SQL SERVER – Installation Failure

Invalid command line argument. Consult the Windows Installer SDK for detailed command line help.

=== Verbose logging started: 5/31/2021  15:56:16  Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.10011.00  Calling process: D:\MSSQL2014_ENT_Core_64bit\ENT\x64\ScenarioEngine.exe ===

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Resetting cached policy values

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: ******* RunEngine:

           ******* Product: D:\MSSQL2014_ENT_Core_64bit\ENT\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst_msi\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

           ******* Action:

           ******* CommandLine: **********

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Grabbed execution mutex.

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Cloaking enabled.

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Attempting to enable all disabled privileges before calling Install on Server

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Running installation inside multi-package transaction D:\MSSQL2014_ENT_Core_64bit\ENT\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst_msi\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Grabbed execution mutex.

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: Resetting cached policy values

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: ******* RunEngine:

           ******* Product: D:\MSSQL2014_ENT_Core_64bit\ENT\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst_msi\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

           ******* Action:

           ******* CommandLine: **********

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: Machine policy value 'TransformsSecure' is 1

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: Machine policy value 'DisableUserInstalls' is 0

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: Specified instance {C8511A82-E9FD-4B6D-B1B2-378589D2B48A} via transform :InstID02.mst;:InstName02.mst is already installed. MSINEWINSTANCE requires a new instance that is not installed.

MSI (s) (F4:C4) [15:56:16:835]: MainEngineThread is returning 1639

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Note: 1: 1402 2: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Note: 1: 1402 2: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2

MSI (s) (F4:88) [15:56:16:835]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied.  Counter after decrement: -1

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied.  Counter after decrement: -1

MSI (c) (E4:1C) [15:56:16:835]: MainEngineThread is re

THE SOLUTION:

Now, we knew that we need to clean up SQL install but the problem was that none of the uninstall UI options were showing us failed instance. I found below tool to look into a registry of MSI database.

I also found an interesting WMIC command which also helped me.

1	WMIC PRODUCT Where "Caption like '%SQL%'" GET Caption, IdentifyingNumber

Here is the output of the command from my lab server.

As per Microsoft’s blog, we did cleanup using a list of all the GUIDs for which we needed to run uninstaller using below from command prompt.

1	Msiexec /X {GUID}

Almost all components got removed and few failed. There were some stale entries in the below keys.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products

We need to search for {GUID} and remove the hive which holds it.

Always take backup of the registry before making any change and don’t tell anyone how you solved the issue. Please comment and let me know if you found some other tricks.