Tag Archives: Enter decryption password: Missing argument for option decrypt

How to fix the SQL Server Job Error “Failed to decrypt an encrypted XML node because the password was not specified or not correct” encountered with SSIS packages

If you have a password protected SSIS package you may encounter this error.

First off this seems like a very buggy problem and the solution may not work for everyone. Also, as typical, you may find that you are trying to solve more than one problem at once, for instances going from one domain to another seems to confuse matters. So if this solution doesn’t work it may be just part of the solution to your particular puzzle.

If you go to the job step properties you actually see that there are two spaces between /DECRYPT and /CHECKPOINTING.

CommandLine

If you reduce the space to one and run the job again you might get this error:

“Enter decryption password: Missing argument for option “decrypt””

This is because you’ve removed the password from the job associated with the package.

I’ve found that when you edit the command manually by first removing the spaces and then retyping the command with the package password this solves the error.

EditCommand

For example:

/DECRYPT YourPackagePassword /CHECKPOINTING

If this doesn’t work try scripting out the job, deleting it, and then running the script again.

Good Luck.