ODBC DSN ....

Hello .
im programing a one application
in Delphi . and my program connected to
sql server successfully . but thats not why
im calling . suppose i exported my program ( .exe )
and sell it . as you know in users pc DSN dosnt
exist in odbc . can they open my program without
DSN in their systems ? or i must create DSN File
and export it by Setup in Users pc ?
Help me please . thanks for your worksYou can use dsn-less connections or you could
programmatically create the needed DSN as part of your
setup/install package. I'm not sure how to code it in Delphi
but the following are VB examples that might help you get
started:
HOWTO: Create and Remove a DSN in Visual Basic
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;EN-US;q171146
HOWTO: Programmatically Create a DSN for SQL Server with VB
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;EN-US;q184608
-Sue
On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 01:39:50 -0800, "Toxi_boy"
<stanboy733@.hotmail.com> wrote:

quote:

---

>Hello .
>im programing a one application
>in Delphi . and my program connected to
>sql server successfully . but thats not why
>im calling . suppose i exported my program ( .exe )
>and sell it . as you know in users pc DSN dosnt
>exist in odbc . can they open my program without
>DSN in their systems ? or i must create DSN File
>and export it by Setup in Users pc ?
>Help me please . thanks for your works

---

sql

ODBC Connection with SQL Express

If I create any other user (test, felix, fido, etc) in my database, that user can login successfully through Management Studio Express except not through an ODBC connection. Thus, this is a very bizarre issue. I have made sure this user has the same roles as SA. My instance is configured to handle SQL Server Authentication and Integrated. This works fine in Studio Express, but not in the ODBC connection.

When using "SA" login, I can connect to Management Studio Express and through an ODBC connection. Seems rudimentary enough, however, if I change the name in the ODBC connection i get

"Connection Failed,

SQLState '28000', SQL

Server Error 18456,

Microsoft SQL Native Client SQL Server Login failed for user 'xyz'"

Any ideas? Do I need a different ODBC Administrator?

Hi,

I would suggest to refer http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2005/10/22/483684.aspx for connection troubleshooting.

Hemantgiri S. Goswami

|||

Most likely this is caused by the fact that you are connecting (or trying to connect) to a database within your connection string where you don′t have access to. The state in the error code should give you a bit more information about the problem during the connection time. try setting a database in the connection string which is in common accessible to everyone (master). Although this might work, you should consider putting the right database in the connection string afterwards, as changing database it not a cheap operation.

HTH, Jens K. Suessmeyer.

http://www.sqlserver2005.de

ODBC connection to SQL server DB

I'm writing a VB app to read and write data to an SQL server database.

I have successfully done so using ADO however I now need to do it using ODBC.

I have set up the appropriate DSN and have no trouble reading data from the database but when I try to write to it I get a message indicating that the database is open for read only access.

I'm no sure whether the restriction is and the VB, ODBC, or database level.

Here's the code which opens the database and recordset.

Set dbsWarehouseServer = OpenDatabase(ODBCDSName, _
dbDriverNoPrompt, False, _
"DSN=" & ODBCDSName)

Set rstRailSet = dbsWarehouseServer.OpenRecordset("Select Store_date, SLN From " & TBName & " where Rail_set_ID = '" & RailID & "'", dbOpenDynaset)

Any help is greatly appreciated.What if you changed this to your statement:

Set rstRailSet = dbsWarehouseServer.OpenRecordset("Select Store_date, SLN From " & TBName & " where Rail_set_ID = '" & RailID & "'", adOpenDynamic, adLockOptimistic)

Just a thought.|||Thank's for the idea. No luck though.
Not sure but maybe the restriction is at the ODBC or SQL level although I have no trouble with ADO so I suspect ODBC.|||Just wondering...is RailID an integer value?

If so, wouldn't you use:

Set rstRailSet = dbsWarehouseServer.OpenRecordset("Select Store_date, SLN From " & TBName & " where Rail_set_ID = " & RailID & "", dbOpenDynaset)

instead of:

Set rstRailSet = dbsWarehouseServer.OpenRecordset("Select Store_date, SLN From " & TBName & " where Rail_set_ID = '" & RailID & "'", dbOpenDynaset)

Again, just another thought but probably not on the right path.|||When you create the ODBC connection on your pc, which username are you using, I believe that is not 'sa'. You must be using another username created in the SQL server user login.
Check the right for that username you have created. Does it have the right to write to that specify database. If you put it to db owner, you can do anything with that database.

