How to enable network DTC access in Windows Server 2003

This article describes the procedure that you follow to enable network Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) access in Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

Note The following procedure is for Windows Server 2003. It does not apply to Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.

By default, network DTC access is disabled on the Windows Server 2003 products that are mentioned in the "Applies To" section. When you do not enable network DTC access on the server, applications can only use transactions that stay on the local computer. For example, transactions cannot flow from a local computer to a database that runs on a separate computer if network DTC access is disabled.

When network DTC access is disabled, clients that try to gain access to DTC on the server may receive the following error message: For more information about how to configure DTC on a Windows Server 2003 cluster, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Steps to enable network DTC access

1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. Select Application Server, and then click Details.
4. Select Enable network DTC access, and then click OK.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Finish.

If you are running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), you must follow these additional steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type comexp.msc, and then click OK to open Component Services.
2. Expand Component Services, expand Computers, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. On the MSDTC tab, click Secuity Configuration under Transaction Configuration, click to select the Network DTC Access check box under Secuity Settings, and then click to select the following check boxes under Transaction Manager Communication:
   • Allow Inbound
   • Allow Outbound
4. On Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) clusters, you cannot select Mutual Authentication Required. Therefore, click to select one of the following check boxes:
   • Incoming Caller Authentication Required
   • No Authentication Required
   Note For more information about these options, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   899191  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899191/ ) New functionality in the Distributed Transaction Coordinator service in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and in Windows XP Service Pack 2
5. Make sure that the Logon Account is set to NTAUTHORITY\NetworkService.
6. Click OK. A message box explains that the MS DTC Service will be stopped and restarted, and that all dependent services will also be stopped and restarted. Click Yes.
   
   Note If this is a Majority Node Set (MNS) cluster, do not use the MNS resource as the storage device for MS DTC. MS DTC requires a storage resource such as a physical disk.

For more information about what is new in Microsoft COM+ 1.5, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site: