Question : Protected Storage

When starting NT 4 (SP 3) I get the following error box:
"The Protected Storage service terminated with service-specific error 2148270091. "
What is this?
When I try to start it manually in the Services applet I get the same message.

Answer : Protected Storage

Here is the MS line on PS.

The Microsoft Protected Storage (PStore) is an operating-system service that allows applications to store and retrieve private or sensitive data on behalf of users. Its features include:
      Uniform security model. A standardized, confirmation user-interface (UI) makes it easy and convenient for users to control access to all protected data.
      Convenient user management of data and passwords. There is a single location where users may backup secured data, and set passwords or other security policy.
      Application restricted access. Access to data may be restricted to a specified application or set of applications.
      Provider model. Support is provided for third party storage providers, including future security-hardware devices such as smart cards

Application developers can access these services through the PStore API. For more information on this API, see Using the Pstore API.

PStore Attributes
PStore is not intended to replace other secure storage software, such as the Windows NT Secure Registry. Rather, it is intended to provide an additional level of data access control and data security. PStore has the following attributes:
      Uses an access control model that allows applications as well as users to access protected data.
      Provides user confirmation management that allows specification of particular user interaction required for access.
      Pays a high overhead for strong (heavyweight) security, and as such is appropriate only for small amounts of core data, such as passwords or encryption keys that control encryption of other data. Because of this overhead, it is not suitable for data that does not require a high level of security protection, or for large amounts of data.
      Supports devices which have different characteristics than current storage devices. An example of this is a device having very limited storage capacity (for instance 8 to 32K bytes on a smart card).
      Because of the nature and size of the items stored, PStore consists of a small amount of code, and does not need to support streams, seeks, locks, commits, etc.

Access to this protected data is generally on a “per user” basis, but , if necessary, the data can be stored such that it can be accessed on a “per machine” basis. Additionally, users of an application developed using PStore can authorize other applications to have access to specified data, and conversely other applications may request that the user grant them access to all data of a specified type.
Through the use of dialog boxes, PStore provides the capability to prompt the user to confirm access authorization. Users may manage passwords and other characteristics contained in the dialog boxes to confirm access to, or use of, the protected data. PStore aware applications may rely on a standardized set of user confirmation dialogs.
Users may conveniently remove protected data items, such as private keys, from their system when not in use, and PStore provides facilities for backing them up to a storage media.
Smart card manufacturers can supply a software interface that interfaces with PStore. This is done using the mechanism of an installable PStore Provider. Because the details of the smart card interface are handled by PStore, developers can design applications that are “smart card ready” without having to understand the details of future smart card interfaces.
Audience

Try setting the PS service to begin startup and then doing a cold boot.
How feasible is it to reinstall NT?