Active Directory COM Exception - An operations error occurred (0x80072020)
.net, active-directory, c#, com, exception
Solution
I've now found another answer Unable to add user with CrmService API in Dynamics CRM which states that 0x80072020 is indeed a permission issue. I have changed my service to run under a domain level account instead of the local system account and this seems to have cured my problem.
Problem
I am getting an intermittent COM Exception "An operations error occurred (0x80072020)" (shown below) when I try and query Active Directory using the method GroupPrincipal.FindByIdentity Here is my code: ``` PrincipalContext ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, Environment.UserDomainName); GroupPrincipal groupPrincipal = GroupPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, IdentityType.Name, "Group to find"); ``` I am receiving Exception: ``` Inner Exception: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80072020): An operations error occurred. at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail) at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind() at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_AdsObject() at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection.PopulateList() at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection..ctor(DirectoryEntry entry, String propertyName) at System.DirectoryServices.PropertyCollection.get_Item(String propertyName) at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.DoLDAPDirectoryInitNoContainer() at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.DoDomainInit() at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.Initialize() at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.get_QueryCtx() at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.Principal.FindByIdentityWithTypeHelper(PrincipalContext context, Type principalType, Nullable`1 identityType, String identityValue, DateTime refDate) at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.Principal.FindByIdentityWithType(PrincipalContext context, Type principalType, IdentityType identityType, String identityValue) at System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.GroupPrincipal.FindByIdentity(PrincipalContext context, IdentityType identityType, String identityValue) ``` The code is running from a Windows service on a Windows 2003 SP2 server. I have found another Stack Overflow question, Active Directory, enumerating user's groups, COM exception, suggesting that enabling Kerberos as an option in the PrincipalContext constructor will fix this problem but I am receiving a different hex code than in this question. My questions are: - Is this particular COM Exception definitely an authentication issue? I need to be sure that this will 100% fix the problem before releasing the software. - Is there a resource somewhere which lists all the possible COM exception hex codes so that I can help myself a bit better in the future?