ODBC connection Failure

We have group added in SQL Server, this group had a 5 AD accounts. We grante
d
access to the SQL Server to that group.
Two people able to successfully created ODBC connection from work station A.
Other three was not able to create ODBC connection fron any workstation. It
is working for all other people from any workstation, only these three peopl
e
had a problem from any workstation:
The error meaggage in SQL Server Error Log:
Message
The login packet used to open the connection is structurally invalid; the
connection has been closed. Please contact the vendor of the client library.
[CLIENT: 192.168.149.4]
Message
Error: 17832, Severity: 20, State: 8.
any help will be appreciated.THis is SQL Server 2005 SP1.
"Sri" wrote:

> We have group added in SQL Server, this group had a 5 AD accounts. We gran
ted
> access to the SQL Server to that group.
> Two people able to successfully created ODBC connection from work station
A.
> Other three was not able to create ODBC connection fron any workstation. I
t
> is working for all other people from any workstation, only these three peo
ple
> had a problem from any workstation:
> The error meaggage in SQL Server Error Log:
> Message
> The login packet used to open the connection is structurally invalid; the
> connection has been closed. Please contact the vendor of the client librar
y.
> [CLIENT: 192.168.149.4]
> Message
> Error: 17832, Severity: 20, State: 8.
> any help will be appreciated.|||It looks more likely related to PC and not the people in particular.
Did you check MDAC on the machines? You can use component checker to
verity the MDAC versions and installations:
You can download the tool from:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/data/aa937730.aspx
Have you looked for other configuration, service pack differences for
the PCs?
-Sue
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:51:33 -0700, Sri
<Sri@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>We have group added in SQL Server, this group had a 5 AD accounts. We grant
ed
>access to the SQL Server to that group.
>Two people able to successfully created ODBC connection from work station A
.
>Other three was not able to create ODBC connection fron any workstation. It
>is working for all other people from any workstation, only these three peop
le
>had a problem from any workstation:
>The error meaggage in SQL Server Error Log:
>Message
>The login packet used to open the connection is structurally invalid; the
>connection has been closed. Please contact the vendor of the client library
.
>[CLIENT: 192.168.149.4]
>Message
>Error: 17832, Severity: 20, State: 8.
>any help will be appreciated.

OCA Credit Count any Certification for Microsoft

I have successfully finish Oracle OCA Exam. Currently I am Microsoft Certified Database administrator(MCDBA) I would like to know there is any way I could use OCA Credit to any Microsoft Exam. If any advice will be helpful.

Thanks

Faiz Farazi

www.databasetimes.net

Best learning center for Microsoft

http://www.lascomp.com

I don't think that is possible.

Go to www.Microsoft.com/learning, and click on the [Microsoft Certifications] menu item on the left. SQL Server certifications fall under MCTS and MCITP.

It my knowledge, the only place one can get 'credit' for other vendor certifications is for the basic 'teaching' verification when seeking an MCT (Trainer) certification. Product knowledge exams are not 'transferrable'. (It would be 'interesting' if proving one was competent on Oracle, Microsoft would accept that as proof that one was competent with SQL Server. Sounds a bit 'unlikely' to me...)

|||

Thanks

Faiz Farazi

www.databasetimes.net

Best learning center for Microsoft

http://www.lascomp.com

Obscure error while attempting to install SQL Server 2005 SP1

I successfully installed SQL Server 2005 SP1 on one PC. When I attempt to install it on a second PC, however, I get the following obscure error:

Unexpected Error Occurred
The following unexpected error occurred:

That's right, there's nothing else listed, other an OK button. D'oh! When I press the OK button, the following error report dialog box appears:

Hotfix.exe
A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install.

There are no pending updates that I'm aware of, as I just booted the PC. I sent the error report.

I notice on this particular PC that the SP1 install EXE is expanding/writing to an external SCSI drive; would that make a difference? I don't see a way to specify a different (i.e., internal ATA drive).

Any other ideas?

You need to look in the setup log files to track down the problem. They're located here:

%\Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files

There's also a summary.txt file up one directory and it may point you to the right log file. If you have trouble interpreting the results, please post the errors here and we'll see if we can help you out.

Paul

|||

Thanks. Before I delve further into the log file, I noticed that Summary.txt indicates everything is fine, although I don't understand the references to "Uninstall":

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06
==============================
OS Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Time : Fri Apr 14 00:07:10 2006

Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful , Reboot required
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQL.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQLSupport_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SqlWriter_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : MSXML 6.0 Parser
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_MSXML6_1.log
--

Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components.

