A security package specific error occurred

Error Message

When trying to connect to the ArcGIS server using ArcCatalog the following error message is received: "Error: a security package specific error occurred".

Cause

This occurs when the client machine is a Windows XP machine and all domain servers are Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 machines and are set to Active Directory level 3 native mode.

This is a result of how DCOM is handled in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

For additional information see the Microsoft article:

How to raise Active Directory domain and forest functional levels

Solution or Workaround