SharePoint 2013: The SDDL string contains an invalid sid or a sid that cannot be translated

Background

Site admins facing an issue in setting up a SharePoint 2013 standalone environment.

Step 8 of SharePoint configuration wizard says"The SDDL string contains an invalid sid or a sid that cannot be translated".

After spending a significant amount of time, this issue was finally resolved in this way:

Add the account you want to use for search service in WSS_Admin_WPG group. If you are going to use built in administrator account this should be present by default.
Then execute this command from SharePoint PowerShell console:
$SearchService = Get-Credential Domain\UserName

In our scenario of standalone installation the Domain should be the machine name.

Then execute this command: New-SPManagedAccount -Credential $SearchService
Now go to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Data\Office Server" and find the folder that starts with Analytics with a postfix GUID.
Note: *If you selected a different location to store index files, check this path! *
Right-click --> Properties --> Sharing --> Advanced Sharing
Check the "Share this folder' check box and click Permissions
Add the Search Service account created in step 2 and select Full Control. Do the same for WSS_ADMIN_WPG
Run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard again. It should now complete successfully.