Time : Fri Apr 14 01:30:27 2006

I'm not sure why the first section says "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition". I don't have the Express Edition installed on this PC, although I installed and uninstalled it a few months ago. Indeed, the Express Edition doesn't appear within the "Add or Remove Programs" applet.

I welcome your suggestions as to how to proceed.

|||

If it's any comfort, you are not the only one with this error.

Installed fine the first time on my development server where it is a clean install of Windows 2003 and SQL 2005. However on the pc’s I have attempted to install on, where there is Visual Studio and Office installed it refuses to install.

I have tried on 3 other PC's and they all suffer the same way.

|||

Problem solved.

I took the time over the weekend ( I need to get a life) to build a clean OS install and install SQL 2005 developer edition and then install the service pack to see when and where it broke.

The issue seems to be associated with the fact that the SQL 2005 developer edition I was trying to upgrade was from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website. I uninstalled the ISO image and installed SQL from the MSDN subscription CD's and the service pack installs fine.

Can someone at Microsoft please confirm this is an issue!

|||

Interesting observation, Des; thanks. My install came from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website, also.

How do you know that simply uninstalling and re-installing didn't resolve the problem?

|||

I actually reinstalled from the ISO image first with the same result.

I then went hunting through boxes of MSDN disks till I found the real disks, and reinstalled from the MSDN media. Once installed from the MSDN media the service pack installed first go.

|||

We have ugraded one server with SP1 for SQL 2005 without any issues,but when we performed the same task on other server with the same sp1 setup,we encountered the problem which you experienced "The following unexpected error occurred" Both the servers are installed from the same ISO image of MSDN, Herby I attach the log of the hotfix which I executed.

05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 ================================================================================
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Hotfix package launched
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Local Computer:
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Target Details: SRC-R-AS10
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 lcidsupportdir = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb\1033
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdir = \\SRC-R-AS10\s$\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdirlocal = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 windir = C:\WINDOWS
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609
05/26/2006 10:24:48.656 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 Product Status Summary:
05/26/2006 10:24:53.171 Hotfix package closed

We experience the same error while installing the hotfix AS2005-KB914595-x86-ENU.exe (this hotfix was installed on other server which upgraded successfully.)

Reinstalling is not a feasible option for our environment.Kindly suggest.

~Vishal

|||

I received the same "A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install." error when attempting to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version. As previously noted, I also uninstalled the ISO version from MSDN and re-installed from the MSDN DVD.

Following the reinstall, I attempted to run the individual hotfixes, starting with sql2005-kb918222-x86-enu.exe. Once again, I received the error.

Finally, I attempted to run the fixed patch noted in KB914595 and received a slightly different message but with the same, unsatisfactory results. The message has now changed to "Uninstallation of the 'NULL' update failed". Note that the installer chose to place the support directory on a SAN connection (F:). Could this be a lead toward a solution?

Here's the log file from the %WINDIR%\Hotfix folder:

08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 ================================================================================
08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 Hotfix package launched
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Local Computer:
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Target Details: EMERALD
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 lcidsupportdir = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208\1033
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdir = \\EMERALD\f$\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdirlocal = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 windir = C:\WINDOWS
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031
08/05/2006 16:22:35.093 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 Product Status Summary:
08/05/2006 16:22:36.843 Hotfix package closed

|||

I think I have a solution to the problem !

After installing/uninstalling SQL Server several times and trying to install SP1, about a dozen or more times, I noticed that in the Hotfix log details (see my earlier posting) that the "lcidsupportdir", "supportdirlocal" and "supportdir" all referred to drive "F:". In the Hotfix log details posted by Vishal_LogicalCMG, these same values refer to drive "S:". On the system where SP-1 was failing, drive "F:" is connected to a SAN (I wonder if there's significance to the drive letter "S:" in Vishal's post?).

Since Hotfix.exe doesn't provide a parameter to specify these values, I guessed that Hotfix.exe simply looks for the drive with the most free space for its workspace. On my system, the SAN had a lot more space than the boot drive. I quickly whipped up a script that created a 1GB file and repeatedly made copies of it on drive F: until drive C: had more free space. (I know it's a hack, but I was desparate by now!)

You guessed it - Hotfix.exe now placed its workfiles on the root drive C: and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version is running with SP-1 installed! It looks like Hotfix.exe doesn't like to work across a SAN.

Microsoft ... are you listening?

