Created attachment 6471 [details]
Problematic server.prefs file

I recently had a problem where my SBS failed to run after a forced reboot of my
WHS box (due to automatic install of IE8 security update).


The event log contained:

Faulting application SqueezeSvr.exe, version 28947.0.0.0, faulting module
unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00000000.

Fault bucket 1673587793.

I tried uninstalling (but took the option to retain settings) and re-installing
bot 7.4.1 and the latest 7.4.2. Still no luck, and more event log errors such
as:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( Application ) cannot be found.
Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local
computer, or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the
component on the local computer, or contact the component manufacturer for a
newer version.

Product: Squeezebox Server 7.4.2-29879 for Windows Home Server -- Error 1920.
Service 'squeezesvc' (squeezesvc) failed to start.  Verify that you have
sufficient privileges to start system services.



After some experimentation and very helpful advice from the forum, it became
apparent that my server.prefs file somehow had characters in it which the SBS
service did not like:

> apps: &10 &4
> presets: &11 &5

I removed those ampersand related fields, tried again, and the service started
up OK.

I'm running OK now, but mherger asked me to log a bug, so it could be
investigated from the point of view of recovering from a bad prefs file. I have
attached the one that caused me / SBS problems.

The forum thread where this was discussed is -
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=74401

As a suggestion, each time SBS reads (and validates) the file, perhaps it
should copy it to server.prefs.good (or something), so a known good file is
available for recovery.