MSMQ Startup Failure on XP Pro

Copyright © 2008, Steven E. Houchin

Yesterday, I installed an application I'd written onto a new machine. It uses Message Queuing for two processes to communicate with each other, so I needed MSMQ installed and running on the new machine (which is XP Pro). Much to my surprise, the MSMQ service refused to start. In Event Viewer, I saw the following cryptic error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSMQ
Event Category: Kernel
Event ID: 2047
Date: 3/30/2008
Time: 1:31:10 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ********
Description:A connection to the Distributed Transaction Coordinator cannot be established. Consequently, transactions cannot be supported.

Uninstalling and reinstalling the MSMQ Windows components (via Add/Remove Programs) still resulted in failure. After hours of fruitless research on the web, trying a half-dozen search keyword combinations, I finally found the answer. The problem -- just as the error message says -- was with the Distributed Transaction Cordinator service (MS DTC). This is apparently a facility that MSMQ uses for routing its messages.

The problem was apparently that MS DTC service needs to execute under the NETWORK SERVICE user in order to work properly with MSMQ. I didn't have to do this on my other XP system, so something I installed (such as .NET 3.5?) on this newer system seems to have messed up either MSMQ or MS DTC.

The actual process for the fix is:

a) Uninstall MSMQ
b) Stop the MS DTC service
c) Change MS DTC's execution user to NETWORK SERVICE
d) Open a Command Prompt and execute "msdtc -resetlog"
e) Restart MS DTC
f) Install MSMQ

Lots of mystery here, but others on the net have seen this same MSMQ problem. Does anyone out there know more about what's going on?