Resolution: Error during encryption or decryption. System error code 997 in SharePoint

I was recently ran into an issue in SharePoint where my Central Administration web app disappeared. When I tried to redeploy Central Administration, I was confronted with the error below.

An exception of type System.ArgumentException was thrown.  Additional exception information: Error during encryption or decryption. System error code 997.

Everything I saw online said the only option was to create a new config database. Personally, I thought that seemed a bit extreme. Well, I found a better option that worked for me, and will probably work for you too.

Fix Event ID# 7043 Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed: Could not load type

This is an error that's a little misleading. At first it might seem that the file is missing or that there is a permissions issue, but that's not the case. The problem is that there is a bad charater in the template file.

Log Name:      Application

Source:        Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation

Date:          3/6/2013 1:07:44 PM

Event ID:      7043

Task Category: Web Controls

Level:         Error

Keywords:     

User:          DOMAIN\farm-admin

Computer:      sharepoint-server.domain.local

Description:

Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed: Could not load type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TaxonomyPicker' from assembly 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e4bce131e9439c'.

Fix Sharepoint/Powershell Error: The Farm is Unavailable

Below is an error that you can get in PowerShell or via STSADM for SharePoint

PS C:\> Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy
Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy : The farm is unavailable.
At line:1 char:30
+ Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy <<<<
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (Microsoft.Share...pplicationProxy:SPCmdletGetServiceApplicationProxy) [Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy], InvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletGetServiceApplicationProxy

SharePoint Navigation Limited to 50 Items

There is a limit set in SharePoint by default which only allows fifty links to show up in the navigation. If you add pages and/or subsites beyond the limit of 50, they stop showing up in the navigation.

The right thing to do would be to re-evaluate your SharePoint site structure at this point. Chances are though, that you will need a more immediate work around to get you past this issue in the meantime.

The limit is set in the PortalSiteMapProvider class in SharePoint. Microsoft’s explanation behind this limit is that “Showing a large number of items in the navigation menu is not useful and can have a negative impact on performance”.