not yet publicly available.  We have verified that the fix provided by Microsoft does indeed resolve the issue on all our test machines here.  The fix will be made publicly available in the "near future" as KB945701.

In the meantime, if you have urgent needs to implement this fix, please contact our support staff directly for the files and instructions.  Email us at support@cete.comand refer to this forum thread.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team

Has Microsoft posted the fix yet?

Hello,

No, We are not sure about the release date. We received this from Microsoft and were told that the fix will be made publicly available in the near future as KB945701.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

I was just checking in on the status of this issue and see there is a hotfix available though it seems to be taking FOREVER for the KB article to be published.

Anyhoo, one additional comment - I just had the exact same error occur in Windows Server 2008, IIS7. Same "workaround" as well with giving the IUSR (or whoever your site is running as) Read access to HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones

After that workaround, all fixed...

Thanks, that worked for me :)

It is 2016. And I faced a similar problem. I am using ceTe.DynamicPDF.Rasterizer.40.x64 dll to convert pdf to png on windows server 2008.
The updates from Microsoft (KB3134814 and KB3141092) which is mentioned as Security update for Internet Explorer broke the DLL and the conversion to PNG started failing.

Uninstalling the windows update solved the issue. But we need to understand how an IE update can hamper a pdf conversion process.

Any inputs will be appreciated!!

Hello,

The windows update issue discussed in this forum thread is for DynamicPDF Generator for COM/ActiveX (v4.x) .

You are using a different product (DynamicPDF Rasterizer) and we have not seen this kind of issues (Windows updates breaking the dll) with Rasterizer before. Please email our support team support@cete.com with the following information so we can look into this issue further.

1. Version and build number of the Rasterizer dll. (This info can be found in the details tab of the dll file properties).

2. Code used to convert the PDF to PNG.

3. You mentioned that the conversion to PNG started failing. Please provide the details as to what exactly happened during the failure. If the dll returned an error message, please provide the complete exception message details that include stack trace. 

4. A screenshot of the Windows OS information (edition, service pack etc) of the server.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

Hello,

We have tested the latest build v2.0.0.28903 available for DynamicPDF Rasterizer and the PNGs are created correctly regardless of whether the hotfixes (KB3134814 and KB3141092) are installed or not. So this does not appear to be an issue with our product.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

Thank You. We tried to replicate the issue on our side as well. But we failed.
We dont have any idea why the conversion of pdf to PNG was failing after those updates were installed. And why it was resolved once we removed the updates from the server.
But again, using the same DLL with the same piece of code on another server which has those Microsoft updates installed is not breaking the pdf conversion.
I guess the server wasn't rebooted/something strange happened on the day when the updates were installed.
Thank you for the response. We are still struggling with this issue.

Hello,

Thanks for the update. We don’t have any other customers reporting similar issues. So it is possible that the patches did not get installed correctly the first time on your production server. Also, we recommend that you update your application to use the latest available build v2.0.0.28903 as it contains other bug fixes reported by other customers. Here are a link to the version notes. 


Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.