Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

I have been running a Power Bi Gateway on a Windows 10 desktop to link local excel file and website downloads to my Power BI model.

I have upgraded to a new Windows 11 machine and have tried to install the Personal Gateway but get an error 'Error generating an asymmetric key. Exception message: Key not valid for use in specified state. '

I have treid extensive fixes with no success (see below for summary) and woudl greatly appreciate help to resolve

Kind regards

Ian

Gateway Installation Attempts
- Installed Power BI On-premises Data Gateway (Personal mode) as Administrator multiple times.
- Each time, setup failed at ~62–63% during “CreateAndUpdateLocalService” with:
```
 
```
  pgsql
  
  Error generating an asymmetric key. Exception message: Key not valid for use in specified state.

Network Connectivity Checks
- Test-NetConnection login.microsoftonline.com –Port 443: Succeeded
- Test-NetConnection *.servicebus.windows.net –Port 443: Name resolution failed

Antivirus & Service Interference
- Temporarily disabled Kaspersky→ error persisted.
- Verified that the “On-premises data gateway service (personal mode)” never reached a Running state.

DPAPI & Crypto Permissions
- Ran in elevated CMD:
```
 
```
  bat
  
  icacls "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys" /grant "NT SERVICE\PBIEgwService":(M) /t icacls "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys" /grant "Administrators":(M) /t
- Confirmed “Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files.”

DISM / SFC Health Repairs
- DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth stalled at ~62% for >30 minutes.
- Checked dism.log—no new errors beyond long processing times.
- Ran SFC /scannow → Completed successfully, repaired only broken shortcuts (no core DLL errors).

Gateway Reinstallation Variants
- Completely uninstalled Personal Gateway, removed leftover files and registry entries, rebooted, then reinstalled as Admin → same asymmetric-key error.
- Tried both Personal and Standard (“cluster”) gateway installers → Personal mode always fails; Standard installs but isn’t usable for per-user scenarios.

File & Folder Audits
- Verified no hidden files in MachineKeys folder (where DPAPI stores its keys).
- Confirmed no leftover gateway keys or config data under %ProgramData%\Microsoft\On-premises data gateway.

Windows Crypto Subsystem Diagnostics
- Confirmed no Kerberos or DPAPI errors in Event Viewer.
- Tried restarting the “Cryptographic Services” (CryptSvc) → no change.

Current Failure:

Every installer run culminates in the same DPAPI-related exception:

That indicates the system’s DPAPI key store is still corrupt or inaccessible, which prevents the gateway from generating its required service key.

Suggested Next Steps for Microsoft / Windows Specialist

DPAPI Deep-Dive: Investigate DPAPI master key store under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys and the Local System profile’s key container.

In-Place Repair Install: Perform an in-place Windows repair (keep apps & data) to fully restore the crypto subsystem.

Alternate Machine: As a control test, install the Personal gateway on a known-good Windows build (e.g., a freshly imaged VM) to confirm the installer itself isn’t at fault.