Timeout when starting SQL Server Launchpad service

By: Vitor Montalvao   |   Updated: 2017-02-24   |   Comments   |   Related: > SQL Server 2016

Problem

On a SQL Server 2016 install with the version higher than the RTM (13.0.1601.5), you get a timeout error when starting SQL Server Launchpad service.

This tip explains a particular case that does not happen with SQL Server 2016 RTM version. So if you have a version higher than SQL Server 2016 RTM and you have already followed the steps in this tip then this tip is for you. If this is not your case please check the previous tip since it covers the majority of the cases.

Solution

Assuming that you already fixed the permission issue and added the respective SQLRUserGroup to the "Allow log on locally" security policy and the error still persists, check if the following is your case:

1. You have a SQL Server 2016 higher than RTM version (already patched with SP and/or CU)
2. You added the R Service feature after patching the SQL Server engine
3. You did not patch the R Service feature after installed

If this is your case then what you need to do to solve the issue is to put the R Service at the same patch level as the SQL Server engine which we will cover below.

Explanation

When adding the R Service feature to an existing SQL Server installation if you do not use a slipstream setup then the R Service will be installed at the RTM level.

This can be stated by the links for the requested installation files. They are pointing to the RTM version of those files:

This issue happens because the SQL Server setup left the install at a different patched level for a feature.  To resolve this issue we need to patch the R Services as explained below.

Patching R Services

As stated before, the solution is to patch the R Services feature to the same level as the respective SQL Server engine.

In my case I need to apply SQL Server 2016 SP1, but these steps should be followed for any patch level.

We can see by the links that is requiring the correct R installation files compared to above:

After the installation of the patch, the SQL Server Launchpad service should be able to start with no issues:

NOTES

• In case your server does not have internet access you can download the necessary R Services component files from here.
• This article does not apply for SQL Server 2016 versions prior to RTM.

Next Steps

• Check out these other SQL Server 2016 tips

About the author

Vitor Montalvão is a SQL Server engineer with 20 years of experience in SQL Server, specializing in performance & tuning, data modelling, migration and security.

This author pledges the content of this article is based on professional experience and not AI generated.

View all my tips