HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable. in SharePoint 2010 Central Administration

In order to install a web application running only in 32-bit mode, I had to change the default IIS application pool settings to allow 32-bit applications. This worked fine for my application, however later I installed SharePoint 2010 on the same machine and when I opened the Central Administration I got the wonderful:

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

No IIS logs, no ULS logs, not much clues… The SharePoint Central Administration application pool was always shutting down for some reason.

6-1-2010 5-00-26 PM

It turns out that if Enable for 32-bit Applications is enabled SharePoint will not load and turn down the application pool. I changed this setting back to false and I was able to get to the Central Admin.

Comments

Rob said…
Ding, ding we have a winner. This was the answer I was looking for. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
But what if i need to run 32 bit apps?
Mikhail Dikov said…
If it is a regular .Net assembly compiled for all platforms it should run fine. If it is compiled for 32 bit the only way is to create another web with its own application pool.
Priscilla said…
Hi Mikhail, I am geting the same error but my sharepoint server 2010 is running on a virtual server. So I dont have the enable 32 bit apps in my IIS Mgr Application pools settings. What should I check?
Tolga K said…
this worked for me. Thank you very much for the tip!!
Bijay Kumar said…
Follow below link that will work for you hopefully.

http://www.fewlines4biju.com/2011/01/http-error-503-service-is-unavailable.html
NOWATECH said…
Спасибо,Михаил !!!
Anonymous said…
Thank you so much for this information. Great job! I only wish I had found this before I spent my entire weekend trying to fix my Win7 development environment. :-)
Your blog is awesome!
mariole said…
thanks. i was running out of ideas.
Anonymous said…
It works to me. Thanks!
Jeff said…
Hello, an other issue problem : the application pool of administration central is not launched :) So just start it
thanks! Mikhail, It worked for me.
Rajesh
Unknown said…
Other than 32 bit support setting, There are few more reasons for Service Unavailable: HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable in SharePoint, like: Password expiry and Application Pool in Stopped status.

Found this checklist to resolve this error in SharePointDiary.com -
Service Unavailable: HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable in SharePoint