Attempting to share PowerPoint (ppt or pptx) presentations with Skype for Business 2015 fail with: “Some presenting features are unavailable due to server connectivity issues.”

Problem

You’ve noticed that sharing PowerPoint presentations in your Lync 2013 or Skype for Business 2015 business no longer works with the following error message being displayed:

Some presenting features are unavailable due to server connectivity issues.

Logging onto the WAC / Office Web Apps server displays the following errors logged:

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Event ID: 1000

Level: Error

Faulting application name: pptviewerbackendwatchdog.exe, version: 15.0.4502.1000, time stamp: 0x512d2645

Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.2.9200.17366, time stamp: 0x554d4531

Exception code: 0xe0434352

Fault offset: 0x000000000004aea8

Faulting process id: 0xeec

Faulting application start time: 0x01d130637d0f659c

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Web Apps\PowerPointViewingServicesWatchdog_App\pptviewerbackendwatchdog.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll

Report Id: bb35573c-9c56-11e5-9420-005056a10329

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Event ID: 1026

Level: Error

Application: pptviewerbackendwatchdog.exe

Framework Version: v4.0.30319

Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.

Exception Info: System.TypeInitializationException

Stack:

at Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.ServiceInstanceFinder.GetLocalAgentInstance(Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.OfficeServiceType)

at Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.WatchdogHelper.PrepareRegistrations(Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.OfficeServiceType)

at Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.WatchdogHelper.WatchMachines(Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.OfficeServiceType, CheckServiceInstance, Microsoft.Office.Web.Common.OfficeServiceType, System.String)

at Microsoft.Office.Server.Powerpoint.Watchdog.ViewingBackend.Program.Main(System.String[])

Solution

I wasn’t able to find much material on this issue but the closest match was the following TechNet blog post:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/dodeitte/archive/2013/03/29/issue-with-automatic-updates-enabled-amp-office-web-apps-server-2013-update.aspx

The WAC / Office Web Apps server in this environment wasn’t on automatic updates but the administrators simply install any updates that are available on a routine schedule.  The KB2760445 wasn’t on the list of updates installed onto the server but as I didn’t have any other leads, I went ahead to uninstall Office Web Apps, then the language pack, then reinstalled all the components in the following order;

1. Office Web Apps Server 2013
2. Office Web Apps Server Language Pack 2013
3. Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1

Once reinstalled, I recreated the Office Web Apps Server Farm and noticed that everything was working again.

A few notes worth mentioning that I noticed:

1. There is no need to install https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2760445 as noted in the TechNet blog above as the Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1 covers it
2. I tried installing Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1 prior to uninstalling and that did not fix the problem

Just for reference, the following version is Office Web Apps Server 2013 pre-SP1:

15.0.4420.1017

The following version is Office Web Apps Server 2013 after installing SP1:

15.0.4571.1502