Certification Authority Does Not Start and Returns Error Code 0x80004015 (246208)

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256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

The Windows 2000 Certification Authority service may not start and may return error code 0x80004015 ("The class is configured to run as a security ID different from the caller").

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the registration for the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) interface in either of the following registry locations contains both RunAs and LocalService entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppId\{D99E6E74-FC88-11D0-B498-00A0C90312F3}

-or-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppId\{D99E6E73-FC88-11D0-B498-00A0C90312F3}

When this occurs, the Certification Authority service does not start because it does not expect both values to be set.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this issue, remove the RunAs entries under both of the following registry locations:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppId\{D99E6E74-FC88-11D0-B498-00A0C90312F3}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppId\{D99E6E73-FC88-11D0-B498-00A0C90312F3}

Make sure that the LocalService entry exists under the following registry locations with a data value of CertSvc: