Symptoms

When attempting to start the FinePointe software, the user receives an error "The controller database does not exist".

This usually occurs if the SQL service for the FinePointe SQL server instance is not started in Windows.

Solution

Begin by trying to start the SQL service for FinePointe.

1. Go to Services.msc (Click the Windows Start button, and type in services.msc).
2. Find the service "SQL Server (SQLExpress)".  Right-click on it and select Start.

If the service won't start, it might be because the account credentials used to start the service either don't exist, or are not allowed to start a Windows service.  This could be the case if the customer is on a domain that has heightened security settings.  Try the following:

1. Log into the computer as a Windows Administrator.
2. Go to Services.msc.
3. Find the "SQL Server (SQLExpress)" service, right-click and select Properties.
4. In the SQL Server Properties dialog, go to the Log On tab.
5. Make sure "This account" is selected.  
6. The account should be "NT SERVICE\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS" and the password should be buXco%!79.
7. You may receive a message that indicates that NT SERVICE\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS has been added to “Log on as a service”.
8. Go to the General tab and attempt to start the service now.

If you received the message in step 7, you will need to have the customer work with their IT group to permanently NT SERVICE\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS to the computer's security policy.  This is policy can be found by opening secpol.msc (click the Windows Start button, type in secpol.msc) and then by navigating to Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment -> Log on as a service.  NT SERVICE\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS needs to be added to the list of accounts that can Log on as a service.