Dave

|||Thank you for help. I had the same problem with installing SP1 for SQL Server 2005. It was caused by running installation from USB harddrive. When I coppied SP1 installation to C: then SP1 and post-SP1 hotfixes installed successfully.|||

Dave,

Thanks for your post. I had the same issue, but I was not using a SANS, i just had a second drive that had more free space than the C drive. When i filled up that drive the install worked just fine.

Gotta love the QA over at Microsoft sometimes...... DUH.

Thanks again.

|||An easy workaround is to set up a 1 kb Disk Quota on the Larger Drive, which will force the MSI installer to use the C: drive. :)|||

Thanks a million Dave! Genious Stuff

I would have never thought of this solution...but finally I too managed to fix this weird issue with the help of your post.

Cheers!

|||The disk quote workaround did not work for me....

However, here is a slightly less kludgy solution is to go to the properties for each SAN drive (M:, N:, O:, etc) -> Security -> Add

your current username to the list, and Deny -> Full Control. Do this for

each SAN drive and the installer will be forced to use the C: drive. Yay

Caleb

Obscure error while attempting to install SQL Server 2005 SP1

I successfully installed SQL Server 2005 SP1 on one PC. When I attempt to install it on a second PC, however, I get the following obscure error:

Unexpected Error Occurred
The following unexpected error occurred:

That's right, there's nothing else listed, other an OK button. D'oh! When I press the OK button, the following error report dialog box appears:

Hotfix.exe
A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install.

There are no pending updates that I'm aware of, as I just booted the PC. I sent the error report.

I notice on this particular PC that the SP1 install EXE is expanding/writing to an external SCSI drive; would that make a difference? I don't see a way to specify a different (i.e., internal ATA drive).

Any other ideas?

You need to look in the setup log files to track down the problem. They're located here:

%\Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files

There's also a summary.txt file up one directory and it may point you to the right log file. If you have trouble interpreting the results, please post the errors here and we'll see if we can help you out.

Paul

|||

Thanks. Before I delve further into the log file, I noticed that Summary.txt indicates everything is fine, although I don't understand the references to "Uninstall":

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06
==============================
OS Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Time : Fri Apr 14 00:07:10 2006

Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful , Reboot required
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQL.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQLSupport_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SqlWriter_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : MSXML 6.0 Parser
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_MSXML6_1.log
--

Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components.

Time : Fri Apr 14 01:30:27 2006

I'm not sure why the first section says "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition". I don't have the Express Edition installed on this PC, although I installed and uninstalled it a few months ago. Indeed, the Express Edition doesn't appear within the "Add or Remove Programs" applet.

I welcome your suggestions as to how to proceed.

|||

If it's any comfort, you are not the only one with this error.

Installed fine the first time on my development server where it is a clean install of Windows 2003 and SQL 2005. However on the pc’s I have attempted to install on, where there is Visual Studio and Office installed it refuses to install.

I have tried on 3 other PC's and they all suffer the same way.

|||

Problem solved.

I took the time over the weekend ( I need to get a life) to build a clean OS install and install SQL 2005 developer edition and then install the service pack to see when and where it broke.

The issue seems to be associated with the fact that the SQL 2005 developer edition I was trying to upgrade was from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website. I uninstalled the ISO image and installed SQL from the MSDN subscription CD's and the service pack installs fine.

Can someone at Microsoft please confirm this is an issue!

|||

Interesting observation, Des; thanks. My install came from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website, also.

How do you know that simply uninstalling and re-installing didn't resolve the problem?

|||

I actually reinstalled from the ISO image first with the same result.

I then went hunting through boxes of MSDN disks till I found the real disks, and reinstalled from the MSDN media. Once installed from the MSDN media the service pack installed first go.

|||

We have ugraded one server with SP1 for SQL 2005 without any issues,but when we performed the same task on other server with the same sp1 setup,we encountered the problem which you experienced "The following unexpected error occurred" Both the servers are installed from the same ISO image of MSDN, Herby I attach the log of the hotfix which I executed.

05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 ================================================================================
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Hotfix package launched
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Local Computer:
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Target Details: SRC-R-AS10
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 lcidsupportdir = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb\1033
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdir = \\SRC-R-AS10\s$\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdirlocal = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 windir = C:\WINDOWS
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609
05/26/2006 10:24:48.656 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 Product Status Summary:
05/26/2006 10:24:53.171 Hotfix package closed

We experience the same error while installing the hotfix AS2005-KB914595-x86-ENU.exe (this hotfix was installed on other server which upgraded successfully.)

Reinstalling is not a feasible option for our environment.Kindly suggest.

~Vishal

|||

I received the same "A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install." error when attempting to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version. As previously noted, I also uninstalled the ISO version from MSDN and re-installed from the MSDN DVD.

Following the reinstall, I attempted to run the individual hotfixes, starting with sql2005-kb918222-x86-enu.exe. Once again, I received the error.

Finally, I attempted to run the fixed patch noted in KB914595 and received a slightly different message but with the same, unsatisfactory results. The message has now changed to "Uninstallation of the 'NULL' update failed". Note that the installer chose to place the support directory on a SAN connection (F:). Could this be a lead toward a solution?

Here's the log file from the %WINDIR%\Hotfix folder:

08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 ================================================================================
08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 Hotfix package launched
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Local Computer:
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Target Details: EMERALD
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 lcidsupportdir = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208\1033
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdir = \\EMERALD\f$\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdirlocal = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 windir = C:\WINDOWS
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031
08/05/2006 16:22:35.093 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 Product Status Summary:
08/05/2006 16:22:36.843 Hotfix package closed

|||

I think I have a solution to the problem !

After installing/uninstalling SQL Server several times and trying to install SP1, about a dozen or more times, I noticed that in the Hotfix log details (see my earlier posting) that the "lcidsupportdir", "supportdirlocal" and "supportdir" all referred to drive "F:". In the Hotfix log details posted by Vishal_LogicalCMG, these same values refer to drive "S:". On the system where SP-1 was failing, drive "F:" is connected to a SAN (I wonder if there's significance to the drive letter "S:" in Vishal's post?).

Since Hotfix.exe doesn't provide a parameter to specify these values, I guessed that Hotfix.exe simply looks for the drive with the most free space for its workspace. On my system, the SAN had a lot more space than the boot drive. I quickly whipped up a script that created a 1GB file and repeatedly made copies of it on drive F: until drive C: had more free space. (I know it's a hack, but I was desparate by now!)

You guessed it - Hotfix.exe now placed its workfiles on the root drive C: and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version is running with SP-1 installed! It looks like Hotfix.exe doesn't like to work across a SAN.

Microsoft ... are you listening?

Dave

|||Thank you for help. I had the same problem with installing SP1 for SQL Server 2005. It was caused by running installation from USB harddrive. When I coppied SP1 installation to C: then SP1 and post-SP1 hotfixes installed successfully.|||

Dave,

Thanks for your post. I had the same issue, but I was not using a SANS, i just had a second drive that had more free space than the C drive. When i filled up that drive the install worked just fine.

Gotta love the QA over at Microsoft sometimes...... DUH.

Thanks again.

|||An easy workaround is to set up a 1 kb Disk Quota on the Larger Drive, which will force the MSI installer to use the C: drive. :)|||

Thanks a million Dave! Genious Stuff

I would have never thought of this solution...but finally I too managed to fix this weird issue with the help of your post.

Cheers!

|||The disk quote workaround did not work for me....

However, here is a slightly less kludgy solution is to go to the properties for each SAN drive (M:, N:, O:, etc) -> Security -> Add your current username to the list, and Deny -> Full Control. Do this for each SAN drive and the installer will be forced to use the C: drive. Yay

Caleb

Obscure error while attempting to install SQL Server 2005 SP1

I successfully installed SQL Server 2005 SP1 on one PC. When I attempt to install it on a second PC, however, I get the following obscure error:

Unexpected Error Occurred
The following unexpected error occurred:

That's right, there's nothing else listed, other an OK button. D'oh! When I press the OK button, the following error report dialog box appears:

Hotfix.exe
A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install.

There are no pending updates that I'm aware of, as I just booted the PC. I sent the error report.

I notice on this particular PC that the SP1 install EXE is expanding/writing to an external SCSI drive; would that make a difference? I don't see a way to specify a different (i.e., internal ATA drive).

Any other ideas?

You need to look in the setup log files to track down the problem. They're located here:

%\Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files

There's also a summary.txt file up one directory and it may point you to the right log file. If you have trouble interpreting the results, please post the errors here and we'll see if we can help you out.

Paul

|||

Thanks. Before I delve further into the log file, I noticed that Summary.txt indicates everything is fine, although I don't understand the references to "Uninstall":

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06
==============================
OS Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Time : Fri Apr 14 00:07:10 2006

Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful , Reboot required
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQL.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQLSupport_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SqlWriter_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : MSXML 6.0 Parser
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_MSXML6_1.log
--

Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components.

