Have you seen this error when installing BizTalk 2004?


Failed to deploy BizTalk system assembly “C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004\Microsoft.BizTalk.GlobalPropertySchemas.dll”.


Unspecified exception: An error occurred while enlisting in a distributed transaction.


I ran into this a few weeks ago when trying to install BizTalk 2004 on a Windows 2003 Server with SP1 preloaded and using a remote SQL Server.



It appears that like Windows XP SP2, Windows SP1 changes some DTC settings. This does not affect BizTalk when SQL is running locally of course.



After working with Microsoft Support for about 2 days. It turned out that the fix is rather quit easy. In our case, we had some other issues that made it seem much more complex then it was.



To correct this problem, go to Component Services, My Computer Properties, DTC tab, and then Security Configurations (bottom left).


1. Follow the standard BizTalk Installation instructions for setting up DTC.


2. Under Client and Administration, make sure “Allow Remote Clients” is checked.


3. Under Transaction Manager Communication, make sure “No Authentication Required” is checked



The end result was changes to two registry settings:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
\MSDTC\AllowOnlySecureRpcCalls is now 0



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
\MSDTC\TurnOffRpcSecurity is now 1



The UI now looked like this: