How to troubleshoot the RPC server is unavailable

Recently I got this odd error called RPC server is unavailable , none of the .exe files in my PC ran and it was very slow , also some settings were unavailable ,I found this solution in the net and thought I would share it .

If you are a Windows user, there is a high probability you have encountered an “RPC server is unavailable” error. RPC errors, which occur in situations involving communication between two or more machines through a network, are all too common in Windows. Before tackling the causes of the error and and ways to fix it, it is essential to first know about RPC in detail.

What is RPC?

RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call, which utilizes inter-processing communication technology for Windows processes within a network. RPC works on the basis of a client-server communication model, wherein client and server need not always be a different machine. RPC can also be used to set up communication between different processes on a single machine.

RPC is a kind of request-response protocol, which can be easily explained using a client/server communication model. For purposes of this tutorial, a process invoking a request will be termed as a “client” and the process responding back to the request as a “server.” Do note that here the client or the server can be different devices in a network system or can be different processes residing within a single system.

In RPC, a procedure call is initiated by a client system, which is encrypted and then sent to the server. The call is then decrypted by the server and a response is sent back to the client. RPC plays a vital role in managing devices remotely across a network and is used to share access to peripherals such as printers and scanners. On a simple note, any Windows process involving the distribution and sharing of data over a network usually uses RPC technology. Therefore, it is quite common to face an “RPC server unavailable” issue if you are a Windows user. Remote calls are, however, very intermittent when it comes to the performance and are therefore difficult to trace down.

Reasons for RPC errors

1.     File and printer sharing are disabled

This is the most common cause of RPC errors. When a procedure call or a request is made to a peripheral device such as a printer, the peripheral must be enabled for RPC and must be connected to the network with the client for it to function. If anything goes wrong here, RPC will cease to function.

2.     Network connectivity issues

Since remote procedure call relies on the network for its functioning, lack of a proper network connection might lead to server unavailability issues. In such cases, a client fails to send out a procedural call to the server resulting in the “RPC server unavailable” error.

3.     Name resolution issues

When a client initiates a request, the request is sent to the server using its name, IP address, and port address. If an RPC server’s name is mapped to a wrong IP address, it results in client contacting the wrong server and can possibly result in an RPC error.

4.     Firewalls

A third-party firewall or any other security application running on a server, or on a client, might sometimes block the traffic from reaching the server on its TCP ports, resulting in the interruption of RPCs.

5.     Registry corruption

RPC depends on a valid Windows registry to work. If any of these entries are modified incorrectly or become corrupted, the RPC service will likely stop functioning.

Dealing with RPC errors -

As mentioned earlier, firewalls or any other security-related applications running on the system can block traffic from RPC requests. If you have a third-party firewall installed, try configuring it to allow incoming and outgoing connections for RPCs and other applications that you intend to use in RPCs.

If you’re unable to configure the firewalls, try to turn off the feature for a while until your RPC is successfully made. This way, you can find out whether your firewalls are the root cause for RPC errors.

If you use the default Windows firewall, make an exception for Remote Procedure Calls and Remote desktop for RPC to function.

It can be way to complex to fix these RPC errors manually. Same for me ;) . So I suggest using 3rd party softwares such as SpeedyPC and Reimage.

These tools can  fix all the registry entries in the system and clean all the obsolete items in the registry to improve the overall system’s performance. Tool scan be quite handy to repair your system.