Fixing SQL Server Installation Error 1639

By: Manvendra Singh | Updated: 2018-03-23 | Comments (1) | Related: > Install and Uninstall

Problem

I was working on a critical SAP migration project where we were migrating all SAP components from Oracle to SQL Server. One of the applications that is not a core SAP component also needed to be migrated as part of the migration. The problem with this component was that vendor did not support this application beyond SQL Server 2008 R2 for that specific version. When I was installing SQL Server 2008 R2 in order to migrate the data, I faced error 1639 during the installation. Although I had this error with SQL Server 2008 R2, this error is very much relevant to any of latest versions of SQL Server.

Solution

As I mentioned, when we were installing SQL Server I was faced with error 1639 when installing SQL Server 2008 R2. Here I will explain the steps I took and how I fixed the problem.

SQL Server Installation Error 1639

Step 1:

I launched SQL Server installation center and proceeded with the installation. I completed each required parameter during installation, but still my installation failed with error 1639.

You can see all SQL Server components failed to install in the above screenshot. Only the SQL Client Connectivity SDK component has been installed.

When I clicked on Next button I got the below screenshot with the installation log file path.

Step 2:

I decided to look in to the summary log file to fix this issue. I clicked on the summary log file path given in the above screenshot. Here is the summary log file which suggested looking into another log file as shown in the below screenshot.

I opened the above highlighted log file to see more details. When I opened the file, I saw error 1639 captured there as shown below in the highlighted lines.

Step 3:

The root cause of this issue was very simple, I placed the SQL Server setup files under a directory named “SQL Server 2008”. You can see the spaces between sql and server and 2008. This was the main issue which causes the installation to fail. You can see the name of folder in the below screenshot.

To fix this issue, I removed the blank spaces in the folder name. You could also enter an underscore (_) or any character in place of the blank spaces to fix this issue. You can see below I have removed the spaces in the folder name.

Step 4:

Next, I decided to uninstall SQL Server from this database server. I removed the failed installation of SQL Server from the server using “Add and Remove Programs” as we generally do on any Windows machine. I rebooted the server post uninstalling SQL Server.

Step 5:

Once the server came online, I went to the installation folder and started the installation again by right clicking on the setup file and choosing “Run as administrator” to start the SQL Server installation again as shown below.

Step 6:

I followed each window and entered all the required values and parameters to make this installation successful. This time SQL Server installed successfully on this server. You can see the final screen of this installation in the below screenshot.

Step 7:

Next, I connected to the installed instance of SQL Server to validate the installation. I connected using sqlcmd and SQL Server Management Studio. Below is the screenshot of sqlcmd, where I was able to successfully connected to this SQL Server instance and checked the installed version by running SELECT @@VERSION.

I also validated this installation by connecting to the database engine with SQL Server Management Studio. You can see I successfully established a database connection to the SQL Server 2008 R2 instance in the below screenshot.

Summary

As you can see the fix was pretty simple, but I had to dig through a few log files to figure out the problem.

Next Steps

Make a practice to not create folder names with spaces, you never know when it may cause an issue.
Explore more knowledge on SQL Server Database Administration Tips.

About the author

Manvendra Singh has over 5 years of experience with SQL Server and has focused on Database Mirroring, Replication, Log Shipping, etc.

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

View all my tips

Article Last Updated: 2018-03-23

Comments For This Article

Thursday, August 23, 2018 - 12:36:45 PM - Giovanni

Hi Manvendra,

Thank you very much for your post on error 1639. With your post I was able to find the log file. However, do you know how I can fix the problem from here?

These are the two log files.

Thanks very much in advance.

Regards,

Giovanni

Log file 1

Configuration file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\140\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20180823_181447\ConfigurationFile.ini

Detailed results:

Feature: Database Engine Services

Status: Failed

Reason for failure: An error occurred during the setup process of the feature.

Next Step: Use the following information to resolve the error, and then try the setup process again.

Component name: SQL Server Database Engine Services Instance Features

Component error code: 1639

Component log file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\140\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20180823_181447\sql_engine_core_inst_Cpu64_1.log

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

Error help link: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=

14.0.1000.169&EvtType=sql_engine_core_inst.msi%400x162A16FE%400x1639

Rules with failures:

Global rules:

Scenario specific rules:

Rules report file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\140\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20180823_181447\SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm

Log file 2

=== Verbose logging started: 23/08/2018 18:15:28 Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.10011.00 Calling process: C:\SQLServer2017Media\Express_ENU\x64\ScenarioEngine.exe ===

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:076]: Resetting cached policy values

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:076]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:076]: ******* RunEngine:

******* Product: C:\SQLServer2017Media\Express_ENU\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

******* Action:

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

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:077]: Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:077]: Grabbed execution mutex.

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:079]: Cloaking enabled.

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:079]: Attempting to enable all disabled privileges before calling Install on Server

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:079]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:083]: Running installation inside multi-package transaction C:\SQLServer2017Media\Express_ENU\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:083]: Grabbed execution mutex.

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:084]: Resetting cached policy values

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:084]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:084]: ******* RunEngine:

******* Product: C:\SQLServer2017Media\Express_ENU\x64\setup\sql_engine_core_inst.msi

******* Action:

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

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:084]: Machine policy value 'TransformsSecure' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:085]: User policy value 'TransformsAtSource' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:086]: Machine policy value 'DisableUserInstalls' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:086]: Specified instance {36C9ADEE-91B0-4FFA-9CBA-9164CE6089D5} via transform :InstID02.mst;:InstName02.mst is already installed. MSINEWINSTANCE requires a new instance that is not installed.

MSI (s) (4C:0C) [18:15:28:087]: MainEngineThread is returning 1639

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:088]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:088]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:088]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:088]: Note: 1: 1402 2: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:089]: Note: 1: 1402 2: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2

MSI (s) (4C:94) [18:15:28:089]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:091]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1

MSI (c) (18:C0) [18:15:28:091]: MainEngineThread is returning 1639

=== Verbose logging stopped: 23/08/2018 18:15:28 ===