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Troubleshooting SQL 2008 Installation (Access Denied)

I have to say that the improvements in the SQL 2008 installation have been pretty good to me. We have a Hyper-V lab with automated SQL installation based on configuration templates which works really well. We can get a box provisioned with SQL 2008 in under 20 minutes. We can do it in a few minutes using sysprep, but that's a no no for supportability and a few other reasons.

Recently I saw a case where the installation did not go so smooth with a cryptic "Access Denied" message which is reported on connect. https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=390424 

and blogged about here

https://blogs.msdn.com/joaol/archive/2008/12/02/sql-server-2008-installation-aborts-due-an-access-denied.aspx

This led me to take some notes on a generic approach to troubleshooting a failed SQL 2008 install and the following steps.

a) Review the "details.txt" file in the setupLog folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log.

b) Cross reference the failure message in the log file with a search engine, Microsoft Connect and KB articles.

c) If still no resolution, contacting Microsoft Premier Support will probably save time as a next step as they can search internal databases and escalate.

If you want to troubleshoot more these steps have worked for me

a) run "gpresult /V" to output resultant group policy (especially security policy). Compare this to a known working install and see if any core differences. Instructions on gpresult are here https://support.microsoft.com/kb/321709

b) Finally use the sysinternals "Process Monitor" tool to watch the install and identify the resource which is causing issues

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx