Symptoms

When attempting to start the K2 Server in console mode, the following error was logged: Error 8103 Failed to start socket service: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permission Error Invoking 'StartHostServer' : SourceCode.HostServerLib : An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permission
 

Diagnoses

Using netstat and tasklist: netstat -abo | find "5555" netstat -abo | find "5252" Output will give you PID of the process which is using this port in the last column which you may use in the following command to obtain process name (substitute 1234 with PID obtain executing previous command): tasklist /fi "pid eq 1234" We found another program "X" that was already bound to port 5555 and 5252. In a previous troubleshooting attempt, these ports were added as IIS bindings.
 

Resolution

Removing port 5555 and 5252 in IIS binding resolved the issue and allowed for the starting up of the K2 Server in console mode.