Time : Fri Apr 14 01:30:27 2006

I'm not sure why the first section says "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition". I don't have the Express Edition installed on this PC, although I installed and uninstalled it a few months ago. Indeed, the Express Edition doesn't appear within the "Add or Remove Programs" applet.

I welcome your suggestions as to how to proceed.

|||

If it's any comfort, you are not the only one with this error.

Installed fine the first time on my development server where it is a clean install of Windows 2003 and SQL 2005. However on the pc’s I have attempted to install on, where there is Visual Studio and Office installed it refuses to install.

I have tried on 3 other PC's and they all suffer the same way.

|||

Problem solved.

I took the time over the weekend ( I need to get a life) to build a clean OS install and install SQL 2005 developer edition and then install the service pack to see when and where it broke.

The issue seems to be associated with the fact that the SQL 2005 developer edition I was trying to upgrade was from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website. I uninstalled the ISO image and installed SQL from the MSDN subscription CD's and the service pack installs fine.

Can someone at Microsoft please confirm this is an issue!

|||

Interesting observation, Des; thanks. My install came from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website, also.

How do you know that simply uninstalling and re-installing didn't resolve the problem?

|||

I actually reinstalled from the ISO image first with the same result.

I then went hunting through boxes of MSDN disks till I found the real disks, and reinstalled from the MSDN media. Once installed from the MSDN media the service pack installed first go.

|||

We have ugraded one server with SP1 for SQL 2005 without any issues,but when we performed the same task on other server with the same sp1 setup,we encountered the problem which you experienced "The following unexpected error occurred" Both the servers are installed from the same ISO image of MSDN, Herby I attach the log of the hotfix which I executed.

05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 ================================================================================
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Hotfix package launched
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Local Computer:
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Target Details: SRC-R-AS10
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 lcidsupportdir = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb\1033
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdir = \\SRC-R-AS10\s$\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdirlocal = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 windir = C:\WINDOWS
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609
05/26/2006 10:24:48.656 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 Product Status Summary:
05/26/2006 10:24:53.171 Hotfix package closed

We experience the same error while installing the hotfix AS2005-KB914595-x86-ENU.exe (this hotfix was installed on other server which upgraded successfully.)

Reinstalling is not a feasible option for our environment.Kindly suggest.

~Vishal

|||

I received the same "A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install." error when attempting to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version. As previously noted, I also uninstalled the ISO version from MSDN and re-installed from the MSDN DVD.

Following the reinstall, I attempted to run the individual hotfixes, starting with sql2005-kb918222-x86-enu.exe. Once again, I received the error.

Finally, I attempted to run the fixed patch noted in KB914595 and received a slightly different message but with the same, unsatisfactory results. The message has now changed to "Uninstallation of the 'NULL' update failed". Note that the installer chose to place the support directory on a SAN connection (F:). Could this be a lead toward a solution?

Here's the log file from the %WINDIR%\Hotfix folder:

08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 ================================================================================
08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 Hotfix package launched
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Local Computer:
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Target Details: EMERALD
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 lcidsupportdir = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208\1033
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdir = \\EMERALD\f$\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdirlocal = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 windir = C:\WINDOWS
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031
08/05/2006 16:22:35.093 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 Product Status Summary:
08/05/2006 16:22:36.843 Hotfix package closed

|||

I think I have a solution to the problem !

After installing/uninstalling SQL Server several times and trying to install SP1, about a dozen or more times, I noticed that in the Hotfix log details (see my earlier posting) that the "lcidsupportdir", "supportdirlocal" and "supportdir" all referred to drive "F:". In the Hotfix log details posted by Vishal_LogicalCMG, these same values refer to drive "S:". On the system where SP-1 was failing, drive "F:" is connected to a SAN (I wonder if there's significance to the drive letter "S:" in Vishal's post?).

Since Hotfix.exe doesn't provide a parameter to specify these values, I guessed that Hotfix.exe simply looks for the drive with the most free space for its workspace. On my system, the SAN had a lot more space than the boot drive. I quickly whipped up a script that created a 1GB file and repeatedly made copies of it on drive F: until drive C: had more free space. (I know it's a hack, but I was desparate by now!)

You guessed it - Hotfix.exe now placed its workfiles on the root drive C: and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version is running with SP-1 installed! It looks like Hotfix.exe doesn't like to work across a SAN.

Microsoft ... are you listening?

