title: The report server cannot decrypt the symmetric key that is used to access sensitive or encrypted data in a report server database for some reports
body: <p>I am using some SSRS reports in some applications that I developed using Visual Studio. </p>
  
  <p>Recently I noticed that my report server url is giving me the following error message. </p>
  
  <p>"<em>The report server cannot decrypt the symmetric key that is used to access sensitive or encrypted data in a report server database. You must either restore a backup key or delete all encrypted content. (rsReportServerDisabled) Get Online Help
  For more information about this error navigate to the report server on the local server machine, or enable remote errors</em>"</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/56WQp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/56WQp.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>I can't go delete the encryption details and try to set the data connections again as many posts suggest because there are a lot of SSRS reports in this server and I don't know the username and passwords to connect to all databases. </p>
  
  <p>Further, I noticed the following. </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>My SSRS home page displays this error message</li>
  <li>Some applications using reports hosted in this report server displays the same message</li>
  <li>Other few applications using reports hosted in this report server works as expected without any error messages </li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Where should I look and what should I do about this? Any help is much appreciated. </p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance. </p>