BUG: You receive an "Error 25003" error message when you restart the computer after you install SQL Server Desktop Engine Service Pack 3 (904652)

SYMPTOMS

When you restart the computer after you install Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (also known as MSDE 2000) Service Pack 3 (SP3), you receive the following error message:

Product: Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine -- Error 25003.
Setup has detected that your current SA password is set to blank. Please use sp_password to set a strong SA password and restart setup or set BLANKSAPWD = 1 to ignore this vulnerability. Refer to readme for more details. Setup will now exit.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when some components that correspond with the Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL.dll) are installed and a specific registry key is written to the computer under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key.

When you try to install SQL Server Desktop Engine SP3, Microsoft Windows Installer cannot validate the registry key for the existing components that correspond with the Active Template Library by using the local system account.

For example, this problem may occur when the computer has Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server installed.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server Desktop Engine. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290211 How to obtain the latest SQL Server 2000 service pack

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, when the installation of SQL Server Desktop Engine SP3 is completed, unregister the ATL.dll file. Then, register the ATL.dll file before you restart the computer. To do this, follow these steps:

To unregister the ATL.dll file, click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 -u "C:\WINDOWS\system32\atl.dll", and then click OK.
Click OK.
To register the ATL.dll file, click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 "C:\WINDOWS\system32\atl.dll", and then click OK.
Click OK.

Note You may have to modify the drive name and path in step 1 and in step 3.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

815013 How to upgrade an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine to SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3

325023 Upsize SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine to SQL Server

322336 How to verify and change the MSDE system administrator password

285097 How to change the default login authentication mode to SQL while installing SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine by using Windows Installer