“SharePoint Central Administration Not Accessible” – Detailed Troubleshooting Guide

The “SharePoint Central Administration Not Accessible” error occurs when you are unable to open the Central Administration (CA) website. This can impact SharePoint administration, configuration, and management.

This issue can arise due to multiple reasons, including:
✅ IIS (Internet Information Services) issues
✅ Service-related problems
✅ SQL Server connectivity issues
✅ Insufficient permissions
✅ Firewall or network restrictions

This step-by-step guide will help you diagnose and resolve this issue effectively.

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🔍 Step 1: Verify Central Administration Service is Running

SharePoint Central Administration runs as a web application on IIS. If the related service is stopped, CA will not be accessible.

✅ Restart Central Administration via PowerShell

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator.
2. Run the following command: Get-SPServiceInstance | Where-Object { $_.TypeName -eq "Central Administration" }
   • This will show the status of the Central Admin service.
   • If it shows “Stopped”, restart it using: Start-SPServiceInstance -Identity <ServiceInstanceID>
3. Alternatively, start Central Admin using: Start-SPCentralAdministration

✅ Restart via SharePoint Central Administration Service

1. Open Services.msc (Win + R → type services.msc → press Enter).
2. Locate SharePoint Administration Service and SharePoint Timer Service.
3. Right-click and Restart both services.

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🔍 Step 2: Verify IIS (Internet Information Services) Settings

If IIS is not running or misconfigured, Central Admin won’t be accessible.

✅ Check if IIS is Running

1. Open Run (Win + R) → Type inetmgr → Press Enter.
2. In IIS Manager, look for “SharePoint Central Administration” under Sites.
3. If the status is stopped, start it:
   • Right-click → Manage Website → Start.
4. If the site is missing, run the following in PowerShell to recreate it: New-SPCentralAdministration -Port 2016 -WindowsAuthProvider "NTLM"

✅ Restart IIS

iisreset /noforce

• This will restart IIS and apply changes.

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🔍 Step 3: Verify Central Admin Application Pool in IIS

If the application pool assigned to Central Administration is stopped, the site won’t load.

✅ Check Central Admin Application Pool

1. Open IIS Manager (inetmgr).
2. Click Application Pools (left panel).
3. Look for “SharePoint Central Administration v4”.
4. If it’s stopped, right-click and select Start.
5. If the application pool frequently stops:
   • Right-click → Advanced Settings.
   • Under Process Model, check Identity.
   • If using a custom service account, verify credentials are correct.

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🔍 Step 4: Verify SQL Server Connection

SharePoint Central Administration relies on SQL Server databases. If SQL Server is down or inaccessible, Central Admin won’t load.

✅ Check if SQL Server is Running

1. Open Services.msc.
2. Find SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) and ensure it’s running.
3. If stopped, right-click → Start.

✅ Check Database Status in PowerShell

Run:

Get-SPDatabase | Select DisplayName, Status

• If the status shows “Offline” or “Failed”, restart SQL Server and check permissions.

✅ Grant Proper SQL Server Permissions

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
2. Go to Security → Logins.
3. Find the SharePoint Farm Account (e.g., SP_Farm).
4. Ensure it has:
   • db_owner on the SharePoint config database.
   • securityadmin and dbcreator roles.

If permissions are incorrect, fix them and restart the SQL service.

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🔍 Step 5: Verify Alternate Access Mappings (AAM)

If Central Admin is mapped incorrectly, you won’t be able to access it.

✅ Check and Fix AAM in PowerShell

Run the following command:

Get-SPAlternateURL

• If the Central Admin URL is missing or incorrect, fix it with: Set-SPAlternateURL -Identity "http://YourServer:2016" -UrlZone "Default"

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🔍 Step 6: Check Firewall & Network Settings

Firewall or network settings may block Central Admin.

✅ Temporarily Disable Windows Firewall

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Run: netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off
3. Try accessing Central Admin again.

✅ Allow Central Admin Port in Firewall

If disabling the firewall works, re-enable it and allow Central Admin’s port (default: 2016):

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SharePoint Central Admin" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=2016

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🔍 Step 7: Verify SharePoint Configuration Database

If the configuration database is corrupt, Central Admin may not load.

✅ Check Database Status in PowerShell

Run:

Get-SPDatabase | Select DisplayName, Status

• If the config database is in “Failed” or “Offline” state, restore from backup.

✅ Restore Configuration Database (If Needed)

Restore-SPFarm -Directory "C:\Backup" -RestoreMethod Overwrite

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🔍 Step 8: Clear SharePoint Configuration Cache

A corrupted SharePoint cache can cause Central Admin failures.

✅ Steps to Clear Configuration Cache

1. Stop the SharePoint Timer Service (SPTimerV4).
2. Navigate to: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config
3. Open the folder with GUID name (random characters).
4. Delete all .xml files inside (except Cache.ini).
5. Open Cache.ini → Change its value to 1 → Save.
6. Restart SPTimerV4 Service.

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🔍 Step 9: Recreate Central Administration (If Necessary)

If nothing works, recreate the Central Administration site.

✅ Remove Existing Central Admin Site

Remove-SPCentralAdministration

✅ Recreate Central Admin

New-SPCentralAdministration -Port 2016 -WindowsAuthProvider "NTLM"

Restart IIS:

iisreset /noforce

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🔍 Step 10: Restore SharePoint Farm (Last Resort)

If all else fails, restore SharePoint from a previous backup.

✅ Restore Using PowerShell

Restore-SPFarm -Directory "C:\Backup" -RestoreMethod Overwrite

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