The Cryptographic Services service failed to initialize the Catalog Database

Question

In Event Viewer ( eventvwr ), I noted there is a repeating error:

The Cryptographic Services service failed to initialize the Catalog Database. The ESENT error was: -583.

Log Name: Application
Source: CAPI2
EventID: 257
Level: Error
Keyword: Classic
OpCode: Info

I tried to find answers online, they guide me to repair the ESENT database ( link ).

I stop the Cryptographic Services by :

net stop cryptsvc

and renamed the catroot2 folder to catroot2.old. Then, I restart the Cryptographic Services by:

net start cryptsvc

Few minutes after, the new catroot2 is created. Then I try to verify the contents by:

net stop cryptsvc
esentutl /g C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\catdb

It shows:

Error: Access to source database 'C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11
D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\catdb' failed with Jet error -1811.

Operation terminated with error -1811 (JET_errFileNotFound, File not found) afte
r 0.0 seconds.

Same output for Defragmentation mode ( /d ) and Checksum mode ( /k )

If I use Recovery mode ( /r ), the output is:

Initiating RECOVERY mode...
    Logfile base name: C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C
04FC295EE}\catdb
            Log files: <current directory>
         System files: <current directory>

Operation terminated with error -1003 (JET_errInvalidParameter, Invalid API para
meter) after 0.0 seconds.

Seems I supplied wrong options to Recovery mode.

What can I do next ?

Note: all commands are executed in Administrator Command Prompt

Answer 1

I really don't know why it is so but it seems that it might help changing the driver for your IDE/ATA Controller. Rename your catroot2 folder, then go to the device manager, select the IDE/ATA controller, click on propertiers and then on update driver, then chose "select manually" and select a compatible driver(for example the microsoft standard controller ahci 1.0, apply) and reboot your computer.

These are the links where I got inspiration from:
https://web.irtnog.org/Members/xenophon/blog/event-id-257-capi2-and-esent-error-583
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-windows_update/the-cryptographic-services-service-failed-to-start/34421d55-4eaa-47fe-a7d9-d288f0276ef8

Answer 2

Previous answer worked for me too, but left open the reason why. I think I may have the explanation for this...

Background: I replaced a faulty 380GB hard drive on my VAIO laptop with a 1TB WD "Classic" drive. I followed the suggestion on the drive documentation to the www.wdc.com/advformat site, and downloaded the Acronis True Image and Align software.
I needn't have bothered as neither of these helped in solving the recurring CAPI2 errors.

Explanation: I too found the posting on www.irtnog.org, and started to suspect the Intel drivers of foul play, especially when most of the problems described in relation to CAPI2 and Windows Defender / Search errors in other postings seemed to mention >2TB drives with 4K sector sizes. Using the System Information component of Iolo's System Mechanic, I established that my new drive had, in fact, a sector size of 512 - the same as the old drive. I'm fairly sure that the Intel driver was assuming a sector size of 4K and trying to compensate. As soon as I forced the IDE/ATA driver to use Microsoft's standard controller as in previous answer, all was well again.

You appear to need Intel's new "RST" drivers only for internal drives with 4K sector size, usually >2TB.

Answer 3

Error: Access to source database 'C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\{F750E6C3-38EE-11
D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\catdb' failed with Jet error -1811.

Operation terminated with error -1811 (JET_errFileNotFound, File not found) afte
r 0.0 seconds.

If it's the same problem I had, it is simply (as the error says) that the file does not exist. Try browsing to that location via the Windows Filemanager.

Though it seems to make no sense, the suggestion above to replace the SATA driver with the Generic Windows, rather than Intel specific solved my problem. Which was after replacing my laptop drive with an SSHD (via Seagate DiskWizard Clone), it all seemed fine, but Windows update wouldn't run, various errors in the event log about cryptography. All standard windows apps would warn about "unknown publisher".

Changing the SATA driver fixed all that!

Thanks.

Answer 4

this thread nearly solved my problems (which were that Windows Update would not start). It started after doing the standard fixes of cleaning up the SoftwareDistribution folder and updating the driver. In my case also I had re-imaged the system from a five year old backup to a new hard drive (after a hard disk failure) and was stuck unable to update. However, after running many updates started getting loads more Windows Update errors. I think this was because the database was once again corrupted. To address this I believe I needed the hotfix from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/982018. Depending on the age of your system you may already have it. But without it I was getting corruption even with the updated driver. Hope this helps someone else.

Answer 5

Another apparent success. HDD crashed, was replaced with a new larger drive of the same brand (WD), then files and OS (Win7 HP) restored from an Acronis backup. Everything worked but the errors noted above were rampant, especially the 583 error.

After reading this thread, I tried Win Update and it wouldn't even start.

Did the crypto stop, rename catroot and crypto restart with no success.

Then did the manual SATA driver reselect and everything seems to be working now. 583 errors gone and Win Update worked.

Not sure why the driver would be an issue when both the old and new HDD are WD.