Sophos Anti-Virus SBE: scheduler service fails to start

Sophos Product and Version
Sophos Anti-Virus Small Business Edition (SBE)

Issue
In Sophos Anti-Virus Small Business Edition (SBE), the software scheduler service fails to start and returns an error code:

Error 0x80040503 is displayed in the event log if the service attempted to start automatically,
Error 2147220221 or 2147747075 is displayed in a dialog box if you attempted to start the service manually.

Software scheduler errors may also be seen in the event log on the server (or the computer hosting the software).

What to do

Use Windows services to stop the 'Sophos Enterprise Manager scheduler' service (if started). Leave this window open.
For more information on how to open and use Windows Services, see the Windows services article.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Sophos\SCC\
Delete the file ssdata.idx.
Go back to the Windows services window and restart the 'Sophos Enterprise Manager scheduler'.

If you need more information or guidance, then please contact technical support.