Wednesday, 12 May 2010

A Solution for: SharePoint 2007 Workflow 'Failed on start'

The Problem:
I struggled some time to get my out-of-the-box (OOB) workflow working on a MOSS 2007 environment (Win2K3 64-bit). I got always the error 'Failed on Start'. The log file on the 12-hive shows two records like this:

w3wp.exe (0x0AF4) 0x0724 Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 72fs Unexpected RunWorkflow: System.ArgumentException: Value does not fall within the expected range. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties..ctor(SPWorkflow workflow, Int32 runAsUserId, String associationData, String initiationData) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOEWSSService.MakeActivation(SPWorkflow workflow, SPWorkflowEvent e) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWorkflow(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowManager.RunWorkflowElev(SPWorkflow originalWorkflow, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, SPRunWorkflowOptions runOptions)


w3wp.exe (0x0AF4) 0x0724 Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 98d7 Unexpected System.ArgumentException: Value does not fall within the expected range. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowActivationProperties..ctor(SPWorkflow workflow, Int32 runAsUserId, String associationData, String initiationData) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOEWSSService.MakeActivation(SPWorkflow workflow, SPWorkflowEvent e) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWinOeEngine.RunWorkflow(Guid trackingId, SPWorkflowHostService host, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, TimeSpan timeOut) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowManager.RunWorkflowElev(SPWorkflow originalWorkflow, SPWorkflow workflow, Collection`1 events, SPRunWorkflowOptions runOptions)

The Solution:
I search a lot, but didn't find a working solution. Finally I found it. It turns out that I had changed the account for the SharePoint - 80 application pool (don't remember why, but I did). But, I did this on IIS 7 and not using the Central Administration (CA).
Well, this was a wrong action. Changing the account of one of the SharePoint application pools must be done using the Central Administration (Serviceaccounts on the 'operations' page inside the CA).
And again, a big SharePoint miracle occured: the workflows started to work!

7 comments:

mnateras said...

Thanks again for this post, save me hours

Rajaram Murali Padgal said...

Thanks for your post.workedit.
Save me days.

Sergey said...

Wow, my workflows are working now!!Thank you!!!! Save me weeks!

Rob said...

@Sergey: Thanks, great! Happy programming!

vimal said...

Thanks Lot .....its working Fine

Rob said...

@vimal: you're welcome! happy programming!

bnw said...

You helped another