The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator

Francis Shanahan

I'm using Vista Ultimate, (MSDN download). I upgraded an XP box that was running RC1 of .NET 3.0. Cardspace Id selector was working fine under XP.

Going to this page:
https://www.francisshanahan.com/cardspace/ and clicking "try it"

gives me the following error under Vista:

Windows CardSpace service cannot be started
The Windows CardSpace service is a critical component for running Windows CardSpace. The following are possible causes of the problem:
1. The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator. Contact your system administrator.
2. You are not running the NTFS file system. For information about converting to NTFS, see Windows Help and Support.

I am running NTFS so it's not #2.

Any ideas Vista is not that Ultimate, I want my XP back.

Caleb Baker - MSFT

hi, your page looks good, I just submitted a card.

the error you are getting is a generic, service failed to start. If you try to start the 'windows cardspace' service directly from the service control manager you may get a more descriptive message. There were some changes between the RC1 and RTM versions of .net 3.0, so I'm guessing some of the binaries were upgraded and there is an incompatibility. We’re only officially supporting xp w/.net 30 -> vista w/ .net 3.0 upgrades, which unfortunatly doesn't help you much. If trying to start the service doesn't give a helpfull message I'd try uninstalling .net 3.0, then reinstall as a windows component. Also, as a warning, the cardspace store file format has changed, so when it does upgrade your existing cards will be deleted.

Francis Shanahan

I un-installed and then re-installed as a windows component as you've suggested.

Now the cardspace selector flashes up briefly and then crashes with the following 3 error messages in the Windows Application log:

------------------------------------------------------------

- Failed to open store. Additional Information: at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo) at System.Environment.get_StackTrace() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.BuildMessage(InfoCardBaseException ie) at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.TraceAndLogException(Exception e) at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.ThrowHelperError(Exception e) at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection(WindowsIdentity identity, Boolean allowCreate) at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection() at Microsoft.InfoCards.GetUserPreferenceRequest.OnProcess() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.ProcessRequest() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.DoProcessRequest() at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.ProcessNewRequest(Int32 parentRequestHandle, IntPtr rpcHandle, IntPtr inArgs, IntPtr& outArgs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
An unknown exception has caused the request to fail. For more information, please see the event log. Inner Exception: Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation. Additional Information: Microsoft.InfoCards.CommunicationException: An unknown exception has caused the request to fail. For more information, please see the event log. ---> System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation. at System.Security.AccessControl.Win32.SetSecurityInfo(ResourceType type, String name, SafeHandle handle, SecurityInfos securityInformation, SecurityIdentifier owner, SecurityIdentifier group, GenericAcl sacl, GenericAcl dacl) at System.Security.AccessControl.NativeObjectSecurity.Persist(String name, SafeHandle handle, AccessControlSections includeSections, Object exceptionContext) at System.Security.AccessControl.NativeObjectSecurity.Persist(String name, AccessControlSections includeSections) at System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemSecurity.Persist(String fullPath) at System.IO.Directory.SetAccessControl(String path, DirectorySecurity directorySecurity) at System.IO.DirectoryInfo.SetAccessControl(DirectorySecurity directorySecurity) at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.CreateDirAndFiles() at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.OnLoad() at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.Load() at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection(WindowsIdentity identity, Boolean allowCreate) at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.CreateConnection() at Microsoft.InfoCards.ClientUIRequest.OnInitializeAsUser() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.Initialize() --- End of inner exception stack trace ---</
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Either the store directory or the store file ACLs were found to be tampered. The ACLs have now been restored to their default settings. Additional Information: at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo) at System.Environment.get_StackTrace() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.BuildMessage(InfoCardBaseException ie) at Microsoft.InfoCards.Diagnostics.InfoCardTrace.TraceAndLogException(Exception e) at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.LogIfAclsTampered(FileSystemInfo fileSysInfo) at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.CreateDirAndFiles() at Microsoft.InfoCards.FileDataSource.OnLoad() at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.Load() at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.GetConnection(WindowsIdentity identity, Boolean allowCreate) at Microsoft.InfoCards.StoreConnection.CreateConnection() at Microsoft.InfoCards.ClientUIRequest.OnInitializeAsUser() at Microsoft.InfoCards.Request.Initialize() at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.CreateClientRequestInstance(UIAgentMonitorHandle monitorHandle, String reqName, IntPtr rpcHandle, Stream inStream, Stream outStream) at Microsoft.InfoCards.RequestFactory.ProcessNewRequest(Int32 parentRequestHandle, IntPtr rpcHandle, IntPtr inArgs, IntPtr& outArgs)</
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looks like the card store is corrupt.
Any ideas on how I can reset this
-fs

Francis Shanahan

Fixed!
I followed the steps on this page to delete the store:
http://cardspace.netfx3.com/content/Dogfood.aspx

Except in Vista that folder is under C:\Users\<user>\Local Settings\Microsoft\CardSpace

Note: I had to delete the Cardspace folder itself, deleting the contents alone did not solve the problem.

Thx guys,
-fs

The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator

Re: The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator

Re: The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator

Re: The Windows CardSpace service is disabled by your administrator