Help Needed with SQL Server Express Installation

Question

Hi everyone, I’m trying to install SQL Server Express (Basic Edition) on my Windows machine for a Microsoft Windows Object Oriented Programming project, but I keep running into an error. Every time I attempt the installation, I get the following message: Oops... Unable to install SQL Server (setup.exe). Exit code (Decimal): -2080623238 Error description: There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A DLL required for this installation to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. SQL SERVER INSTALL LOG FOLDER C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\160\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20250928_155013 I’ve tried multiple times, but it keeps failing. I’m not sure what I’m missing or how to fix it. Can anyone help me troubleshoot this or suggest a solution? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hi @yasinfect

Thank you for reaching out to the SQL forum.

The error occurs due to corrupted or incomplete installation package, or missing system components required to run the installer.

Please try below things to fix the issue.

1. Right-click the installer (setup.exe) and choose "Run as administrator".
2. Make sure your Windows OS is fully updated. Missing updates can prevent required DLLs from functioning.
3. Check that .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 are installed and enabled via

Control Panel --> Programs --> Turn Windows features on or off

4. Download the latest SQL Server Express installer directly from the official Microsoft site.
5. Use the SQL Server Installation Center or Microsoft Install/Uninstall Troubleshooter to remove any partial installations or Clean Previous Install components.
6. Open the log file in below path.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\160\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20250928_160300

Look for lines mentioning error, failed, or return value 3 to pinpoint the exact cause.

7. Some antivirus software may block DLL execution during setup. Try disabling it temporarily during installation.
8. Use the SQL Server 2022 Media Edition not Basic, The Basic web installer sometimes fails to fetch DLLs on restricted or unstable networks. Instead, download the offline installer “Custom/Download Media” option from Microsoft’s site and install from the offline setup.
9. Check Windows Installer Service, Make sure the Windows Installer service is active. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Find Windows Installer, right-click --> Start or Restart if running.
10. Some required DLLs fail to load if the Visual C++ runtime is missing.

Download and install both of these from Microsoft.

Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015–2022 (x64)

Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015–2022 (x86)

Note: After installing both, restart again.

11. Sometimes an incomplete setup blocks reinstallation.

Open Control Panel --> Programs --> Programs and Features

a. Uninstall anything that starts with below things.

Microsoft SQL Server 2022

Microsoft SQL Server Native Client

Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files

b. Delete the below setup folders if they exist.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SQL Server\

And then restart your computer.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Regards,

Dinesh

Answer 2

I did not give any promises that things would work out, did I?

This is a difficult situation. If it would happen to my own machine, maybe I could figure things out with help of Process Monitor from sysinternals, but it would probably take hours.

Just to make clear: you have an x64 machine?

The best bet at this point may be to create a virtual machine and install SQL Server on the VM. If you have never worked with VMs before, there is certainly a hurdle. But the flip side is that virtual machines is a technology that is well worth mastering on its own.

Answer 3

First of all, what processor do you have? If you have an ARM processor, consider it game over. SQL Server does not run on ARM. (But you could try installing LocalDB only. Some people have had success with that.)

If you have a regular x64 processor, I have a feeling that this particular error is due to that you have made multiple attempts with some random cleanup in between, and messed up your machine.

In that case, you could try following the instructions in this article: https://www.sql-easy.com/learn/how-to-uninstall-sql-server/. Some people have been able to install SQL Server with help of this article. But far from all.

Before you make any new attempts, be sure to read the article Troubleshoot errors related to system disk sector size greater than 4 KB before you try again. It discusses a known issue where Windows 11 reports a disk-sector size that SQL Server chokes on. This could be the cause for why Setup failed originally. (But it is not the reason for the error you have now.) Check out this article, and if needed apply the workarounds it proposes.