How to Fix Server Manager cannot run because of an error in a user settings file

I will guide you How to fix the problem that Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file

Windows Server Server Manager allows you to manage all your resources, active directories, clusters, and more. However, we have noticed that on some machines, especially after renaming the system, Server Manager starts to crash and says Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file. This post will discuss this issue and see how you can resolve it.

How to fix the problem that Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file

Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file.

Click OK to restore the default settings and continue, or click Cancel to exit.

An error occurred while loading a configuration file: The type initializer for 'System.MarvinHash' raised an exception (path-to-conf.config-file)

Fix Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file

If Server Manager cannot be run due to an error in a user configuration file, follow the solutions mentioned below.

Repair or Reinstall .NET Framework
Restart Server Manager
Set Execution Policy
Check Configuration File
Rename Computer to its Predecessor

Let's talk about them in detail.

1] Repair or Reinstall .NET Framework .

NET Framework is an essential tool that provides an environment for software written using the .NET programming language to run, such as Server Manager. Therefore, to resolve the issue, we recommend you try to repair or reinstall .NET Framework. For that, we need to follow the solutions.

Open Control Panel by searching for it in the Start menu.
Click Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off.
Uncheck .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) and .NET Framework 4.8 Advanced Services.
Click OK and then restart the computer.
Open the Turn Windows features on or off prompt by following the first two steps.
Select .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) and .NET Framework 4.8 Advanced Services and then click OK.

Once it is done, we will check if the issue is resolved.

2] Restart Server Manager

It is also possible that this issue is being caused by the failure of Server Manager. We will then restart Server Manager and some of its components and then we can check if the issue is resolved. To do so, open Task Manager, right-click on Server Manager and click End Task. Now, open Server Manager as administrator and see if the issue is resolved.

But if it still persists, open the Services application, find the Server Manager service and start it if it is not running, if it is running, restart the service.

Also, reset the Server Manager console by running the following command in PowerShell.

Get-Module -Name Microsoft.Windows.ServerManager -ListAvailable | Import-Module; Reset-SmConsole Finally, check if the issue is resolved.

3] Set Execution Policy

An execution policy in PowerShell is a security feature that controls the conditions under which PowerShell loads configuration files and runs scripts. To resolve the issue, we will set it to the default value, which is Restricted. To do so, open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command.

Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted -Scope LocalMachine If doing so, you receive an error message saying that Windows PowerShell successfully updated its execution policy, but the setting is overridden by a policy defined at a more specific scope, you must also set the policy for the current user. To do so, run – Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted -Scope CurrentUser.

The command will set the execution policy to Restricted.

If you want to verify this, run – Get-ExecutionPolicy -List.

This page shows you the list of scopes, with their respective execution policy.

4] Machine.config file configuration

The configuration settings contained in this file apply to all .NET Framework applications running on the machine. This ensures a centralized approach to configuration management for all .NET applications running on the system, including Server Manager.

If you are using outbound proxy to connect to the Internet, you will need to add a special configuration to the file as well: C:WindowsMicrosoft.NETFramework64v4.0.30319Configmachine.config. This step is required for the Azure AD Connect setup wizard and synchronization to connect to the Internet and to theAdd the text directly there, we recommend that you first delete the C:UsersYourUserNameAppDataLocalMicrosoft_CorporationServerManager.exe_StrongName_m3xk0k0ucj0oj3ai2hibnhnv4xobnimj10.0.0.0user.config file and then restart your computer and see if the problem persists.

If you still have the same problem, add the following line of code to the file.

Note: Replace it with the IP address or hostname of the current proxy and with the proxy port.

Once done, restart your computer and see if the problem is resolved.

5] Rename the computer to its predecessor

If editing the configuration file did not resolve the problem, we recommend that you rename the computer to its predecessor. You can also go to C:UsersAdministratorAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsServerManager, find ServerList.Xml and then see that it points to a different name; you can then revert it back to a common name and see if that helps.