Groove 2007: Unable to contact provisioning server

[Sidney Bailin]

There is an inconclusive discussion of this on another list -

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/29006985/cannot-contact-provisioni.aspx

- but I'm going to try here to see whether anyone can help. Several folks,
iincluding myself, get the periodic error message "Unable to contact
provisioning server" in Groove 2007. Indeed, if we go to
Options->Communications Manager->Network Settings, there is no entry for Home
GMS URL, suggesting that no provisioning server is specified.

The Help for this error message says to check your network, but this is
bogus: the network is fine, and all communications to/from the computer are
fine.

It seems as if Groove 2007 is getting installed without a provisioning
server being specified. We want to use the Microsoft public server, which I
understand should be http://blugro1gms.groove.microsoft.com/gms.dll.

Interestingly, the Relay Server in my system is specified as

grooveDNS://backwardscompatibility.groove.net

while a colleague who does not have this problem has the Relay Server as

grooveDNS://blugro1relay.groove.microsoft.com

I have no idea where the "backwardscompatibility" is coming from on my
system. I removed all traces of groove 3.1 from the system: folders, registry
keys, install files. I am wondering whether it has anything to do with the
fact that the rest of my Office tools are Office 2003.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Groove 2007 multiple times, creating new
user id's, and nothing has worked. Any insight into what might be causing
this and how to fix it would be most appreciated.

I am using a trial version. I would like to purchase it, but I'm not going
to spend the money if I can't get it to work!

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Sidney,

You may want to use the link below to also post this to the MS Office Groove discussion group

===============
There is an inconclusive discussion of this on another list -

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/29006985/cannot-contact-provisioni.aspx

- but I'm going to try here to see whether anyone can help. Several folks,
iincluding myself, get the periodic error message "Unable to contact
provisioning server" in Groove 2007. Indeed, if we go to
Options->Communications Manager->Network Settings, there is no entry for Home
GMS URL, suggesting that no provisioning server is specified.

The Help for this error message says to check your network, but this is
bogus: the network is fine, and all communications to/from the computer are
fine.

It seems as if Groove 2007 is getting installed without a provisioning
server being specified. We want to use the Microsoft public server, which I
understand should be http://blugro1gms.groove.microsoft.com/gms.dll.

Interestingly, the Relay Server in my system is specified as

grooveDNS://backwardscompatibility.groove.net

while a colleague who does not have this problem has the Relay Server as

grooveDNS://blugro1relay.groove.microsoft.com

I have no idea where the "backwardscompatibility" is coming from on my
system. I removed all traces of groove 3.1 from the system: folders, registry
keys, install files. I am wondering whether it has anything to do with the
fact that the rest of my Office tools are Office 2003.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Groove 2007 multiple times, creating new
user id's, and nothing has worked. Any insight into what might be causing
this and how to fix it would be most appreciated.

I am using a trial version. I would like to purchase it, but I'm not going
to spend the money if I can't get it to work! >>
--
Please let us know if this has helped,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

LINKS
A. Specific newsgroup/discussion group mentioned in this message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.groove
or via browser:
http://microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/?dg=microsoft.public.groove

B. MS Office Community discussion/newsgroups via Web Browser
http://microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx
or
Microsoft hosted newsgroups via Outlook Express/newsreader
news://msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Andrew Balthazor]

Nod32 was the culprit. I'll be writing them next.

I had the same problems listed as others in this thread.

Fixed by adding Groove.exe to the exception list for the IMON module of Nod32 (under the misc. tab. of the IMON module setup options.)

After doing this, create a new account. The new account will have the correct public relay server DNS entry, instead of the backwardcompatibility nonsense.

You have to keep groove.exe on the exception list to allow it to continue to communicate with the public relay server. If you remove it it will prevent communication, even if your account has the correct DNS information.

Tried and tested. You will have to close out Groove and restart it after changing the settings in Nod32; after that, make a new account, and you should be good.

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Sidney Bailin]

Andrew Balthazor's solution worked for me too. I deviated slightly from his
recommendation in that after adding groove.exe to the NOD32 IMON exclusion
list, I went ahead and uninstalled groove 2007, removed left-over folders
under my name, and reinstalled it, creating a new i.d. for myself. I'm now
getting the correct servers, and no more error message.

Thank you, Andrew!

 

[Felipe Carli]

I had the same problem and the same solution.

Thank you so much your help guys.