Vivaldi (as Chrome based browser) causes a DCOM 10016 error in the Windows Event Log (with solution)

grogge

Hello,

I've had this weird issue with Windows (I think since Windows 7) that has been absolutely spamming my Event Log for many years now, and I've searched the web over and over again for a solution, now I've finally found one and it points to browsers based on Chrome (including Vivaldi) being the culprit. I wouldn't call it a fix more like a workaround that might have bad unexpected consequences. But bear that thought with me for a while and let me explain what this is about.

The error in question looks like this:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID 
{2593F8B9-4EAF-457C-B68A-50F6B8EA6B54}
 and APPID 
{15C20B67-12E7-4BB6-92BB-7AFF07997402}
 to the user <mycomputer>\<me> SID (<mySID>) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

This is the PerRuntimeBroker app that is attempting to launch without the necessary permissions. It lacks the "<computer>/Users" permission, since this is used by Chrome based browsers for their User based sandboxes or something. It must be the Users group not an individual account, adding your account or something else here won't make it go away. Interestingly Chrome browsers work even though RuntimeBroker.exe fails to be launched in this Users context. This is why I said it might have unexpected consequences when being allowed to launch, it may be deprecated code suddenly coming into action again after years of being left alone.

Now there's a whole bunch of steps to grant this DCOM application the needed permissions, you can read about in here if you want to "fix" it yourself or look into it further.

I've stumbled on many solutions to this problem, but this one seems to be addressing the issue that is actually causing this: Chrome wants to run this DCOM app in a Users context but at Microsoft they decided that this DCOM app won't have this permission by default. Maybe out of security concers? Or in an attempt to sabotage Chrome, when they still had their own browser engine?

Firefox uses the same App for something. But it seems that the devs at Mozilla are handling this the correct way. I'm not 100% sure though. There's also one user who noticed that once PerRuntimeBroker gains this permission, while Chrome is running a third process is started but unlike Firefox once the Chrome based browser closes, this third RuntimeBroker.exe does not get killed.

Now the question is: Will the Vivaldi team actually look into this? I mean they surely have ways to send a bugfix upstream. Or should I file a bug report with Chrome? What if the problem is known at Google and they have decided to ignore it? Would Vivaldi devs still be interested to look into it?

Anyway, I thought I'd just leave this info here in case someone wants it. I'm pretty sure if you all look into your Event Log you will see it filled up with these DCOM errors. They are harmless but annoying, in my opinion, as they clutter up the Logs. And the browser failing to gracefully destroy their sandbox or whatever seems to point to a fundamental issue or some stale unused code that maybe should be removed or whatever.

Cheers.

pafflick

@grogge said in Vivaldi (as Chrome based browser) causes a DCOM 10016 error in the Windows Event Log (with solution):

Will the Vivaldi team actually look into this? I mean they surely have ways to send a bugfix upstream. Or should I file a bug report with Chrome? What if the problem is known at Google and they have decided to ignore it? Would Vivaldi devs still be interested to look into it?

To answer this: we have been fixing some Chromium issues in the past, and we can look into it if the issue is severe enough - though in this case, it looks like a minor inconvenience rather than a show-stopper. Nevertheless, Chromium issues should be reported upstream first.