topic Re: User ID agent not starting. in General Topics

User ID agent not starting.

Nischal — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 05:31:16 GMT

I am setting up backup user-id agent 8.1.10-2 on Windows 2016 Standard server.

I have given all the required access to the user-id agent admin account but its not working / refusing to start.

I am using the same credential on existing UID agent 7.0.8-13 running on Windows 2008 R2 and it runs fine.

I attaching error messgae when starting UID service and corresponding log generated in UID logs.

UID Log

09/05/19 09:42:52:190[ Info 2357]: ------------Service is being started------------
09/05/19 09:42:52:190[ Info 2364]: Os version is 6.2.0.
09/05/19 09:42:52:190[Error 675]: Cannot open config reg log key with error 5(Access is denied.
)!
09/05/19 09:42:52:190[Error 2382]: Start error -1!!
09/05/19 09:42:52:190[Error 764]: Device listening thread stops timeout

Re: User ID agent not starting.

Johan.duBuson — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 06:57:10 GMT

I have exactly the same issue on a Windows Server 2019 member server. How was this issue resolved? @Nischal

Re: User ID agent not starting.

nburugu — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 16:22:00 GMT

https://supportcases.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClEuCAK

Please follow the instructions in the URL provided. It did resolve my issue.

Re: User ID agent not starting.

SutareMayur — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:54:16 GMT

hey, please check if user-id is having administrator level access on the server. I have faced same issue and it was resolved by giving required access level to user-id on the server.

Re: User ID agent not starting.

chris777 — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 14:38:02 GMT

Do you mind sharing the details of your case file here?

Re: User ID agent not starting.

mteachout — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 14:40:25 GMT

This is the best answer I've seen to this problem
https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClEuCAK

Re: User ID agent not starting.

JaimeFana — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 22:16:01 GMT

The resolution in my case was to provision local admin rights to the service account. I hope this helps.

Re: User ID agent not starting.

Aswinkumar — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 03:42:12 GMT

Hello Guys,

Facing same issue on my user-Id agent software. Unable to start the service. All the admin access are provided.

Any resolution ?

Re: User ID agent not starting.

StephenLowther — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 02:50:41 GMT

Please note that Palo Alto has a mistake in the latest versions of the documentation.

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/11-0/pan-os-admin/user-id/map-ip-addresses-to-users/configure-user-mapping-using-the-windows-user-id-agent/install-the-windows-based-user-id-agent

Step 1, Section 4, Bullet 1 -

Run regedt32 and navigate to the Palo Alto Networks sub-tree in the following location: ~~HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Palo Alto Networks~~

It should read

Run regedt32 and navigate to the Palo Alto Networks sub-tree in the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Palo Alto Networks

This cost me about 4 hours this evening trying to figure out why I was getting the same "Cannot open config reg log key with error 5(Access is denied." error. Hopefully it saves someone else some time in the future. The other article referenced above does say it could be "EITHER" of these two locations. However, for me that was incorrect. I stopped looking when I found the first location, but both registry locations actually existed. The first one is related to Global Protect and appears to have no effect on the User ID Agent service. I am running it by only setting permissions on the second location I provided.

I willl attempt to contact Palo Alto Networks to have them update the official documentation.

Re: User ID agent not starting.

jasonwald — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:52:27 GMT

This is the fix! Thank you Stephan!

Give the service account permissions to the User-ID Agent registry sub-tree:
Run
regedt32
and navigate to the Palo Alto Networks sub-tree in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Palo Alto Networks
.
Right-click the Palo Alto Networks node and select
Permissions
.
Assign the User-ID service account
Full Control
and then click
OK
to save the setting.

Re: User ID agent not starting.

FrankStamboolian — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 07:30:36 GMT

A thousand blessings upon you!
You rock
Thank ya

Re: User ID agent not starting.

johannes4711 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:28:09 GMT

Nice guys, this still applies in 2026. 🤦 The documentation is still wrong. And this topic here brought me to the solution. Thanks!

Re: User ID agent not starting.

kiwi — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:05:40 GMT

Hi @johannes4711 ,

Glad to see this is still working! Bumping this to the top will be a huge help for anyone else searching for the same solution.

Cheers!