Are you a user?

Here’s the situation.  You are remoted into a client’s instance of SharePoint and you are attempting to start Dashboard Designer to check out some PerformancePoint stuff.  But, you are met with errors of all kinds, one which provides detail similar to that shown below.  Basically, you get a 401 error…access denied. 

PLATFORM VERSION INFO
    Windows             : 6.1.7601.65536 (Win32NT)
    Common Language Runtime     : 4.0.30319.235
    System.Deployment.dll         : 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    clr.dll             : 4.0.30319.235 (RTMGDR.030319-2300)
    dfdll.dll             : 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    dfshim.dll             : 4.0.31106.0 (Main.031106-0000)

SOURCES
    Deployment url            :

http://test.bisite.com/_layouts/ppsma/1033/designer.application?

Operation=CreateItem&SiteCollection=http://test.bisite.com&SiteLocation=

%2FAccounting%2FBI&ListLocation=%2FAccounting%2FBI%2FData%20Connections%20for

%20PerformancePoint&ItemType=DataSource

ERROR SUMMARY
    Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed

later in the log.
    * Activation of

http://test.bisite.com/_layouts/ppsma/1033/designer.application?

Operation=CreateItem&SiteCollection=http://test.bisite.com&SiteLocation=

%2FAccounting%2FBI&ListLocation=%2FAccounting%2FBI%2FData%20Connections%20for

%20PerformancePoint&ItemType=DataSource resulted in exception. Following failure

messages were detected:
        + Downloading

http://test.bisite.com/_layouts/ppsma/1033/designer.application?

Operation=CreateItem&SiteCollection=http://test.bisite.com&SiteLocation=/Account

ing/BI&ListLocation=/Accounting/BI/Data Connections for

PerformancePoint&ItemType=DataSource did not succeed.
        + The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
    No transaction error was detected.

WARNINGS
    There were no warnings during this operation.

OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
    * [7/18/2011 5:38:36 PM] : Activation of

http://test.bisite.com/_layouts/ppsma/1033/designer.application?

Operation=CreateItem&SiteCollection=http://test.bisite.com&SiteLocation=

%2FAccounting%2FBI&ListLocation=%2FAccounting%2FBI%2FData%20Connections%20for

%20PerformancePoint&ItemType=DataSource has started.

ERROR DETAILS
    Following errors were detected during this operation.
    * [7/18/2011 5:38:41 PM]

System.Deployment.Application.DeploymentDownloadException (Unknown subtype)
        – Downloading

http://test.bisite.com/_layouts/ppsma/1033/designer.application?

Operation=CreateItem&SiteCollection=http://test.bisite.com&SiteLocation=/Account

ing/BI&ListLocation=/Accounting/BI/Data Connections for

PerformancePoint&ItemType=DataSource did not succeed.
        – Source: System.Deployment
        – Stack trace:
            at

System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile

(DownloadQueueItem next)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadAllFiles()
            at

System.Deployment.Application.FileDownloader.Download(SubscriptionState

subState)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadManifestAsRawFile(Uri&

sourceUri, String targetPath, IDownloadNotification notification,

DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestDirectBy

pass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile,

SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions

options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestBypass

(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile,

SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions

options)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation

(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String

deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String&

errorPageUrl)
            at

System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker

(Object state)
        — Inner Exception —
        System.Net.WebException
        – The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.
        – Source: System
        – Stack trace:
            at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
            at

System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile

(DownloadQueueItem next)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
    No transaction information is available.

 

This is likely caused by your machine not being joined to the domain and credentials not being passed correctly.  Assuming you are running Windows 7, you can open control panel and use Credential Manager to add the proper Windows credentials.

Click on the link “Add a Windows credential.”   Enter your site name and your credentials.

Now it’s in the list and stored.

…and Dashboard Designer should now launch.

You might be able to get the same result by putting the site in your trusted site list and insuring that automatic logon is selected in IE.