Started getting this error on Server 2012 R2, after installing the Remote Desktop Gateway service (part of Windows Server Essentials). I believe this is the first app to use the Windows Internal Database. No WSUS on this server.
Log Name: Application
Source: MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID
Date: 12/21/2019 10:39:06 AM
Event ID: 5601
Task Category: Server
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Description:
The service master key could not be force regenerated as requested by the -F startup option. The error number is 33094.
As I posted in this thread:
Granting “Log on as a service” user right to the “NT SERVICE\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##WID” account did not help: the error recurred as soon as I restarted the Windows Internal Database service. Note that NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES already has this user right, so that probably covers the WID user (see MSKB 2832204). Also, I have Server 2016 Essentials machine running RD Gateway without issues and that right is not present.
Here are the more detailed messages from C:\Windows\WID\Log\error.log:
2019-11-23 14:46:21.28 spid15s Error: 33094, Severity: 16, State: 1. 2019-11-23 14:46:21.28 spid15s An error occurred during Service Master Key encryption 2019-11-23 14:46:21.28 spid15s Error: 5601, Severity: 16, State: 1. 2019-11-23 14:46:21.28 spid15s The service master key could not be force regenerated as requested by the -F startup option. The error number is 33094. 2019-11-23 14:46:21.28 spid15s Server local connection provider is ready to accept connection on [ \\.\pipe\MICROSOFT##WID\tsql\query ].
There is no -F parameter specified on the command line or in the registry. Maybe the error message is misleading–it needs the -F parameter because it can’t regenerate the key?
There is a way to regenerate the key in T-SQL (Stack Overflow post) but I’m reluctant to mess with that in the WID.
I haven’t found any other solutions. So far, I don’t think this is inhibiting functionality (though we’re not using the Remote Desktop Gateway yet).