I recieved this error message today. The full error message was:
Windows error occurred while running SP_TRACE_CREATE. Error = 0×80070050(error not found).
I was in the process of testing a server side trace to capture a new overnight process rather than sit around waiting. In this case, the trace file I was attempting to create already exsited. I deleted the old trace file and ran the script again. Problem solved!
Just a useful tip which caused me a few moments of despair today. If you are using SQL Server 2005 and you save a profiler trace to a trace table, the data is stored in microseconds. If you want to turn this into seconds, divide Duration by 1000000.0. I place the .0 on the end to ensure I get decimal values, although you can cast this if you want a tidier looking result set!
I got caught out by this one today. I had a trace running with a whole bunch of events selected.
The trace was running and pulling back both Deadlock and Deadlock Chain but no graph. Extremely puzzling. I created a new trace just three events selected; Deadlock graph, Locks:Deadlock & Locks:Deadlock Chain. However, I inadvertently forgot to add a filter on the DatabaseID and we had the Deadlock Graph back in play. It was only when I added in more events and decided I needed to restrict my trace data to a specific database did I realise it was the DatabaseId filter causing the issue.
So, if you want to see the Deadlock Graphs, lose the filter on the database id.
Just remember that if you do remove the database id filter and this is a multi database (and busy) server, you could get a lot of trace data returned during the trace period.