nathan h. omukwenyi

Hi Michael,

Just thinking out aloud here:

1. Make sure the cryptographic service is started.
2. Try to use another account as a service startup account for the
SQLServer(YourInstance) service.

I have never seen that folder (C:\Do***ents and
Settings\NetworkService\Application Data\Microsoft\Protect) before on an SQL
Server installation and as far as I know the folder will only be created if
you login with that account on the machine (which you generally can't!).
Creating it doesn't help either.

Nathan H. Omukwenyi, MVP [SQL Server]