How to: Troubleshoot a Reporting Services Installation Problem

If you cannot install Reporting Services because of errors that occur during Setup, use the instructions in this topic to address the conditions that are most likely to cause installation errors. For information about specific issues and errors that can occur when you install or upgrade Reporting Services, see Troubleshooting Installation and Upgrade Issues (Reporting Services). For instructions on how to troubleshoot post-Setup errors that occur while configuring a report server for operation, see Troubleshooting Configuration Problems.

Check Setup Logs

Setup errors are recorded in log files in the Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log folder. A subfolder is created each time you run Setup. The subfolder name is the time and date you ran Setup. The log files include a collection of files. Open the *_summary.txt file to view product, component, and instance information. Open the *_errorlog.txt file to view error information generated during Setup. Open the *RS*_ComponentUpdateSetup.log to view Reporting Services setup information. For instructions on how to view the Setup log files, see How to: View and Read SQL Server Setup Log Files.

Check Prerequisites

Setup checks prerequisites automatically. However, if you are troubleshooting setup problems, it is helpful to know which requirements Setup is checking for.

  • Account requirements for running Setup include membership in the local Administrators group. Setup must have permission to add files, registry settings, create local security groups, and set permissions. If you are installing a default configuration, Setup must have permission to create a report server database on the SQL Server instance on which you are installing.

  • Operating System must support HTTP.SYS 1.1. This means you must be using Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008.

  • HTTP service must be enabled and running.

  • Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) must be running if you are also installing SQL Server Agent service.

  • Authz.dll must be present in the System32 folder.

Setup no longer checks for Internet Information Services (IIS) or ASP.NET. Reporting Services requires MDAC 2.0 and the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0; Setup will install these if they are not already installed.

Troubleshoot Problems with the Default Configuration

Reporting Services supports three modes of installation: default configuration for native mode, default configuration for SharePoint integrated mode, and files-only mode. Installing Reporting Services in the default configuration presents a larger set of requirements that must be met in order for Setup to continue. If you cannot select this installation option, verify that the system meets all the requirements described in Default Configuration for a Native Mode Installation (Reporting Services).

If you cannot resolve the requirements issue, perform a files-only install and use the Reporting Services Configuration tool to configure the server. An important advantage to using the tool is that you can configure each setting independently and isolate any errors that occur during configuration. For more information, see Reporting Services Configuration Tool.