I have an issue with an instance of Windows Server 2008 where Server Manager will not open, nor will powershell or anything else really. I've researched solutions and attempted a dozen or so fixes including replacing the machine.config with a known good in .NET/Framework/etcetc, running System Update readiness to repair corrupt files, DISM, the works. I believe the problem stems from a specific manifest file. Remote event log viewing shows dozens of SideBySide errors pointing to this manifest file claiming invalid XML, and upon closer inspection it looks like the thing is just straight up whitespace. I have a copy of the same manifest from a known good server configuration so I'm thinking of replacing it.
First: is this a dumb idea? Is there something I don't know that's going to blow up in my face?
Second: I can't seem to replace the manifest file. Permissions are against me. Upon closer inspection it seems TrustedInstaller is the only account to have write access and above on that folder, and those permissions are locked from me even though I'm running as Administrator with elevated access. I'm guessing this is to prevent me from shooting myself in the foot, but I neeeeeeeeed this to work. So second question: how do I elevate my permissions to access the manifests folder in C:\Windows\WinSxs\?
Thank you for your time in reading this far. I greatly appreciate your collective knowledge and assistance.
Nevermind, got it. I took ownership of the specific manifest file, opened it in notepad with elevated permissions, replaced the contents with the contents of the known good config, saved it. Voila, it works just fine. Restored SYSTEM permissions afterwards to clean up after myself.