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It doesn't matter what version of SQL you're on, upgrading to etc...this issue can pretty much be resolved using this process (including pre-release/CTP/Beta/old-to-new etc.), although you might always be the exception :-) This took me a long time to figure out, so I hope it helps you out!
Problem/Sympton: I went to upgrade a perfectly working SQL 2008 R2 standard server (which was using a Default Instance, nothing crazy) to SQL 2012. The Setup failed halfway through with a random error connecting to SQL Analysis Services (your failure could be different)...then it indicated all I had to do was fix the problem and re-run my SQL 2012 Upgrade...this wasn't true :-)
Error/Result: I had an "orphaned SQL instance" called MSSQLServer.Inactive and no matter what I tried, I could not get this to "uninstall"
The most-recommended Resolution to the Error/Result: Your internet search will most likely lead you to attempt many things, none of which will work, and finally to the suggestion of trying to uninstall the Inactive SQL Instance using the command line
setup.exe /ACTION=uninstall /FEATURES=Feature_List /INSTANCENAME=Instance_Name
The REAL Resolution Steps: (don't bother trying to figure out what went wrong...feel free to try the most-recommended resolution first if you'd like...but I'd suggest that if you have the above error/result, do the following:
- Search your machine for files called Datastore_Discovery.xml (depending on how much you've got or done, you might see many of these...just open the most recent one and you'll be fine
- Open Datastore_Discovery.xml in an editor...given the formatting, what worked for me was in Visual Studio 2008/2010 and clicking Edit, Advanced, Format Document (this arranges the XML nicely)
- What you're looking for is all places where MSSQLServer.Inactive exists in the document as the Instance ID...below is a sample of how the line starts:
- <Instance Urn="Machine[@ID='IWE']/Product[@ID='SQLVNEXT']/Instance[@ID='MSSQLSERVER.INACTIVE']" ID="MSSQLSERVER.INACTIVE" Name="MSSQLSERVER.INACTIVE" ........
- Scroll along the lines around the above one and find the following value field: ProductCode="{9FFAE13C-6160-4DD0-A67A-DAC5994F81BD}" (and of course, don't ACTUALLY use the code you see here...yours will be different...look for the brackets and use yours :-) )
- There might be multiple ProductCodes, depending on how many times the <Instance URN...> line lists MSSQLServer.Inactive, so make sure to find all ProductCodes...BUT BE CAREFUL that you ignore any VALID instances of SQL. Only look for the ones under MSSQLServer.Inactive entries.
- Now open a command line
- For each of the ProductCodes that you found for the Inactive SQL Instances, type the following:
- msiexec /x {9FFAE13C-6160-4DD0-A67A-DAC5994F81BD}
- Do this for each Product Code that relates to an Inactive Instance
- Once complete, go back to your SQL installation media and run Setup
- Once the main splash screen launches, click on Tools, then Installed SQL Server features discovery report
- This will launch a web page listing the SQL Instances and all features per instance
- If you still see any MSSQLSERVER.INACTIVE there, you missed one of the ProductCodes and you need to double check. Otherwise, all of the orphaned SQL Instances should now be gone, and you can either Add Features or do a clean Default Instance reinstall
Note: to make sure the reinstall/install works smoothly, make sure you do the following:
- Go into Add/Remove Programs, click on the SQL entry that shows (Setup) next to it...forget the underlying pieces of SQL...just the "main SQL program" and Uninstall
- When that finishes, open a command prompt and do the following:
- Navigate to c:\windows\system32
- Do a directory listing of files using the command dir *perf-*.dll and you should get a list back...look for the SQL ones (mine included perf-MSSQLSERVER-sqlctr11.0.2100.60.dll, perf-MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER-sqlagtctr.dll, perf-ReportServer-rsctr11.0.2100.60.dll etc.)
- You now need to move just the ones specific to the SQL instances that relate to your SQL that won't install (if you want a clean wipe of all SQL, remove all that show SQL in the file names)...using the command move perf-MSSQLSERVER-sqlctr11.0.2100.60.dll c:\temp for example
- Once you've removed them, you're good to go on the SQL side to re-run your Setup
- If SQL Setup says there's a pending reboot, see the next note below...
- Also, if you want to shortcut things and not bother with the Server Reboot that SQL is about to force you to do, you can do the following:
- Start, Run, Regedit
- Navigate down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
- Look for the "PendingFileRenameOperations" key and delete it...now when you run SQL Setup (or hit Re-Run on the one you have open)...it'll proceed without a hitch
I hope this helps!
DB
Comments
- Anonymous
April 08, 2013
Wow. Finally a solution that work. Thousand thanx dude. Cheers... - Anonymous
April 08, 2013
Wow. Finally a solution that works. Thousand thanx dude. Cheers... - Anonymous
August 30, 2013
It did work for me! Thank you for the tips - Anonymous
November 06, 2013
This is awesome, this was exactly what I needed. - Anonymous
November 25, 2013
Thank you very much. Your solution helps me on an incomplete upgrade from SQL 2008 to 2012. - Anonymous
February 27, 2014
Dude - awesome. Thanks for this walk-through - rooting out the inactive instances as you described worked and I was able to successfully upgrade from 2008 R2 to 2012 following a failed attempt. Great job! - Anonymous
March 18, 2014
This helped to fix a stubborn SQL uninstall/reinstall - thank you for sharing! - Anonymous
March 28, 2014
Thanks a bunch man! I had a failed install of a new SQL instance (it only successfully installed the reporting services and nothing else before it crashed,) and this worked perfectly to get it removed so I could start again. - Anonymous
July 11, 2014
Thank you soooooooo much, this worked for me. - Anonymous
August 13, 2014
Worked perfectly for me! Many thanks.Gildo - Anonymous
September 08, 2014
Hi David,Our upgrade in place from 2008 to 2008 R2 on a Windows Server 2003 Failover Cluster was stuck and going nowhere until I found this.I had to do the msiexec uninstalls on each node, and every thing went smoothly from there.Thank you very much for taking the time to research, test and post this.Regards,Paul - Anonymous
September 09, 2014
Thank you! I've been here for hours and this worked perfectly. - Anonymous
January 21, 2015
Thnx man it works great!! :)