PCM Appears Blank on Startup When "Offer After" Not Expired
Article ID: 149683
Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q149683
SYMPTOMS
The Windows Package Command Manager (PCM) may display itself with a blank
list of package items when initialized. Everything appears to operate
normally, but the user may not understand why PCM displayed itself when
there are no packages available to install.
CAUSE
If a package is distributed to a client, regardless of the value of the
"offer after" time/date, PCM will consider the package to be in a pending
state.
The behavior listed above will occur when there are no other packages
pending that have expired "offer after" time/dates. PCM will read the
client's instruction (*.ins) file during initialization and during its
scheduled polling intervals. If it detects that there are packages pending,
it will display its window.
PCM will then enumerate the packages listed in the client's INS file, and
if the "offer after" date has expired, it will display the packages in the
window. If no packages have expired "offer after" time/dates, the PCM
window will appear blank.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server
versions 1.0 and 1.1. This problem was corrected in Systems Management
Server version 1.2.
Additional query words: prodsms
Keywords: kbnetwork kbpcm KB149683