how do i clear this error ID: 421 in SBS 2003 (photo included)

Read the solution here
 
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24336122/WSUS-broken-error-421-connection-to-database-failed.html?cid=236&anchorAnswerId=24181054#a24181054 

There are some more suggestions here
https://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=421&eventno=5983&source=Windows%20Server%20Update%20Services&phase=1 

also
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24176448/WSUS-Corrupted-on-SBS-Cannot-open-databse-SUSDB-requested-by-the-login.html

i am running SBS 2003 SP1 here is a snapshot of what i have installed.

i just got thrown into this whole SBS 2003 managment thing at my company. so i am not to psyched on making changes that will cause issues.  If i uninstall and reinstall WSUS will there be such issues? do you need more info to be able to tel me?
untitled.bmp

Lets start small, try this first

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24176448/WSUS-Corrupted-on-SBS-Cannot-open-databse-SUSDB-requested-by-the-login.html

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24336122/WSUS-broken-error-421-connection-to-database-failed.html?cid=236&anchorAnswerId=24181054#a24181054
https://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=421&eventno=5983&source=Windows%20Server%20Update%20Services&phase=1 
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/24176448/WSUS-Corrupted-on-SBS-Cannot-open-databse-SUSDB-requested-by-the-login.html

i tried all of those already and none worked i still continue to get the error after i stop and restart the service

Thank you though

Ok, yes then lets uninstall and reinstall.

ohhh sorry i misplaced one of those the only one i have not tried is reinstalling wsus but i would like an answer to weather or not it will F*** all my S*** up on next reboot, i dont want that since i am new to this. I also do not think anyone has ever backed this up or done any maintenance whatsoever since 11_02_07.  yeah this is my life lol

LOL,
 
This will help you thru the reinstall
 
http://www.qualitysystemssolutions.com/2008/12/wsus-30-sp1-on-sbs-2003.html 
 

also i am being asked by the OS to restart the server due to installation updates and me resizing the page file due to previous low disk space error.  I also have through movecontent in the wsusutil moved the WSUS data to the D: partition.  SHould i do this prior to removing and reinstalling WSUS 3.0.  My database at the moment is still located on the C: partition or so it seems. all the update files for WSUS are on the D partition.  I am not sure if i even need wsus or why its on here.  can you help me figure out if i need it.  I have 10-15 client laptops on this server all sharing files and working together.  does wsus even do anything
thank you in advance for being patient with my noob questions i just DO NOT want to screw things up or make them worse

WSUS is your central location/utility for keeping both your servers and clients up to date with windows updates. When you uninstall you can select to delete the database and wsuscontent.
We'll get you thru this :-)

now when i reformat a client computer like i have been doing and then joining a user to the domain (in my case domain = WESTOVER-CAL) your telling me that every update is downloaded and stored by my server under the WSUS folder until a client logs on and the server sees that they need a particular update so it pushes the update down to the client is this right so far.  Now having said this if true can i just disable this piece of software (WSUS) since all of these client computers are laptops and are typically not in the office nor need to be in the office.  There are 3 laptops that never leave the office i.e. project manager, boss, secretary pc's and if all this wsus is doing is getting updates for those three pc's it seems unnecesarry to store all that data on my server. what do you think?

Only if you configured the gpo settings to use wsus, otherwise regular windows updates has been being used. I guess it will be basically up to the IT department(is that you?) whether or not to implement Wsus. Wsus can be configured to either download and store updates on the server or to have the clients download them from the internet(microsoft).

yes that unfortunatley is now me and i do believe that whoever installed this had no idea what they were doing not to be crass, but everything was installed on a 20GB c:\ partition and just left to grow and grow and grow.  I have in the past few days  been slowly migrating what i can to the D: partition, so far that is only the wsus directory since it is 5GB right now and i was having issues with low disk space. But ya i just  unwillingly got a promotion, lol, should i ask for a raise? j/k.  I have not configured anything how do i know if i have set GPO settings to use wsus.  I can tell you that in the past few days those pc's i mentioned (3 in the office) i have personally reformated and reassigned to the domain so, and i am guessing here, no i have not set gpo to use wsus they seem to just be using windows update website as far as i know. thank you so much by the way

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /s
 
Will tell you if there is a GPO configured
 
Have a look here for help with your drive space issue
http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/bootdrivesize.asp 

here is screenshot
untitled.bmp

http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/bootdrivesize.asp

hell ya this helped me understand alot i read and was able to sucesfully move wsus folder and exchsrvr to a new partition the logs and database i was waiting to make a backup before i moved unless you think i can do this with no issues and backup afterwards. (ya keep in mind i just confirmed that there is no backup all the other admin was doing was copying the files we use on a daily basis to an external harddrive. lol god damn the deeper i get into this the scarier it seems to be getting

The screen shot confirms that there is a gpo for wsus, if you dont plan on using wsus you will need to change/remove this.


How to configure automatic updates by using Group Policy or registry settings

before i change/remove, now that you know a little more about what my server does and who uses it can you answer a few questions.
I sucesfully rebooted the server and installed all 33 security updates that were pending, rebooting also confirmed the changes i made to the paging file which saved alot of space on my OS HDD thanks to  the earlier instructions you provided. (I am happy lol) Now that i have done this i plan to finish moving my log files and my databse files to my D:\ partition.

Do you recommend using WSUS? .  It seems like a good service that will benefit me in the long run if the company does in fact start to expand faster than 1-2 employees per year.  Also if i do decide to use it i will go through the necesarry steps to completley remove from my server (i.e. )and then reinstall 3.0 like you have instructed earlier.  Once i do this how do i now get everyone elses laptop that is not in the office on board with my changes and stop them from downloading updates on their own?

What does the folder that has the files for SUSDB contain, is that also wsus or is this my database if not the database then where is that located and do you have any documentation explaining what it is and how it works?  (noob question i know but i'd rather learn to see than be blind if you know what i mean)

Also is there any documentation on security.  Like i said earlier, i have no idea who or how this server was set up. I am looking for some documentation on finding/fixing security holes or coreecting permissions or a place to start so i can dive into that and make sure our data is secure.

I also have a question relating to permissions.  I have a client laptop, i join themto the server, i add a shared folder with their name on it. I then go into the sharing permissions for that folder and add the user i just created so he is the only one with full control over that folder. This has never worked for me, they always say that they cannot access folder. So ultimatley my fix is to make it available to everyone. Any thoughts?

dude, you are amazing! thanks again. I believe you have answered enough to get me started for now.  I also plan on subscribing to this forum (i am on free trial now) thanks to your immediate response and help in this matter. I am not sure if me signing up as a result of your actions on this forum helps you out at all, but thank you very much for all of your expertise.

very quick response time, within minutes! very pleased with expert dstewartjr's he is the reason i will be buying a subscription!