I’m not sure which update caused the issue but after doing a Windows Update the OWSTimer.exe job started using 100% CPU on the target server of a content deployment job.

The trace logs showed the following errors:

CSsoResourceManagerCache cannot find SSO connection string value in the registry! Error code is: -2147418113 CSsoResourceManagerCache has set SSO connection string value to be empty …  SSO is not configured any more. Error code is: -2147418113 IResourceManager::Refresh() failed Error code is: -2147024809 ForceRefreshOfSPSResMgr() failed. This may be ok if SSO has not been configured yet and the run-as service gets an access denied Error code is: –2147024809

Thanks to Kerry’s SharePoint Blog for the tip about stopping the SSO service (Microsoft Single Sign-on Service) and setting it to manual.

I installed a Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) Web Front End (WFE) onto an external server to be used for the External Collaboration Tool-Kit.

Once I got it installed I ran the SharePoint Products & Technologies Configuration Wizard and received the following error:

Failed to register SharePoint services.

The log pointed to several different registry keys located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftShared ToolsWeb Server Extensions12.0WSSServices.

I deleted everything under that location and it completed successfully.