SQL Server Installation Problem

Question

Hello,

I was trying to install the basic version of SQL Server 2019 but accidentally downloaded it to the wrong disk. I wanted to uninstall and reinstall it but I faced an error. I followed the instructions from the posts below (linked):

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/8e1cea03-650d-447c-b4cb-7eba377d4fca/sql-server-2017-installation-error?forum=sqlexpress

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/2c04b654-107a-46ce-98a9-aa64068c6e28/sql-express-2017-installation-failed?forum=sqlsetupandupgrade

But I still have an error stating that; Exit code (Decimal): -2068052377 Screenshot is below. I'm using Windows 10.

Am I missing something? What should I do?

Answer 1

Hi,

>I was trying to install the basic version of SQL Server 2019 but accidentally downloaded it to the wrong disk. I wanted to uninstall and reinstall it but I faced an error.

How did you remove/uninstall the installed SQL Server instance.
It seems that this problem is related to the residue left by incorrect/incomplete uninstallation.

If you still encounter this error after you deleted related folders and registry entries and restarted your computer, please download the SQL Server installation media to the local disk and install it with a instance name different from the old installation.

When installing SQL Server using the above Basic type, the instance name cannot be specified, and the default instance name is SQLEXPRESS.（01,02,03,n)

Answer 2

I followed these instructions;

1. Go to "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features" to remove SQL Server and their components.
2. Back up the registry.
3. Delete the following keys in regedit:
   --HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server
   --HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer
4. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" to delete all the sub-keys referencing SQL Server
5. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services" to delete all the keys referencing SQL Server
6. Remove all the SQL Server folders in your machine.
7. Reboot your machine.

And I'm still getting the error below;

I don't understand what "install it with a instance name different from the old installation" means. Can you be more open?

Answer 3

If you look closely at your screenshots, you will see that you get different error codes. Whether this is progress or not, I don't know. But look in the folder listed in the screenshot. You can start with Summary.txt. Usually the real error is in detail.txt, but that is a very verbose file.

I don't understand what "install it with a instance name different from the old installation" means. Can you be more open?

When you run he full installation wizard, at some point you are asked to fill in an instance name. For SQL Express, this defaults to SQLEXPRESS. Cris suggests that you should try a different name. I am not sure that this is important. (I don't run the install for SQL Express very often, but I believe it skips some steps to go with the default, unless you select Advanced or similar at some point.)