TechNote (Archived)

Error when accessing sites: Server busy ... the other program is busy ... choose 'Switch To' to activate

Issue

---

When attempting to create a new site or edit an existing site, Dreamweaver fails with the following error:

Server Busy This action cannot be completed because the other program is busy. Choose 'Switch To' to activate the busy program and correct the problem. buttons: [Switch To...][Retry][Cancel](grayed out)

Note: This TechNote only applies to Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 Pro users who have Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) installed.

Reason

---

When sites are defined or edited, Dreamweaver checks to see if a local web server is available. If the local web server is not properly configured, Dreamweaver can fail with this error.

ZoneAlarm or similar applications can contribute to this issue. If the web server or any of its dependent services attempt to start before ZoneAlarm when booting the workstation, the web server may not run properly.

To determine if the local web server configuration is causing the issue, view the Services manager:

1. Choose Start button > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services (Windows XP and 2000) to open the Services manager.
2. Locate the World Wide Web Publishing Service (usually at the bottom of the list) and view the Status category of the service.
   
   The status for the service should be "Started". If you find that the status for the World Wide Web Publishing Service is "Starting", this may indicate that the service has not fully initialized. (Ref. 60060)

Solution

---

Restart the World Wide Web Publishing Service and all of its dependent components. The service can be restarted through the Services manager:

1. Open the Services manager and locate and select the World Wide Web Publishing Service.
2. To restart the service choose Action > Restart, or right click the service and choose Restart.

Should the Service Manager produce an error or the service fails to restart, manually invoke the iisreset.exe:

1. Choose Start button > Run.
2. Type cmd in the Open field to open the command line interface.
3. Navigate to the WINNT\System32 folder by typing "cd winnt\system32" at the C:\> prompt. The System32 folder can be located on the system root drive (usually C:).
4. Type "iisreset" (no quotes) and press the enter key to restart the service.

Additional Information

---

For additional information about this issue, please see Problems with ZoneAlarm and IIS on the IISFAQ.com site.

If the suggestions in this TechNote do not solve the problem, then refer to the following TechNotes:

• Dreamweaver crashes when performing a task related to site definitions (TechNote 5989f7f4)
• Troubleshooting Dreamweaver for Windows (TechNote tn_15481)

Search Support

---