For Small Business Server 2003 users who do NOT want to be a Domain Controller.

[phoyer]

What Blarghie has written basically works great and thank you for that hint. The only problem is that the SBS service will reset the registry permissions just in the moment you set them.

In order to avoid that you need to go first to c:\windows\system32 and DENY access to Everyone and System, allowing only Administrators FULL ACCESS. You can than delete the task from the task list and change the registry permissions.

[navaid]

Blarghie's solution worked for me - thanks very much. And thank-you to Paft for starting off this thread in the first place.

[outer_orbit]

This works for me, however if I try add the sbs machine as a client on a Win2k domain it seems to get stuck on Applying Computer Settings when booting up. However if I load up in Safe Mode with Networking I am able to log on as a client to my Win2k domain anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing it to get stuck when running normally?

[mustardman]

Yet another user who has registered specifically for this thread.

I am going to be using SBS 2003 R2 Premium SP2. Anyone know if this still works with R2 SP2 or did Micro$oft "fix" this workaround?

[cal4701]

I have small repair company and stumbled into this issue when cient bought new servewr on his own. didnt neeed SB only needed server! a week into it he calls mu screamingf it is crashing lol. i get here and its the sbc thing. So thank you 100 times and if you email me your address i will send you a gift card for a dinner!! lol thanks again!!!!!

Pafts original post drew me to this thread after a google search.

I also didn't want to have to bother with this crap that my legitimate copy of Windows SBS couldn't run unless it was a DC. As it happens, we already had a second licence of SBS and simple wanted to re-use a currently un-used licence of SBS to implement a webserver, but without all the bloat that the SBS install affords.

The first thing I did was to install the server normally, the first chance you get to cancel the install of SBS bloat is when Windows starts for the first time after install, I seized my opportunity.

What I didn't see however was the quite frankly ridiculous scenario whereby Microsoft had decided to force restart the server every hour and NET SEND spam the network "this server doesn't comply with licensing requirements" across the entire network. Microsoft can stick that.

Anyway, like I said it was Pafts post that brought me here to the forum, and I've found a slightly more elegant solution to this problem rather than just aggressively killing the process until Windows gives up trying to start it again, and I'd like to share it in the hope that Google will re-index and pick it up for others to use. You may have noticed this service cannot be disabled via the MMC snap-in.

My search term on google was: how to stop the SBCore service

Anyway, down to business…
- Tools you'll need – Process Explorer from www.sysInternals.com

As you probably know, you have a service called SBCore or "SBS Core Services", which executes the following process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbscrexe.exe

If you kill it, it just restarts – and if you try and stop it you are told Access Denied.

If you fire up Process Explorer, you can select the process and Suspend it, now we can start to disable the thing.

Run RegEdit32.exe and expand the nodes until you reach the following hive / key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SBCore

Right click this, hit permissions and give the "Administrators" group on the local machine full access ( don't forget to replace permissions on child nodes ). F5 in regedit and you'll see all of the values and data under this key.

Select the "Start" DWORD and change it from 2 to 4 – this basically sets the service to the "Disabled" state as far as the MMC services snap-in (and windows for that matter) is concerned.

Next, adjust the permissions on the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbscrexe.exe so that EVERYONE account is denied any sort of access to this file.

Then go back to process explorer, and kill the sbscrexe.exe process, if it doesn't restart – congratulations!

Load up the services MMC snap-in and you should find that "SBS Core Services" is stopped and marked as Disabled.

Regards,

[boscong]

The service "SBCore" is responsible for (after 1 week) rebooting your computer every hour until you become a domain controller. To avoid this, you need to create a file that will taskkill sbscrexe.exe until it no longer automatically restarts.

Here is a C++ example.

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    while(1)
    {
        system("taskkill /F /MI sbscrexe.exe");
    }

    return(0);
}

Hope this helps other people who had my problem.

Hi, your suggestion seems good for me, but I don;t know how to do it ? Can you show me in detail ? Many thanks.

[Noob1979]

Hi guys... First of all thanks to all that are helping sort out this problem. I have a client that is experiencing exactly what you all describe at about 16 mins passed the hour, every hour. I did complete the full SBS install and setup the domain etc, but all the workstations at the moment are XP Home. I'm assuming this is why the server is behaving the way it is.

Anyway... I have followed the instructions from Blarghie and the SB Core service is reporting as Disabled. The file is no longer running in Tasks and the Registry setting is still 4. Yet the server is still rebooting. I performed the required steps over an RDP... Not sure if that makes a difference...

