AD CS: Active Directory Certificate Services must be running to complete the Best Practice scan

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

This topic is intended to address a specific issue identified by a Best Practices Analyzer scan. You should apply the information in this topic only to computers that have had the Active Directory Certificate Services Best Practices Analyzer run against them and are experiencing the issue addressed by this topic. For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer.

Issue

Active Directory Certificate Services must be running to complete the Best Practices Analyzer scan.

Impact

The Active Directory Certificate Services Best Practice scan cannot be completed because Active Directory Certificate Services is not running.

Resolution

Use Server Manager to start Active Directory Certificate Services.

To start Active Directory Certificate Services

1. Log on to the certification authority (CA) as an administrator.

2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

3. In the left pane, expand Roles, and then click Active Directory Certificate Services

4. In the right pane under System Services, select Active Directory Certificate Services, and click Start.

Additional references

• Premier Support customers can use an intensive PKI Health Check to review this issue in addition to a thorough evaluation of other issues. For more information, see Public Key Infrastructure Server Health Check Datasheet.