After installing the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, I noticed our portal search was no longer returning results. What was even more confusing was the error I was getting in the Event Viewer.
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Office Server Search
Event Category: Gatherer
Event ID: 2436
Date: 11/7/2008
Time: 10:29:20 AM
User: N/A
Computer: DEMO
Description:
The start address <sps3://demo.domain.com> cannot be crawled.
Context: Application 'SSP_Demo', Catalog 'Portal_Content'
Details:
Access is denied. Check that the Default Content Access Account has access to this content, or add a crawl rule to crawl this content. (0x80041205)
What really blew my mind was the fact that search worked before, I didn't change any accounts or passwords, and I sure didn't change any authentication methods. After wasting some time resetting account passwords and resetting all of my crawled content, I decided it was time to search the boards. I stumbled across this interesting Microsoft KB Article 896861, which mentions a 401.1 denied access symptom.
"This issue occurs if you install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 include a loopback check security feature that is designed to help prevent reflection attacks on your computer. Therefore, authentication fails if the FQDN or the custom host header that you use does not match the local computer name."
Microsoft gives you two methods for workarounds. I took the first, which was to disable the loopback check.
Method 1: Disable the loopback check
Follow these steps:
1. | Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. |
2. | In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa |
3. | Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. |
4. | Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER. |
5. | Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify. |
6. | In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK. |
7. | Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer. |
Low and behold, after reboot, SharePoint Search is returning results and no more warnings in my Event Viewer or Search Logs. Go figure!