A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential

The monitoring software triggers you with the error Event ID 36871: A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013. In this article, you will learn why this is happening, and the solution for a fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential.

A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential

Sign in to the Windows Server and start Event Viewer. Navigate to Windows Logs > System. You will see error Event ID 36871. A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013.

Why do we get this error, and what is the solution for a fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013?

Check Transport Layer Security protocols

Schannel is a Security Support Provider (SSP) that implements the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) Internet standard authentication protocols.

Download IIS Crypto GUI by Nartac Software. After the application is downloaded, start the application.

We see that Server Protocols and Client Protocols TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are unchecked.

If we click on Best Practices, it will enable Server Protocols and Client Protocols TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. After a reboot, the event error will not show up. When doing that, we fix the problem, but we enable the deprecated protocols. That’s what we do not want.

So how do we keep TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 unchecked (disabled) without a fatal error TLS client credential 10013 from showing up?

Transport Layer Security protocols status

See a list of the security protocols and when they are published, including the current status.

Note: Only TLS 1.3 and TLS 1.2 are approved. The protocol TLS 1.3 is only available to enable in Windows Server 2022 or newer.

Protocol	Published	Status
SSL 2.0	1995	Deprecated in 2011
SSL 3.0	1996	Deprecated in 2015
TLS 1.0	1999	Deprecated in 2020
TLS 1.1	2006	Deprecated in 2020
TLS 1.2	2008	Approved
TLS 1.3	2018	Approved

Solution for a fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential

Now that we gathered all the information, we are going to enable TLS 1.2 on the system by running the script. After a reboot, we will check the Event Viewer. It should not show any errors.

Run PowerShell as administrator. Download Enable-TLS1.2.ps1 PowerShell script and run it from PowerShell. Another way is to copy the below PowerShell script.

If (-Not (Test-Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319')) {
    New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Name 'SystemDefaultTlsVersions' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Name 'SchUseStrongCrypto' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null

If (-Not (Test-Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319')) {
    New-Item 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Name 'SystemDefaultTlsVersions' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319' -Name 'SchUseStrongCrypto' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null

If (-Not (Test-Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server')) {
    New-Item 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server' -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server' -Name 'Enabled' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Server' -Name 'DisabledByDefault' -Value '0' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null

If (-Not (Test-Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client')) {
    New-Item 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client' -Force | Out-Null
}
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client' -Name 'Enabled' -Value '1' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client' -Name 'DisabledByDefault' -Value '0' -PropertyType 'DWord' -Force | Out-Null

Write-Host 'TLS 1.2 has been enabled. You must restart the Windows Server for the changes to take effect.' -ForegroundColor Cyan

Paste the script in PowerShell ISE and run the script.

Reboot the Windows Server.

Start Event Viewer. Expand Windows Logs and click System. The error “Event ID 36871: A fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013.” doesn’t show up anymore.

Did it work for you?

Conclusion

You learned why you get a fatal error occurred while creating a TLS client credential. The internal error state is 10013. The solution to this problem is configuring TLS 1.2 on the Windows Server. After that, you don’t see the Event ID 36871 errors in Event Viewer.

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