One useful tool in troubleshooting an AD RMS issue on the client is tracing. All that is needed is a tool from Sysinternals, a registry change, and reproduce the issue. The following logging is for the MSDRM client.

For information on logging for the MSIPC client please see AD RMS Troubleshooting: Client Side Tracing (MSIPC).

Notes:

• It may be useful to "reset the client" prior to tracing.
• The registry location for the tracing is dependent upon the OS architecture (x64 or x86) and the Office architecture.
  • x64 OS with 32 bit Office: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft
  • x64 OS and 64 bit Office: HKLM\Software\Microsoft
  • x86 OS: HKLM\Software\Microsoft
• The steps are performed on the client.
• The DebugView output may be saved and viewed in a text editor.

Steps: (x64 Windows 7 with x86 Office 2010 used in the screenshots)

1. Exit all Office applications.
2. Download DebugView from Sysinternals and save on desktop. Link
3. Run regedit.exe and navigate to the appropriate registry location.
4. Create a new key named MSDRM (screenshot below).
5. In the MSDRM key create an new DWORD value.
    - name: Trace
    - value: 0x1
6. Run  DebugView (as an administrator on Vista/Windows 7).
7. Under the Capture menu select Capture Global Win32 (screenshot below).
8. Enable Capture Events.
9. Start the Office application and reproduce the issue.
10. Stop the DebugView capture and save the output.

The DRM specific output is prefaced with [msdrm] in the DebugView output.

 
NOTE: for the RMS 2.0 Client (AKA MSIPC) the registry key will be MSIPC instead of MSDRM.  For example:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSIPC
or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSIPC