Fixed SQL Server 2005 surface area error in Windows 2003

Symptoms:

An exception occurred in SMO while trying to manage a service. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

Possible Solution

Please do not try this solution first, unless you have no other ways to try.

secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose


Explanation

Article ID: 313222 - Last Review: December 1, 2010 - Revision: 14.1
How do I restore security settings to a known working state?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313222


For Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 computers, the “secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose” command is still supported in the very few scenarios where security settings need to be restored using the secsetup.inf template. Since importing the Secsetup.inf or any other template only resets what’s defined in the template and does not restore external settings, this method may still not restore all operating system default, including those that may be causing a compatibility problem.

The use of “secedit /configure” to import the default security template, dfltbase.inf, is unsupported nor is it a viable method to restore default security permissions on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 computers.

Beginning with Windows Vista, the method to apply the security during operating system setup changed. Specifically, security settings consisted of settings defined in deftbase.inf augmented by settings applied by the operating installation process and server role installation. Because there is no supported process to replay the permissions made by the operating system setup, the use of the “secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose” command line is no longer capable of resetting all security defaults and may even result in the operating system becoming unstable.