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I have two instances of SQL Server 2012 Enterprise but struggling to restore a TDE database from a set of backups (full, differential and log) from instance one to instance two. I am getting the error 'Cannot find server certificate with thumbprint'.

Instance one and two both have master keys with the same password, I have backed up the certificate and private file from instance one and restored to instance two. If I look in the Security > Certificates folder of the master DB on instance two I can see it listed.

If I try a restore despite have imported the same certificate and it being present I still get the error 'Cannot find server certificate with thumbprint', can somebody please advise as to what to do next?

If I try reimporting the certificate again I get the message 'A certificate with name 'ServerCert' already exists or this certificate already has been added to the database.'

I have also tried restoring/replacing the database on instance one from the backup sets and they work, just not when restoring to instance two.

Any help would be much appreciated :-)

iggyweb
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  • You did a mistake when you imported the certificate. I can't guess what mistake, wince you omit the actual steps you did. Do it from scratch, this time make sure you follow **exactly** the steps at [Move a TDE Protected Database to Another SQL Server](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff773063.aspx) – Remus Rusanu Jan 06 '14 at 13:00
  • I had tried several times, prior to posting, no mistake re the import of the certificate, otherwise I would have received an error maybe a permissions issue, but when I ran the T-SQL CREATE CERTIFICATE FROM FILE I received a completed successfully prompt and the certificate was located in the Security > Certificates folder of the master DB on instance two as I mentioned above. – iggyweb Jan 07 '14 at 13:50

1 Answers1

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Despite retrying the same process several times, I removed the TDE, certificate and master keys across all instances and started from scratch with the exception of re-backing up the database. Despite all passwords and certificate names being the same still no joy.

I then removed the TDE, certificate and master keys across all instances, restarted both instances, then created a master key, then the cert, reapplied the TDE, then carried out all new full, differential and transaction log backups all on instance one. Backup up the certificate from instance one, then on instance two created the same master key, imported the backup up certificate from instance one and then carried out the database restore and all is well.

None of my T-SQL changed in any way, the only think I can gather is some sort of security failed to correctly apply, maybe a tempdb issue.

I have read others having the same issues, I hope this helps others.

iggyweb
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