Agent 11.0.6 Upgrade: HTTP 404 Sync Error & Stuck "Pending Restart" (How to fix without resetting KeyStorage?)

Usage and Config Platform
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Hi everyone,

I am currently dealing with an issue where multiple Windows clients are failing to report properly after upgrading the BigFix Agent to version 11.0.6.

We are seeing two main symptoms on the affected endpoints:

  1. Communication Failure: Client logs show FAILED to Synchronize - General transport failure, HTTP failure code: 404. (Because of this, Microsoft patch deployments are also failing).

  2. Stuck Pending Restart: The clients are stuck in a "Pending Restart" state in the console, and this status does not clear even after multiple system reboots.

The Constraint: The standard quick fix (stopping the service and renaming/deleting the __BESData and KeyStorage folders to force a reset) is not an option here. The customer strictly needs to retain their compliance history, so we cannot afford to generate new Computer IDs for these machines.

Our Current Troubleshooting Plan: For the "Pending Restart" issue, I suspect a noisy file (like Defender or a printer driver) is stuck in the Windows PendingFileRenameOperations registry key.

  1. We are having the customer run the relevance query locally via QnA to identify the exact file path causing the flag.

  2. Once identified, the plan is to use the _BESClient_ActionManager_PendingRestartExclusions setting to whitelist the file path.

Because the clients have a 404 error and cannot receive new tasks from the console, we are considering having them apply this exclusion directly in the local client registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\BigFix\EnterpriseClient\Settings\Client) to see if it clears the flag.

My Questions for the Community:

  • Is using the _BESClient_ActionManager_PendingRestartExclusions setting the best approach for clearing the stuck restart flag in this scenario?

  • Has anyone else encountered this HTTP 404 synchronization error specifically after upgrading to agent 11.0.6?

  • Are there any other known methods to fix the 404 sync issue and re-establish client-to-relay communication without deleting the KeyStorage folder?

Any insights or alternative solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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On the Pending Restart question: Yes, _BESClient_ActionManager_PendingRestartExclusions is the right approach. It's evaluated locally by the client's ActionManager relevance, so it clears the flag even with sync broken and no console connectivity. Restart the BES Client service after writing the registry value, and double-check the current delimiter format for multiple paths against the client settings docs.

On the 404 sync question: Found the likely root cause

1 Like
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Just putting out there that BES Support does provide Analysis 5990, which breaks down the potential causes of a “Pending Restart” status on Clients.

As for the 404 errors: technically, I don’t see how that should interfere with a patch deployment. This error means that the Client is unable to synchronize a site with its Relay, not that it cannot receive a file download for an issued Action; the two things should be quite independent.