Performance counter definition file is invalid

I've been trying to resolve some of the many issues I've run into after installing Exchange 2013 CU2 as a fresh install before migrating my users from 2007.  We'd run into this bug that was generating a ton of event logs for missing performance counters:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2870416

It includes a PowerShell script to reregister all of the performance counters that come with Exchange 2013.  When running it on my servers, it generated an error for one of the performance counter definition files.

53 C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Setup\Perf\InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml
New-PerfCounters : The performance counter definition file is invalid.
At line:6 char:4
+    New-PerfCounters -DefinitionFileName $f
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [New-PerfCounters], TaskException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : [Server=EXM-SNA-0001,RequestId=b7edcf81-0f96-4937-a4a7-3bc8f6165132,TimeStamp=10/10/2013 9:30:50 PM] 79EF1430,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.Tasks.NewPerfCounters

I opened the files in Notepad and this one didn't have any obvious errors or differences in structure compared to the other files.  An internet search showed no one else reporting this error processing this file that I could find.  I'd be curious if anyone else running CU2 is able to register this performance counter.

New-PerfCounters -DefinitionFileName "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Setup\Perf\InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml"

October 10th, 2013 10:11pm

Hi Atamidos,

In order to solve the issue, I would like to clarify the following things.

1. Please verify if there also appears errors when you register other performance counter files.

2. I recommend you to use Get-HealthReport cmdlet against your Exchange 2013 health.

What's more, here is an article for your reference.

Getting the Health of an Exchange Server

http://blogs.technet.com/b/managing_availability/archive/2013/05/29/getting-the-health-of-an-exchange-server.aspx

Hope it helps.

Best regards,
Amy

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October 12th, 2013 2:10am

The file mentioned in the error above is the only file of all of the files that causes an error.
October 12th, 2013 6:45pm

Hi,
I ran the script and it failed on InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml for me too.
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October 13th, 2013 6:11am

Same error for me, any solution for this counter?

thank you.

October 14th, 2013 2:34pm

Hi Atamidos,

I recommend you to contact Microsoft Support for more assistance. Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards,
Amy

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October 15th, 2013 2:08am

I too am having the same problem. Has anyone gotten this fixed?
November 14th, 2013 4:23pm

Add me too. I am having the exact same issue.
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November 29th, 2013 6:54pm

I can confirm that this is still an issue with CU3.  Unfortunately, I'm using all of my support incidents on other more pressing issues right now, so maybe someone else will be able to prod Microsoft into some sort of action?
December 17th, 2013 11:37pm

Has anyone got this fixed?

Just ran into the same problem as well.

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January 6th, 2014 2:14am

I have this error, too (Service Pack 1). "Surprisingly" this haven't been fixed, yet.

I ran this script because of KB 2870416. I had this log filling Exchange Common errors, so I looked for KB article 2870416.

March 5th, 2014 9:50am

The problem are names with leading spaces, in my case.

A workaround/fix is to open the "InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml" with notepad or some other simple text editor and search for "> Searches" and replace it with ">Searches".
Just to be sure check other <name></name> lines for leading or trailing spaces or other possible illegal characters mentioned in the event log event. But it's probably only the spaces for you guys too.

Save the file and run 

New-PerfCounters -DefinitionFileName "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Setup\Perf\InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml"

again.

  • Marked as answer by Atamidos Tuesday, April 01, 2014 7:47 PM
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March 18th, 2014 5:16pm

The problem are names with leading spaces, in my case.

A workaround/fix is to open the "InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml" with notepad or some other simple text editor and search for "> Searches" and replace it with ">Searches".
Just to be sure check other <name></name> lines for leading or trailing spaces or other possible illegal characters mentioned in the event log event. But it's probably only the spaces for you guys too.

Save the file and run 

New-PerfCounters -DefinitionFileName "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Setup\Perf\InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml"

again.

  • Marked as answer by Atamidos Tuesday, April 01, 2014 7:47 PM
March 18th, 2014 5:16pm

Thanks for the hint. I will try hit. It would be hilarious if this is resposable for this issue and Microsoft is not able to fix this within the current CU.

Thanks. This was helpful for me.

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March 18th, 2014 5:23pm

Thanks for the hint. I will try hit. It would be hilarious if this is resposable for this issue and Microsoft is not able to fix this within the current CU.

Thanks. This was helpful for me.

March 18th, 2014 5:23pm

We have a winner.  Thanks for figuring that out for us.  I did a find/replace to replace "<Name> " with "<Name>" in the one file, and was able to run the script from the KB without any errors.

Edit: <Name> is case sensitive.