Dave

|||Thank you for help. I had the same problem with installing SP1 for SQL Server 2005. It was caused by running installation from USB harddrive. When I coppied SP1 installation to C: then SP1 and post-SP1 hotfixes installed successfully.|||

Dave,

Thanks for your post. I had the same issue, but I was not using a SANS, i just had a second drive that had more free space than the C drive. When i filled up that drive the install worked just fine.

Gotta love the QA over at Microsoft sometimes...... DUH.

Thanks again.

|||An easy workaround is to set up a 1 kb Disk Quota on the Larger Drive, which will force the MSI installer to use the C: drive. :)|||

Thanks a million Dave! Genious Stuff

I would have never thought of this solution...but finally I too managed to fix this weird issue with the help of your post.

Cheers!

|||The disk quote workaround did not work for me....

However, here is a slightly less kludgy solution is to go to the properties for each SAN drive (M:, N:, O:, etc) -> Security -> Add

your current username to the list, and Deny -> Full Control. Do this for

each SAN drive and the installer will be forced to use the C: drive. Yay

Caleb

Obscure error while attempting to install SQL Server 2005 SP1

I successfully installed SQL Server 2005 SP1 on one PC. When I attempt to install it on a second PC, however, I get the following obscure error:

Unexpected Error Occurred
The following unexpected error occurred:

That's right, there's nothing else listed, other an OK button. D'oh! When I press the OK button, the following error report dialog box appears:

Hotfix.exe
A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install.

There are no pending updates that I'm aware of, as I just booted the PC. I sent the error report.

I notice on this particular PC that the SP1 install EXE is expanding/writing to an external SCSI drive; would that make a difference? I don't see a way to specify a different (i.e., internal ATA drive).

Any other ideas?

You need to look in the setup log files to track down the problem. They're located here:

%\Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files

There's also a summary.txt file up one directory and it may point you to the right log file. If you have trouble interpreting the results, please post the errors here and we'll see if we can help you out.

Paul

|||

Thanks. Before I delve further into the log file, I noticed that Summary.txt indicates everything is fine, although I don't understand the references to "Uninstall":

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06
==============================
OS Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Time : Fri Apr 14 00:07:10 2006

Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful , Reboot required
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQL.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQLSupport_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SqlWriter_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : MSXML 6.0 Parser
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_MSXML6_1.log
--

Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components.

Time : Fri Apr 14 01:30:27 2006

I'm not sure why the first section says "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition". I don't have the Express Edition installed on this PC, although I installed and uninstalled it a few months ago. Indeed, the Express Edition doesn't appear within the "Add or Remove Programs" applet.

I welcome your suggestions as to how to proceed.

|||

If it's any comfort, you are not the only one with this error.

Installed fine the first time on my development server where it is a clean install of Windows 2003 and SQL 2005. However on the pc’s I have attempted to install on, where there is Visual Studio and Office installed it refuses to install.

I have tried on 3 other PC's and they all suffer the same way.

|||

Problem solved.

I took the time over the weekend ( I need to get a life) to build a clean OS install and install SQL 2005 developer edition and then install the service pack to see when and where it broke.

The issue seems to be associated with the fact that the SQL 2005 developer edition I was trying to upgrade was from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website. I uninstalled the ISO image and installed SQL from the MSDN subscription CD's and the service pack installs fine.

Can someone at Microsoft please confirm this is an issue!

|||

Interesting observation, Des; thanks. My install came from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website, also.

How do you know that simply uninstalling and re-installing didn't resolve the problem?

|||

I actually reinstalled from the ISO image first with the same result.

I then went hunting through boxes of MSDN disks till I found the real disks, and reinstalled from the MSDN media. Once installed from the MSDN media the service pack installed first go.

|||

We have ugraded one server with SP1 for SQL 2005 without any issues,but when we performed the same task on other server with the same sp1 setup,we encountered the problem which you experienced "The following unexpected error occurred" Both the servers are installed from the same ISO image of MSDN, Herby I attach the log of the hotfix which I executed.

05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 ================================================================================
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Hotfix package launched
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Local Computer:
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Target Details: SRC-R-AS10
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 lcidsupportdir = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb\1033
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdir = \\SRC-R-AS10\s$\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdirlocal = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 windir = C:\WINDOWS
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609
05/26/2006 10:24:48.656 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 Product Status Summary:
05/26/2006 10:24:53.171 Hotfix package closed

We experience the same error while installing the hotfix AS2005-KB914595-x86-ENU.exe (this hotfix was installed on other server which upgraded successfully.)

Reinstalling is not a feasible option for our environment.Kindly suggest.

