The report server cannot access the private key for the service account.

Reporting Services Error

    The report server cannot access the private key for the service account. This key is used to decrypt the symmetric key that protects content in the report server database. This condition might occur after the password is reset for the report server service account. You must either restore a backup key or delete all encrypted content. (rsKeyStateNotValid) Get Online Help
        For more information about this error navigate to the report server on the local server machine, or enable remote errors

I have read over the other post regarding this error such as

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26322598/The-report-server-cannot-decrypt-the-symmetric-key.html


I have to ask though, as it sounds scary to loose all encrypted data, but what exactly is that data and can it be replaced?

I have a box i have had to take over and the person who set it up used the local Administrator account as the service account, but that password had to be reset to get into the box so now the Key is not working and i get the above error.

My concern is that if i delete this key to create a new one, what actual data could i lose?

Should i do a backup of data sources or anything else i could restore after?

I ran this query from stack to get the data sources and their names
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9638431/listing-all-data-sources-and-their-dependencies-reports-items-etc-in-sql-ser

SELECT
    C2.Name AS Data_Source_Name,
    C.Name AS Dependent_Item_Name,
    C.Path AS Dependent_Item_Path
FROM
    ReportServer.dbo.DataSource AS DS
        INNER JOIN
    ReportServer.dbo.Catalog AS C
        ON
            DS.ItemID = C.ItemID
                AND
            DS.Link IN (SELECT ItemID FROM ReportServer.dbo.Catalog
                        WHERE Type = 5) --Type 5 identifies data sources
        FULL OUTER JOIN
    ReportServer.dbo.Catalog C2
        ON
            DS.Link = C2.ItemID
WHERE
    C2.Type = 5
ORDER BY
    C2.Name ASC,
    C.Name ASC;

Select allOpen in new window

I guess my concern is if i delete and re-create this key, i could cause even more damage. or will this not cause that sort of issue?

And yes, my MSSQL knowledge is limited (can you tell!), especially when it comes to Reporting Services and i am the only person who can do this.