SQL Server 2014 Fails to install

Question

SQL Server 2014 Fails to install

Ethan Wright 1

Hello all,

Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give.

I am installing Microsoft SQL Server 2014 on a

Lenovo ThinkPad P73
Windows 10 Pro for workstations - 1909
When I attempt to install it fails with this error:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Setup

The following error has occurred:

Service 'SQL Server VSS Writer' (SQLWriter) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Click 'Retry' to retry the failed action, or click 'Cancel' to cancel this action and continue setup.

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=12.0.2000.8&EvtType=0xF45F6601%25401201%25401

BUTTONS:

&Retry

Cancel

I checked the "SQL Server VSS Writer" service.

The service is not running.
It is set to log on as Local System Account
When I try to start the service the error I get is:

Windows could not start the SQL server Writer service on the local computer.

Error 1053: the service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

I am locally logged in with the local Admin account and running the install and Administrator.

Please let me know if someone has an idea of what to do, or if I need to post logs.

(Let me know where the logs are located.)

AmeliaGu-MSFT 14,006 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-01-15T02:42:34.853+00:00

Hi EthanWright-1726,

Could you please share us summary.txt and detail.txt in SQL Server Setup log within %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\120 \Setup Bootstrap\Log? Please refer to View and Read SQL Server Setup Log Files.
Please try to install the Visual C++ Redistributable 2010 or newer which might help.

Best Regards,
Amelia
Jikke 26 Reputation points

2021-08-13T15:38:16.46+00:00

Hello, I have this exact same problem, and I am struggling with it for days. Anyone be able to help me?

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AmeliaGu-MSFT 14,006 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-01-15T02:42:34.853+00:00

Hi EthanWright-1726,

Could you please share us summary.txt and detail.txt in SQL Server Setup log within %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\120 \Setup Bootstrap\Log? Please refer to View and Read SQL Server Setup Log Files.
Please try to install the Visual C++ Redistributable 2010 or newer which might help.

Best Regards,
Amelia
Jikke 26 Reputation points

2021-08-13T15:38:16.46+00:00

Hello, I have this exact same problem, and I am struggling with it for days. Anyone be able to help me?

Answer 1

cheong00 3,486 Volunteer Moderator

I think you can check the Event Viewer for System Event.

Most likely the corresponding VC++ redistributables are not installed in your system. However I don't have SQL2014 installed to verify the version.

If you can, use "Depends" (the dependency walker) to open "Shared\sqlwriter.exe" and tell us the filename of "VCRUNTIME???.DLL", so we can tell you the version of redistributable to download. (I just tried it, it will appear to be hang for about 2 minutes, that is normal)

If you see VSRUNTIME140.dll, then you need to download and install VC++ Redistributable for VS2015

Jikke 26 Reputation points

2021-08-13T17:42:19.49+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

Where can you find the VCRUNTIME file? I opened sqlwriter.exe with depends on but I can't find the file. And the search function in depends is greyed out.
Erland Sommarskog 122.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-08-13T21:09:20.65+00:00

It usually better to start a new thread than piggyback on an old one. But since the original thread did not come very far, it may not matter that much.

Anyway, try to start the service from the Service applet. This will most likely fail, but next check the Windows eventlog for errors, so we can find out why the service does not start.

I'm a little skeptic to the VCruntime idea, because the redistributable should come with the installation.

Is this a corporate machine, or you or private computer?
cheong00 3,486 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-08-14T13:11:05.89+00:00

When you open the "sqlwriter.exe" with the Depends application I linked to, it will show all the dependent DLL the file request to load.

VCRUNTIME???.DLL should be one of them (if not present it'll report the file is missing).

If you see a missing DLL named VCRUNTIME140.DLL, then you should download and install the "VC++ Redistributable for VS2015" I linked above. Don't just download VCRUNTIME???.DLL because it also links to other DLLs in the runtime. Simply copy that DLL won't work.

======

I 'm also a little skeptic to the missing VS runtime idea, but as I've seem others report "SQL VSS Writer cannot start" problem in StackOverflow and claim to be fixed by installing the missing runtime, maybe there is defect in the installer by not including it.

That said, the reason should be seen when he post back the event viewer output.
Erland Sommarskog 122.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-08-14T13:14:09.137+00:00

This issue has been resolved. Jikke and I was able to collaborate on the problem in this thread: https://learn.microsoft.com/answers/questions/513258/service-39sql-server-vss-writer39-failed-to-start.html.

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SQL Server 2014 Fails to install

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