Introduction
In an unexpected move, Microsoft is advising Windows system administrators to disregard certain certificate enrollment errors being reported on their domain-joined machines. The guidance comes amidst growing concerns around the appearance of these warnings, which may raise red flags for IT professionals managing enterprise networks.
While certificate errors typically indicate a breakdown in communication or a potential security issue, Microsoft has clarified that these recent certificate enrollment failures do not reflect any functional issues or vulnerabilities in affected systems. This advisory has sparked debate in the cybersecurity community about visibility, transparency, and best practices in certificate management.
What’s Causing the Certificate Warnings?
The alerts stem from an underlying issue in the certificate auto-enrollment process on some domain-joined Windows systems. Administrators are reporting Event ID 65 warnings in the Event Viewer under the “CertificateServicesClient-AutoEnrollment” log. The message generally appears as:
“Certificate enrollment for Local system failed to enroll for a DomainController certificate with request ID N from CA Server. The RPC server is unavailable. 0x800706ba (WIN32: 1722 RPC server unavailable).”
Although the alert suggests a communication failure with a Certificate Authority (CA), Microsoft has confirmed that these warnings are benign and do not prevent authentication or cause service disruptions.
Microsoft’s Official Guidance
According to Microsoft, system administrators should not take any corrective action in response to these errors. In a recent statement, the tech giant emphasized that the issue is purely cosmetic and will not impact connectivity, domain trust relationships, or the proper functioning of Windows services.
Microsoft recommends the following:
- Ignore Event ID 65 warnings if the system is fully functional.
- Do not make changes to CA configurations or policy settings related to certificate templates or auto-enrollment protocols.
- Refrain from troubleshooting RPC services unless there are actual functional service disruptions.
Microsoft also noted that the messages are being generated due to auto-enrollment behavior that attempts to renew or request certificates even when those templates are unavailable or restricted by policy.
Addressing Confusion Among IT Admins
Microsoft’s decision to advise admins to ignore what appears to be a certificate failure may cause confusion, especially among IT professionals trained to treat any certificate-related issue as a high-priority alert. The disconnect highlights an ongoing challenge in system logging: distinguishing between operational logs and actionable alerts.
For many, certificate errors are typically associated with trust, encryption, and access control, making it difficult to simply dismiss them—even with official instruction. However, Microsoft insists these specific errors do not point to an exploit or vulnerability. Instead, they result from background processes that fail gracefully but still log noisy events.
What Should You Do Moving Forward?
While it may feel counterintuitive, Microsoft’s current advice is to continue monitoring systems while avoiding unnecessary troubleshooting tied to the reported error messages. There is no hotfix available at this time, and the company is reportedly evaluating whether a long-term resolution or message suppression mechanism is needed.
Recommended Best Practices:
- Mark the specific Event ID 65 messages as informational in internal documentation to prevent false alarms.
- Train helpdesk and sysadmins to recognize and disregard the specific Event ID pattern highlighted by Microsoft.
- Maintain updated documentation of all certificate templates, enrollment policies, and their role in domain architecture.
Final Thoughts
As enterprise systems grow more complex, even minor inconsistencies can create administrative headaches. With Microsoft signaling that some certificate enrollment errors are non-critical, it’s essential for IT teams to balance vigilance with context. Ignoring alerts goes against standard security instincts—but in this case, it’s what Microsoft recommends.
Stay tuned for future updates from Microsoft, as a more permanent fix could be on the horizon. For now, system admins can safely carry on despite these benign warnings blinking in their logs.