CryptographyException - lch

When I tried to install and  configure MOSS 2007, I got CryptographyException
invalid handle exception at step 5. does anybody know the problem? Thanks.

CryptographyException - Jukka Paajanen [MSFT]

Hi lcha,

If the following are true:

-the error number is 997
-have standalone install (or have configured your farm with account that has
no password or the account password changed)
-one of the Sharepoint services used an account that has password (web app,
services)
-are reinstalling,

the problem is that the existing configdb has old references to passwords
that it cannot decrypt.

To overcome:
-if you were unaware of the reinstall and/or don't want any of the old
stuff, ensure that you are starting with clean configdb. This can be done
either by deleting the earlier config dbs or by manually stating another
configdb. In standalone config, the easiest way to ensure that you get a new
configdb, you need to run "psconfig -cmd configdb -create -database MyName"
(replace MyName with something unique; this needs to be started in \program
files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin). After
this, run the Configuration wizard to configure the rest of the system.
-in farm, just create a new config db
-if you want to keep the existing data or settings, after these steps,
attach the earlier content dbs back to the new configuration

Background:
In most typical case when you see this, the problem is that the machine had
an earlier standalone configuration of MOSS that was uninstalled and then
reinstalled. Uninstalling MOSS cleans all the binary parts, but leaves all
the user data. Reinstalling MOSS in standalone will try to connect back to
the original configdb hence creating the issue.

If this was not your problem, see the psc logs (in ... web server
extensions\12\logs\psc*.log) and post the relevant parts for us for
analysis.

JP