Microsoft KB Archive/241060

= Error Message: The Certificate Server Did Not Start: Unable to Initialize the Database Connection =

Article ID: 241060

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition

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This article was previously published under Q241060



SYMPTOMS
After you install NTOP version of Certificate Server on incompatible ODBC versions, the Certificate Server Service does not start and the following error appears in the Application Log of the Event Viewer:

The Certificate Server did not start: unable to initialize the database connection for . The error code is oxffffffff.



CAUSE
This issue can occur if you install Internet Explorer 5 or MDAC 2.1 on your computer before you install Certificate Server.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:  Open the ODBC Data Sources Administrator in Control Panel. If you see a User DSN named CertSrv that is using the Access database, click Remove. Recreate the User DSN as a System DSN named CertSrv:  On the System DSN tab, click Add. Click Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb), and then click Finish. On the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup Page, type CertSrv for the Data Source Name.</li> Under Database, click Select.</li> Point to the %SystemRoot%\System32\CertLog\certsrv.mdb file, and then click OK.</li> On the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup Page, click Advanced, and then configure the Default Authorization Login Name box to use Admin and no password.</li></ol> </li> Use the Services tool in Control Panel to restart the Certificate Server Service.</li></ol>

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MORE INFORMATION
There is an incompatibility between the NTOP installer and the ADO (Jet database) of MDAC 2.1 which shipped in Internet Explorer 5. This incompatibility causes Certificate Server to create a UserDSN for certsrv instead of the necessary SystemDSN.

Keywords: kbbug kbenv kberrmsg kbfix KB241060

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