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SQL Server 2008 Installation error message: Unable to open windows installer file

When running the SQL Server 2008 setup, I receive the following error message:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Setup


The following error has occurred:

Unable to open Windows Installer file 'G:\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst_msi\sql_engine_core_inst.msi'.

Windows Installer error message: The system cannot open the device or file specified. .

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

...

Please let me know how can i fix this is as i am unable to continue the installation process ... please help!

Regards

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Sana.91 Avatar asked Aug 08 '12 17:08

Sana.91


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How do I fix a SQL Server installation error?

Launch the SQL Server Setup program (setup.exe) from SQL Server installation media. After prerequisites and system verification, the Setup program will display the SQL Server Installation Center page. Click Maintenance in the left-hand navigation area, and then click Repair to start the repair operation.

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3 Answers

This happened to me. The installer actually seemed to be working with no error for over 2 hours, but I knew something had to be wrong with that. I restarted it left it overnight and came in to see the error mentioned in your post.

Copying the files from the CD to the hard drive, and then running the setup.exe from there helped me resolve the issue. I see that in the comments below the selected answer this is sort of mentioned, but the comments ended with hoping it would fix the problem, and for me it did.

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Taylor Brown Avatar answered Oct 19 '22 01:10

Taylor Brown


Try to copy .msi to drive C:\ and execute it from there.

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ventik Avatar answered Oct 19 '22 02:10

ventik


This answer relates to installing a 2008 R2 service pack, not installing 2008 from scratch, but this question was one of the first results when searching for the error message. Might help someone...

I got the same "The system cannot open the device or file specified." message.

I looked in the setup installation logs here: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log

Found the error, and the file it was looking for in the Windows\Installer directory.

Went to the Installer directory, found the file, backed it up, and deleted it.

Ran the setup again, and got a more meaningful error, explaining the missing file, and the corresponding file from the initial installation, in my case, 2008 R2 SP1.

Downloaded SP1 on my PC, extracted it, dug out the file, in my case, sql_common_core.msp.

Just copied that file to the server, ran it, it repaired/installed/did something quickly.

Ran the setup again and everything went through just fine.

A whole lot of details regarding fixing these types of setup errors is here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969052/en-us

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statikuz Avatar answered Oct 19 '22 02:10

statikuz