Problem:
In Microsoft SQL Server 2005, you receive the following error message when you run a maintenance plan:

Execution failed. See the maintenance plan and SQL Server Agent job history logs for details.

In the log file of the maintenance plan, the following error message is logged:

Failed:(0) Alter failed for server 'ComputerName\\InstanceName'.

Cause:
This error occurs if you set the Allow Updates option to 1. If you run a trace in SQL Server Profiler when this problem occurs, the following statement is captured in the "SQL:BatchStarting" and "SQL:BatchCompleted" event classes.

EXEC sys.sp_configure N’user options’, 0 RECONFIGURE

Solution:
Set the allow updates option to 0 before you run a maintenance plan in SQL Server 2005.
To set the allow updates option to 0, run the following statement.

sp_configure 'allow updates', 0
reconfigure with override

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TechNote Written by: Brad Maust, PlanetMagpie Consulting Services
July 27, 2008