Failed to start service 'Sitecore Marketing Automation Engine'

If you’re facing the error “Failed to start service Sitecore Marketing Automation Engine” one potential cause could be related to certificate issues. Here’s a step-by-step guide to troubleshoot and resolve this problem:

Step 1: Check for Non-Self-Signed Certificates

First, you need to identify if there are any non-self-signed certificates in the Local Machine Root store. These certificates can sometimes interfere with the service startup.

Open PowerShell with administrative privileges.
Run the following script to list any non-self-signed certificates:

Get-Childitem cert:LocalMachineroot -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.Issuer -ne $_.Subject}

If the script returns any results, it means there are non-self-signed certificates present.

Step 2: Move Non-Self-Signed Certificates

To resolve the issue, you need to move these non-self-signed certificates to the Intermediate Certification Authorities store. This can be done with another PowerShell command.

Execute the following command in PowerShell:
Get-Childitem cert:LocalMachineroot -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.Issuer -ne $_.Subject} | Move-Item -Destination Cert:LocalMachineCA

This command relocates the non-self-signed certificates to the appropriate store, ensuring they do not interfere with the service startup.

Step 3: Start the Sitecore Marketing Automation Engine Service

After moving the certificates, attempt to start the Sitecore Marketing Automation Engine service again. This time, it should start without any issues.