You are not able to install SQL server 2008 standard on a VISTA machine

I got to know that many of the techies and dev's are affected due to this issue and as it is a known issue and also not documneted, we definitely should post this to help you guys further with your deployment, thanks to Manikandan who got this case and drew our attention toward the problem

Problem:
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You are not able to install SQL Server 2008 standard on a VISTA machine

Error Message:

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02/04/2009 14:33:20.418

02/04/2009 14:33:20.419 Setup launched

02/04/2009 14:33:20.420 Attempting to determine media source

02/04/2009 14:33:20.421 Media source value not specified on command line argument.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.421 Setup is launched from media directly so default the value to the current folder.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.422 Media source: C:\Users\Alan\Desktop\SQL2008\

02/04/2009 14:33:20.423 Attempt to determine media layout based on file 'C:\Users\Alan\Desktop\SQL2008\mediainfo.xml'.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.550 Media layout is detected as: Full

02/04/2009 14:33:20.550 Media LCID is detected as: 1033

02/04/2009 14:33:20.551 Local setup.exe not found, so continuing to run setup.exe from media.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.552 /? or /HELP or /ACTION=HELP specified: false

02/04/2009 14:33:20.553 Help display: false

02/04/2009 14:33:20.553 Checking to see if we need to install .Net version 3.5

02/04/2009 14:33:20.554 Determining the cluster status of the local machine.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.560 The local machine is not configured as a cluster node.

02/04/2009 14:33:20.561 Attempting to find media for .Net version 3.5

02/04/2009 14:33:20.609 .Net version 3.5 is installed

02/04/2009 14:33:20.610 RedistMSI::GetExpectedBuildRevision - Setup expects MSI 4.5.6001.22159 at the minimum

02/04/2009 14:33:20.611 Attempting to get Windows Installer version

02/04/2009 14:33:20.612 Setup closed with exit code: 0x80070002

02/04/2009 14:33:20.612

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TROUBLESHOOTING/ RESOLUTION

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Environment details :

OS : Vista Ultimate SP1 6001

SQLBuild : sql server 2008 as a (std edn X86)

ü When we click the sql server 2008 setup file we get the above error and the setup aborts.

ü Generally this error doesn't even create any in setup bootstrap folder as it is not even reaching to invoke the setup.

 

How we resolved this issue:

 

ü Verify that if these 2 registry keys exist and what their values are, if they dont exist please create them

 

Registry hive under:

    HKLM: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer

    Registry value name: InstallerLocation

    LPCWSTR lpSubKey = L"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Installer";

    LPCWSTR lpValueName = L"InstallerLocation";

ü The value in that key is supposed to point to system32 directory (C:\WINDOWS\system32\). If the value is there then check if msi.dll is in the location where the registry value points to.

ü If the InstallerLocation Registry Key is missing - we should create it and set it to the System32 directory. {In most of the cases we find this}

ü We should be able to install SQL Server after this on Vista.