I had the exact same symptoms and struggled with finding a solution for several days. I ended up solving the problem, but with a totally different solution. I am posting it here in the hope that I can help keep someone else from getting as frustrated as I was for a couple of days.
First, I have had a WHS up and running for several months with a wide mixture of machine types. At this porint, everything (e.g. backups, shares, remote console, etc.) was running fine and without any issues. A few days ago I was trying to add one new PC to the network and got stuck at the point of supplying the WHS password when installing the Connector.
The WHS log on the new client contained the same basic messages as above. BTW, for those above who were asking were the log can be found on Vista, look here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\logs\pcdiscovery.050908_3580.log
My pcdiscovery log had the following:
[5/9/2008 6:41:38 PM 250] Calling m_PartnerManager.GetServerDetails.
[5/9/2008 6:41:38 PM 250] m_PartnerManager.GetServerDetails returns 0x0.
[5/9/2008 6:41:38 PM 250] WARN : JoinServer - admin name is Administrator.
[5/9/2008 6:41:38 PM 250] Calling m_PartnerManager.JoinServer, serverName=ALBATROSS, manual=0.
[5/9/2008 6:41:39 PM 250] m_PartnerManager.JoinServer returns 0x80070005.
[5/9/2008 6:41:39 PM 250] ERROR: m_PartnerManager.JoinServer returns 0x80070005.
After a lot of searching and investigation, none of the WHS troubleshooting guides found any trouble. Even the Answer posted in this thread sounded like it was right on the mark, but the suggested fix did not change anything. Actually, the Answer posted in this thread probably kept me looking on the client longer that I should. Most of what I read did not really raise any suspicion that the real problem was on the server.
Finally in one last desparate move, I checked the server's event logs. The WHS windows event log contained nothing interesting, but the Windows System event log contained several DCOM errors that coresponded with each of the Connector install attempts.
The error shown was:
The machine-default permission settings do not grant
Local Activation permission for the
COM Server application with CLSID
{3AA6FAC6-558C-4A4A-A60A-AC40B048C393}
to the user ALBATROSS\IUSR_ALBATROSS
SID (S-1-5-21-2662986839-2560981624-638700210-1000).
This security permission can be modified using the
Component Services administrative tool.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Clicking on the above link navigated to:
http://www.microsoft.com/products/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=Windows%20Operating%20System&ProdVer=5.2.3790.3959&EvtID=10016&EvtSrc=DCOM&FileVer=5.2.3790.3959&FileName=xpsp2res.dll&EvtType=Error&LCID=
The CLSID above is for the "Windows Home Server Transport Object".
The account is the IIS machine account for anonymous access.
After following the instructions in the Help link, the Connector installed without further problems. I hope this helps.
I do admit that I tinkered with a few IIS settings and may have broken this myself. However, I thought I was very careful and either put everything back the way it was or made changes that were unrelated to WHS. Apparently, this may not have been true.
BTW, I would be interested if someone on the WHS team could shed some light on how this permission may have been removed. Thanks.
Chuck Hartman
