Troubleshooting - Page 11 - Uwe Gradenegger

The Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) logs the error message "The Network Device Enrollment Service cannot create or modify the registry key Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\MSCEP\EncryptedPassword."

Assume the following scenario:

An NDES server is configured on the network.
The NDES server is configured to work with a static password.
When accessing the NDES administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin), users are repeatedly prompted for authentication despite having correct credentials.
The following event is stored in the application event log:

The Network Device Enrollment Service cannot create or modify the registry key "Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\MSCEP\EncryptedPassword". Grant Read and Write permissions on the registry key "Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\MSCEP" to the account that the Network Device Enrollment Service is running as.

The Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin) reports "You do not have sufficient permission to enroll with SCEP. Please contact your system administrator."

Assume the following scenario:

An NDES server is configured on the network.
When calling the administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin) the following message appears:

You do not have sufficient permission to enroll with SCEP. Please contact your system administrator.

When calling the Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin), one is always prompted to log in.

Assume the following scenario:

An NDES server is configured on the network.
The NDES server is called under a DNS alias.
Despite entering the correct login data, you are always prompted to log in again when you access the NDES administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin).

Role configuration for Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) fails with error message "CMSCEPSetup::Install: The system cannot find the path specified. 0x80070003 (WIN32: 3 ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND)".

Assume the following scenario:

One installs a Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) server.
The role configuration fails with the following error message:

CMSCEPSetup::Install: The system cannot find the path specified. 0x80070003 (WIN32: 3 ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND)

The Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) Administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin) reports "The password cache is full."

Assume the following scenario:

An NDES server is configured on the network.
When calling the administration web page (certsrv/mscep_admin) the following message appears:

The password cache is full.

Moving Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) to another certification authority

Assume the following scenario:

There is one NDES instance installed on the network.
The Certification Authority issuing to NDES is to be changed.

The official statement on this is that NDES must be reinstalled and reconfigured in this case. However, this is not necessary. The necessary steps are described below.

Installing the Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) without Enterprise Administrator permissions

Assume the following scenario:

One installs a Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) server.
The role configuration fails with the following error message:

Insufficient access rights to perform this operation. 0x80072098 (WIN32: 8344 ERROR_DS_INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS

Typically, the NDES roll configuration requires, that the installing user is a member of the Enterprise Admins group. However, this is not technically necessary and contradicts Microsoft's security hardening recommendations, since NDES is not (necessarily) a system that is assigned to the highest security layer (Tier-0).

Below is a way to configure the NDES role even without the required permissions.

Role configuration for Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) fails with error message "CMSCEPSetup::SetMSCEPSetupProperty: Access is denied. 0x80070005 (WIN32: 5 ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED)".

Assume the following scenario

One installs a Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) server
The role configuration fails with the following error message:

CMSCEPSetup::SetMSCEPSetupProperty: Access is denied. 0x80070005 (WIN32: 5 ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED)

When installing a new certificate authority certificate, you get the error message "The revocation function was unable to check revocation for the certificate. 0x80092012 (-2146885614 CRYPT_E_NO_REVOCATION_CHECK)".

Assume the following scenario:

One installs a new certification authority certificate on the certification authority, either because the certification authority was newly installed, or because the certification authority certificate was renewed.
The certification authority certificate was issued by a higher-level certification authority.
During the installation you get the following error message:

Cannot verify certificate chain. Do you wish to ignore the error and continue? The revocation function was unable to check revocation for the certificate. 0x80092012 (-2146885614 CRYPT_E_NO_REVOCATION_CHECK)

Publishing a certificate revocation list (CRL) fails with the error message "Insufficient access rights to perform the operation. 0x80072098 (WIN32: 8344 ERROR_DS_INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS)".

Assume the following scenario:

An attempt is made to publish a new certificate revocation list (CRL) on a certification authority
The certificate authority is configured to publish the certificate revocation lists to Active Directory (LDAP CDP).
Publishing the certificate revocation list fails with the following error message:

Insufficient access rights to perform the operation. 0x80072098 (WIN32: 8344 ERROR_DS_INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS)

Publishing a certificate revocation list (CRL) fails with the error message "Directory object not found. 0x8007208d (WIN32: 8333 ERROR_DS_OBJ_NOT_FOUND)".

Assume the following scenario:

An attempt is made to publish a new certificate revocation list (CRL) on a certification authority.
The certificate authority is configured to publish the certificate revocation lists to Active Directory (LDAP CDP).
Publishing the certificate revocation list fails with the following error message:

Directory object not found. 0x8007208d (WIN32: 8333 ERROR_DS_OBJ_NOT_FOUND)

Firewall rules required for Active Directory Certificate Services

Implementing an Active Directory integrated certification authority often requires planning the firewall rules to be created on the network. The following is a list of the required firewall rules and any pitfalls.

Description of the EDITF_ADDOLDKEYUSAGE flag

When installing a subordinate certificate authority, you may encounter the following behavior:

One requests a Key Usage extension that is marked as critical, for example, or does not include DigitalSignature.
However, the certificate issued by the parent certificate authority includes DigitalSignature, and the Key Usage extension is marked as non-critical.
The parent certification authority is a standalone certification authority, i.e. without Active Directory integration.

Role configuration for Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) fails with error message "The RPC server is unavailable. 0x800706ba (WIN32: 1722 RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE)".

Assume the following scenario:

One installs a Network Device Enrollment Service (NDES) server
One has the necessary permissions to install the role (local administrator, enterprise administrator)
The role configuration fails with the following error message:

The RPC server is unavailable. 0x800706ba (WIN32: 1722 RPC_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE)

Requesting certificates via Certificate Enrollment Web Services fails with error message "Error: The remote endpoint is unable to process the request due to being overloaded. 0x803d0012 (-2143485934 WS_E_ENDPOINT_TOO_BUSY)".

Assume the following scenario:

A user requests a certificate.
An enrollment policy is configured for this, which points to a Certificate Enrollment Policy Web Service (CEP).
The connection to the CEP fails and the user receives the following error message:

Error: The remote endpoint is unable to process the request due to being overloaded. 0x803d0012 (-2143485934 WS_E_ENDPOINT_TOO_BUSY)