Service Fails to Start Due To Certificate Error

Owned by Andrew Parlette
Oct 18, 2016
2 min read

Problem

If there is an issue with the Tricerat certificate, Simplify services will be unable to start. You may receive the following error:

Windows could not start the Simplify License Server on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Even tLog. If this is a non-Microsoft Service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 6.

Solution

This specific error occurs when there is a corrupt certificate for the service. This can occur during repeated uninstall and reinstall, or when the product is installed through a software push technique.

  1. Open a command prompt as an administrator and run the following command:

    certutil -v -store Tricerat > certs.txt

  2. Certutil will generate a file "certs.txt". Open the file and search for "Cannot find the certificate and private key for decryption" in the certs.txt file. The expectation is for it to be the first certificate (0).

    CERT_KEY_PROV_INFO_PROP_ID(2): Key Container = a522c2eb-c9f3-4b0c-a260-5d40434222fe Provider = Microsoft RSA SChannel Cryptographic Provider ProviderType = c Flags = 20 KeySpec = 1 -- AT_KEYEXCHANGE Cannot find the certificate and private key for decryption. ================ Certificate 1 ================

  3. Since the error was found before certificate 1, certificate 0 was corrupted.

  4. Note the serial number for certificate 0.

  5. Delete certificate 0 by executing the following with the serial number noted in step 5.

  6. Start the Simplify License Service and verify it is running.