SMS: Can't Remote Control Windows NT Client with NWLink IPX/SPX

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This article was previously published under Q163806

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SYMPTOMS

When attempting to locate a client computer running Windows NT Workstation with NWLink IPX/SPX as the only protocol, remote control may fail with the following error:

Unable to locate <machine name>.

If the Site Properties were not configured so that remote control of Windows NT occurs over IPX, the Systems Management Server Remote Control Agent service on the client computer starts with the following error:

Failed to initialize the network.

If you attempt to start that service manually, you receive the following error:

Could not start the SMS Remote Control Agent Service on \\<machine name>. Error 2186: The service is not responding to the control function.

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CAUSE

The Inventory agent (Invwin32.exe) does not report the IPX address of clients running NWLink IPX/SPX as their only protocol. Therefore, the Systems Management Server Administrator program is unable to locate the client. The remote agent is unable to bind to the NWLink IPX/SPX protocol.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server version 1.2. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):