  • Edited by Atamidos Tuesday, April 01, 2014 8:20 PM
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April 1st, 2014 7:55pm

We have a winner.  Thanks for figuring that out for us.  I did a find/replace to replace "<Name> " with "<Name>" in the one file, and was able to run the script from the KB without any errors.

Edit: <Name> is case sensitive.

  • Edited by Atamidos Tuesday, April 01, 2014 8:20 PM
April 1st, 2014 7:55pm

That would take MS about 10 seconds to fix in a patch lol!  You seem to have strong working knowledge of the PerfCounters.  I just installed CU7 and have successfully worked through all of the counter issues with the exception of one: MSExchange LiveIdBasicAuthentication.  I can't find the PerfCounter that I need to register anywhere and it is driving me nuts!  I clearly just need to install the counter, but I can't find the definition or really any information on it at all.  I even replicated the the disks of the exchange server, extracted all of the archives in the installed directory and the source media, and indexed the contents of anything even remotely text based.  I can't find this file or a reference to it anywhere.  If you Google it all you get back is some bogus torrent site! Hoping you'll be able to point me in the right direction...

Counter: MSExchange LiveIdBasicAuthentication

Definition File: LiveIdAuthenticationCounters.xml

Event ID 106 - MSExchange Common

Performance counter updating error. Counter name is Current Requests Pending, category name is MSExchange LiveIdBasicAuthentication. Optional code: 2. Exception: The exception thrown is : System.InvalidOperationException: The requested Performance Counter is not a custom counter, it has to be initialized as ReadOnly.

Performance Counters Layout information: FileMappingNotFoundException for category MSExchange LiveIdBasicAuthentication : Microsoft.Exchange.Diagnostics.FileMappingNotFoundException: Cound not open File mapping for name Global\netfxcustomperfcounters.1.0msexchange liveidbasicauthentication. Error Details: 2

ExchangeSetup.log (Same Old Error - Setup point to wrong Perf Folder)

[02.14.2015 04:31:01.0238] [2] [WARNING] The performance counter definition file D:\Exchange\Bin\Perf\AMD64\LiveIdAuthenticationCounters.xml could not be found.
Parameter name: DefinitionFileName
[02.14.2015 04:31:01.0238] [2] [WARNING] The performance counter definition file D:\Exchange\Bin\Perf\AMD64\LiveIdAuthenticationCounters.xml could not be found.
Parameter name: DefinitionFileName
[02.14.2015 04:31:01.0238] [2] Ending processing new-PerfCounters
[02.14.2015 04:31:01.0238] [1] The following 1 error(s) occurred during task execution:
[02.14.2015 04:31:01.0238] [1] 0.  ErrorRecord: The performance counter definition file D:\Exchange\Bin\Perf\AMD64\LiveIdAuthenticationCounters.xml could not be found.
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February 14th, 2015 7:53pm

That sounds familiar, but I don't believe I actually fixed it.  You might try the post on November 5th here:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/2cee77dd-c6ce-43f1-abf0-528413dde9f8/cu6-smashed-my-2013-ecp?forum=exchangesvradmin

There are a lot of little errors with Exchange 2013 that are over 2 years old that nothing has been done about.  Honestly, I wouldn't expect any of them to be fixed unless the Exchange Online team starts to care.  Why is a MSExchangeFrontEndTrasport error being generated in the event logs every few minutes because the STARTTLS certificate "will expire soon" in THREE MONTHS???  I'm sure there is some standard in Exchange Online that says a cert will never be less than 3 months from expiring, so they generate an error, and it's carried over to on-premise version.  Don't expect it to ever be fixed, and don't bother opening a support ticket because nothing will ever happen.

February 15th, 2015 12:32am

[quote]

The problem are names with leading spaces, in my case.

A workaround/fix is to open the "InfoWorkerMultiMailboxSearchPerformanceCounters.xml" with notepad or some other simple text editor and search for "> Searches" and replace it with ">Searches".
Just to be sure check other <name></name> lines for leading or trailing spaces or other possible illegal characters mentioned in the event log event. [/quote]

Still applicatble to a clean install of Ex2013 CU8!

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May 4th, 2015 2:53pm

Counter: MSExchange LiveIdBasicAuthentication

Definition File: LiveIdAuthenticationCounters.xml

Event ID 106 - MSExchange Com

Issue still exists in clean install CU8. Any progress made to share?

May 4th, 2015 2:57pm

We have been deploying exchange 2013 on two new boxes running windows 2013 R2 and we been getting flooded with the error in our application logs. We just did CU9 and still have the issue. This is really getting frustrating that MS has no help to get this resolved.

Like other have seen the KB and did the remove, install of the Perf files but still getting the error.

I really hope one of us finds an answer soon :-)

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June 19th, 2015 2:45am

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