Sean, thanks for your reply.

I created a new master key because in real world maybe I need to restore a TDE DB backup on a server with encrypted content (secured by its own master key), so in fact, if I a restore the master key with the original TDE backup, the whole encrypted stuff on my Instance2 is lost. Correct me if I wrong.

However, I followed the steps just like you propose and I get the same results (suspect DB). Maybe I screw up the whole Service Master Key or something. :w00t: