A SharePoint Portal Server 2003 database upgrade fails, and you do not receive an error message

When you try to upgrade a database in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, the upgrade fails. Additionally, you do not receive an error message.

The database upgrade may fail for several reasons. These reasons include the following:

• The database is unavailable.
• The portal site is in a bad state.
• The host header is not correctly configured.

Note A database upgrade may fail for other reasons.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SharePoint Portal Server\2.0\SPSDatabaseUpdate
3. Right-click UpdateRequired, click Modify, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
4. Right-click UpdateComplete, click Modify, type 0 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor.
6. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
7. Right-click SharePoint Portal Administration, and then click Restart.
8. Quit the Services snap-in.

When you restart the SharePoint Portal Administration service, the SharePoint Portal Administration service will try to upgrade the database again.

This behavior is by design.

All SharePoint Portal Server 2003 hotfixes and service packs that are released after Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) will try to upgrade the databases and portal sites. However, if the upgrade fails, you do not receive an error message. When the upgrade fails, an event that is similar to the following is logged in the Application event log:

Attempted to apply update to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal sites.
Number of portal sites: value
Number of portal sites attempted: value
Number of portal sites successfully updated: value
Not run: value

Note In the event, value is replaced by the actual value.

You can find more detailed information in the portal diagnostic logs.