Any more help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[YeOldeStonecat]

but all the workstations at the moment are XP Home. I'm assuming this is why the server is behaving the way it is.

That's not what's causing the server to reboot...as far as the server is concerned..if you fully properly setup SBS, it is a domain controller.

What do event logs tell you?

side note...I'm continually baffled as to why so many people try to sidestep SBS being a DC..that's what they bought it for, that's what the product is, it has sooooo many great features to use. Purchasing SBS..and trying to run it crippled in some sort of stand alone workstation mode..is like buying a Corvette..removing the engine, and replacing it with some 1.8L 4 cylinder diesel.

[Noob1979]

Yeah... I fully agree with you... It makes little sense to me to use it as anything other than a DC. Regardless... This one is supposed to be a DC but clearly isn't working as it should. I do not have remote access to the server so will have to check out the logs in the next few days. I am thinking of either running the SBS part of the install again... or perhaps just running a DCPROMO over it or something. I didn't think the XP Home bit would be the issue, but I was clutching at straws. I will post again when I have looked closer into the logs...

Thanks for your help.

[super20g]

I'm continually baffled as to why so many people try to sidestep SBS being a DC..that's what they bought it for, that's what the product is, it has sooooo many great features to use. Purchasing SBS..and trying to run it crippled in some sort of stand alone workstation mode..is like buying a Corvette..removing the engine, and replacing it with some 1.8L 4 cylinder diesel.

How about this.

I have server 2003 standard as a DC on my network.

I want to add a new server dedicated for a webserver and exchange only.

SBS includes exchange, which makes it a much more affordable option than buying another copy of server standard and a seperate copy of exchange.

So I dont need / wouldn't want this server to be a DC, correct?

[normrkey]

Me too, I just registered and just want to say THANK YOU.

The benifit of SBS 2003 is the price point, it is much cheaper than getting Server 2003 standard or enterprise edition, and has more features than Server 2003 web edition.

I ran into below bugs with add on domain features, where I should have installed SP1 first before setting it up as domain controller. I was forced to setup the server as domain controller in the first place, but I didn't really need it. Those additional domain controller features just slow down the entire system and causing even more problems.

I finally reinstalled everything without the domain controller part, it is a much better system now. Read below for the issues:

I just registered to say thanks too. My experience was much the same as midiman888. The server started regular shutdowns as soon as I demoted it from a DC.

I finally figured out there was an error message in Event Viewer saying there was an "invalid license" problem. There was absolutely no license issue so the search began until I found this website. I followed Blarghie's suggestions and it worked perfectly.

All the Microsoft bulletins I found say you can demote a DC to a regular server but they don't say anything about any difficulties.

Anyway, thanks to all who chipped in with this solution. This was a quick fix after almost a week of nightmares.

[Cohaba]

Awesome Fix It! Just Saved Me A Bunch Of Money And Heartache!

Thanks Again.

[waldo22]

Purchasing SBS..and trying to run it crippled in some sort of stand alone workstation mode..is like buying a Corvette..removing the engine, and replacing it with some 1.8L 4 cylinder diesel.

Well Stonecat, I have a 1.9L turbo diesel with a chip and bigger injector nozzles. It get's 60 MPG Highway and it flies

I guess it's not a V12, though. (yes I realize your post was almost 8 months ago )

Thanks for this solution. My client has a 2003 SBS Domain Controller, and keeps shutting itself off because SBCore says:

Multiple domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server have been detected in your domain. To prevent this computer from shutting down in the future, you must remove all but one of these from the domain.

and...

Multiple domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server have been detected in your domain. This computer will shut down in 60 minutes unless you remove all but one of these from the domain.

and...

Multiple domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server have been detected in your domain. This computer will shut down in 30 minutes unless you remove all but one of these from the domain.

and finally...

The server was shut down because it did not comply with the EULA. For more information, contact Microsoft.

WTF?

There are no other SBS servers on our network. At least none that I could find.

Anyway, this took care of our symptoms, even if it didn't solve the problem.

Thanks to all who chipped-in.

-Wes

[Toetje]

Hi there,
Thanks Blarghie! I just registered to thank you. It works for me!! But after +- 2 months suddenly I discovered the following entry in the EventLog of the first (initial) SBS server:

EventID 1011
Multiple domain controllers running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server have been detected in your domain. To prevent this computer from shutting down in the future, you must remove all but one of these from the domain.

