I ran it today exactly the same way and it didn't return "The -create
command is invalid". It complained about an incorrect password, then an
incorrect database collation, and then (once all that was fixed) it
succeeded.

Is there a timer job that could affect the behaviour of psconfig?

Now I'm getting an error  configuring the WSS Search database. I ran:

Stsadm -o spsearch -action start  <Farm Service Account>
<DomainName\UserName> -farmservicepassword <password>
-farmcontentaccessaccount <DomainName\UserName>
-farmcontentaccesspassword <password> -databaseserver <Databaseserver>
-databasename <SqlWSSSearchDatabaseName>



...and I got an event 10035 warning in the WFE application log:

"Could not import the registry hive into the registry because it does
not exist in the configuration database."

The next entry in the WFE application log is informational and says:

"Successfully stored the application configuration registry snapshot in
the database. Context: 'Search index file on the search server'" (ID
10044)

Does this mean that stsadm recovered from the failed registry hive
import? Is it safe to carry on?

Not even a nibble. It's pretty lonely in this thread!

Configuring search is not my cup if tea. However, why are you using stsadm
rather than the user interface.

So that I can specify the database for it to use.

I had the "-farmservicepassword" parameter messed up. Just tried it
again as:

Stsadm -o spsearch -action start  -farmserviceaccount
<DomainName\UserName> -farmservicepassword <password>
farmcontentaccessaccount <DomainName\UserName>
-farmcontentaccesspassword <password> -databaseserver <Databaseserver>
-databasename <SqlWSSSearchDatabaseName>


and it succeeded.

Don't forget that 'stsadm.exe -o spsearch' is WSS V3, and 'stsadm.exe -o
osearch' is SharePoint Server Search.

MOSS Search command  Line:

· Stsadm.exe -o osearch can be used to set  a variety of things from
server Search roles to propagation locations. The following are examples of
osearch commands:

· Stsadm.exe -o osearch -action start  -role Index -farmcontactemail
searchadmin@... -farmperformancelevel Maximum -farmserviceaccount
trainsbydave\safarm -farmservicepassword P@ssw0rd -defaultindexlocation
c:\indexes -propagationlocatoin c:\qindexes

· You may change many of the above parameters  as follows:

· -action can be List, Start, or Stop

· -role can be Index, Query, or IndexQuery

· -farmperformancelevel can be Reduced, PartlyReduced, or Maximum

· You may also use the -f parameter to suppress prompts

Osearchdiacriticsensitive (CAUTION)

· Stsadm.exe -o osearchdiacriticsensitive -ssp <"SSP name"> -setstatus
true | false -noreset -force enables Sharepoint Server Search to recognize and
index diacritic marks, also called accent marks. For example, stsadm.exe -o
spsearchdiacriticsensitive -setstatus true will now index 'ñ' and 'n' as
different characters. By default, they are both indexed as 'n'. Caution should
be exercised if you choose to not use -noreset, because a full Index reset will
occur.

WSS V3 Command Line:

Stsadm.exe -o spsearch is used to manage the WSS V3 Search service. You can
start or stop Full and Incremental crawls, change content database search server
association, change the default content access account, and modify the Index
file location. For example, stsadm.exe -o spsearch -action list will display all
WSS Search Servers in the farm  including the Index file location, status of
diacritic marks, and the content database/Search Server associations. Following
are the command line  options for spsearch.

[-action <list|start|stop|attachcontentdatabase|detachcontentdatabase|fullc

awlstart|fullcrawlstop>]

[-f (suppress prompts)]

[-farmperformancelevel <Reduced|PartlyReduced|Maximum>]

[-farmserviceaccount <DOMAIN\name> (service credentials)]

[-farmservicepassword <password>]

[-farmcontentaccessaccount <DOMAIN\name>]

[-farmcontentaccesspassword <password>]

[-indexlocation <new index location>]

[-databaseserver <server\instance> (default: <current server>)]

[-databasename <database name> (default: <current search DB)]

[-sqlauthlogin <SQL authenticated database user>]

[-sqlauthpassword <password>]

-action list

-action stop

[-f (suppress prompts)]

-action start

-farmserviceaccount <DOMAIN\name> (service credentials)

[-farmservicepassword <password>]

-action attachcontentdatabase

[-databaseserver <server\instance> (default: <current server)]

-databasename <content database name>

[-searchserver <search server name> (default: <current server)]

-action detachcontentdatabase

[-databaseserver <server\instance> (default: <current server>)]

-databasename <content database name>

[-f (suppress prompts)]

-action fullcrawlstart

-action fullcrawlstop

Spsearchdiacriticsensitive (CAUTION)

· Stsadm.exe -o spsearchdiacriticsensitive -setstatus [True | False]
[-noreset][-force] enables WSS Search to recognize and index diacritic marks,
also called accent marks. For example, stsadm.exe -o spsearchdiacriticsensitive
-setstatus true will now index all 'ñ' and 'n' as different characters. By
default, they are both indexed as 'n'. Caution should be exercised if you choose
to not use -noreset, because a full Index reset will occur.