The second SBS server (wich I treated the way you discribed) has the following entry in the EventLog:

Replication of license information failed because the License Logging Service on server \\FIRSTSERVER could not be contacted.

I am a liitle bit worried now... please help me...so I can sleep again..
(I didn't start the SBS setup of the second SBS, so It can't be a DomainControler...)

[psykoz]

Am I the only one registering to complain about Blarghie's post?

a) you're breaking Microsoft's EULA
b) if you're buying SBS to "save" money but are breaking the EULA, you should have just stole a copy of it anyway

Sorry to burst any of your bubbles out there, this definitely wouldn't float with the software police.

[BOPE]

Pafts original post drew me to this thread after a google search.

I also didn't want to have to bother with this crap that my legitimate copy of Windows SBS couldn't run unless it was a DC. As it happens, we already had a second licence of SBS and simple wanted to re-use a currently un-used licence of SBS to implement a webserver, but without all the bloat that the SBS install affords.

The first thing I did was to install the server normally, the first chance you get to cancel the install of SBS bloat is when Windows starts for the first time after install, I seized my opportunity.

What I didn't see however was the quite frankly ridiculous scenario whereby Microsoft had decided to force restart the server every hour and NET SEND spam the network "this server doesn't comply with licensing requirements" across the entire network. Microsoft can stick that.

Anyway, like I said it was Pafts post that brought me here to the forum, and I've found a slightly more elegant solution to this problem rather than just aggressively killing the process until Windows gives up trying to start it again, and I'd like to share it in the hope that Google will re-index and pick it up for others to use. You may have noticed this service cannot be disabled via the MMC snap-in.

My search term on google was: how to stop the SBCore service

Anyway, down to business…
- Tools you'll need – Process Explorer from www.sysInternals.com

As you probably know, you have a service called SBCore or "SBS Core Services", which executes the following process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbscrexe.exe

If you kill it, it just restarts – and if you try and stop it you are told Access Denied.

If you fire up Process Explorer, you can select the process and Suspend it, now we can start to disable the thing.

Run RegEdit32.exe and expand the nodes until you reach the following hive / key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SBCore

Right click this, hit permissions and give the "Administrators" group on the local machine full access ( don't forget to replace permissions on child nodes ). F5 in regedit and you'll see all of the values and data under this key.

Select the "Start" DWORD and change it from 2 to 4 – this basically sets the service to the "Disabled" state as far as the MMC services snap-in (and windows for that matter) is concerned.

Next, adjust the permissions on the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\sbscrexe.exe so that EVERYONE account is denied any sort of access to this file.

Then go back to process explorer, and kill the sbscrexe.exe process, if it doesn't restart – congratulations!

Load up the services MMC snap-in and you should find that "SBS Core Services" is stopped and marked as Disabled.

Regards,

In addition to the method described, it is also possible to simply disable the service on certain hardware profiles. Open Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services, select the SBCore service properties, and under the Log On tab there is a box to disable the service for specific hardware profiles. Simply disable it for the profile(s)after you disable clique apply and OK if says you can't disable just use it x to closed the window is done and you use, and you are now free to kill the process without it restarting itself. The SBCore service will not restart when the machine is rebooted. You can see in the Event Viewer that when the process is killed, Windows denies itself access to the process and simply does not restart it.
Cya Bope.

[99999999]

Another simpler solution, is to just set the permissions of sbscrexe.exe to be unexecutable. Wow this is pretty much a piece of malware, what does MS care if I decide to use this as a desktop box instead?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Another simpler solution, is to just set the permissions of sbscrexe.exe to be unexecutable. Wow this is pretty much a piece of malware, what does MS care if I decide to use this as a desktop box instead?

Many people try to abuse the licensing and lower cost of SBS...and try to get away with a less expensive approach for a dedicated standard server, instead of properly purchasing Server 2003 Standard.

[cicciospirit]

Hi All,

Thanks for your help, worke perfectly fine.
The only other concern i have is can I join the SBS 2003 to the domain where their may be another SBS 2003 existing?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Hi All,

Thanks for your help, worke perfectly fine.
The only other concern i have is can I join the SBS 2003 to the domain where their may be another SBS 2003 existing?

No, SBS has to be the top of the forest DC, cannot have 2, cannot do trusts, etc. You can have other Standard Servers as members of an SBS domain.