~Vishal

|||

I received the same "A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install." error when attempting to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version. As previously noted, I also uninstalled the ISO version from MSDN and re-installed from the MSDN DVD.

Following the reinstall, I attempted to run the individual hotfixes, starting with sql2005-kb918222-x86-enu.exe. Once again, I received the error.

Finally, I attempted to run the fixed patch noted in KB914595 and received a slightly different message but with the same, unsatisfactory results. The message has now changed to "Uninstallation of the 'NULL' update failed". Note that the installer chose to place the support directory on a SAN connection (F:). Could this be a lead toward a solution?

Here's the log file from the %WINDIR%\Hotfix folder:

08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 ================================================================================
08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 Hotfix package launched
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Local Computer:
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Target Details: EMERALD
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 lcidsupportdir = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208\1033
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdir = \\EMERALD\f$\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdirlocal = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 windir = C:\WINDOWS
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031
08/05/2006 16:22:35.093 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 Product Status Summary:
08/05/2006 16:22:36.843 Hotfix package closed

|||

I think I have a solution to the problem !

After installing/uninstalling SQL Server several times and trying to install SP1, about a dozen or more times, I noticed that in the Hotfix log details (see my earlier posting) that the "lcidsupportdir", "supportdirlocal" and "supportdir" all referred to drive "F:". In the Hotfix log details posted by Vishal_LogicalCMG, these same values refer to drive "S:". On the system where SP-1 was failing, drive "F:" is connected to a SAN (I wonder if there's significance to the drive letter "S:" in Vishal's post?).

Since Hotfix.exe doesn't provide a parameter to specify these values, I guessed that Hotfix.exe simply looks for the drive with the most free space for its workspace. On my system, the SAN had a lot more space than the boot drive. I quickly whipped up a script that created a 1GB file and repeatedly made copies of it on drive F: until drive C: had more free space. (I know it's a hack, but I was desparate by now!)

You guessed it - Hotfix.exe now placed its workfiles on the root drive C: and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version is running with SP-1 installed! It looks like Hotfix.exe doesn't like to work across a SAN.

Microsoft ... are you listening?

Dave

|||Thank you for help. I had the same problem with installing SP1 for SQL Server 2005. It was caused by running installation from USB harddrive. When I coppied SP1 installation to C: then SP1 and post-SP1 hotfixes installed successfully.|||

Dave,

Thanks for your post. I had the same issue, but I was not using a SANS, i just had a second drive that had more free space than the C drive. When i filled up that drive the install worked just fine.

Gotta love the QA over at Microsoft sometimes...... DUH.

Thanks again.

|||An easy workaround is to set up a 1 kb Disk Quota on the Larger Drive, which will force the MSI installer to use the C: drive. :)|||

Thanks a million Dave! Genious Stuff

I would have never thought of this solution...but finally I too managed to fix this weird issue with the help of your post.

Cheers!

|||The disk quote workaround did not work for me....

However, here is a slightly less kludgy solution is to go to the properties for each SAN drive (M:, N:, O:, etc) -> Security -> Add

your current username to the list, and Deny -> Full Control. Do this for

each SAN drive and the installer will be forced to use the C: drive. Yay

Caleb

Obscure error while attempting to install SQL Server 2005 SP1

I successfully installed SQL Server 2005 SP1 on one PC. When I attempt to install it on a second PC, however, I get the following obscure error:

Unexpected Error Occurred
The following unexpected error occurred:

That's right, there's nothing else listed, other an OK button. D'oh! When I press the OK button, the following error report dialog box appears:

Hotfix.exe
A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install.

There are no pending updates that I'm aware of, as I just booted the PC. I sent the error report.

I notice on this particular PC that the SP1 install EXE is expanding/writing to an external SCSI drive; would that make a difference? I don't see a way to specify a different (i.e., internal ATA drive).

Any other ideas?

You need to look in the setup log files to track down the problem. They're located here:

%\Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files

There's also a summary.txt file up one directory and it may point you to the right log file. If you have trouble interpreting the results, please post the errors here and we'll see if we can help you out.

Paul

|||

Thanks. Before I delve further into the log file, I noticed that Summary.txt indicates everything is fine, although I don't understand the references to "Uninstall":

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06
==============================
OS Version : Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Time : Fri Apr 14 00:07:10 2006

Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful , Reboot required
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQL.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English)
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SQLSupport_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_SqlWriter_1.log
--
Machine : PC001
Product : MSXML 6.0 Parser
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8
Uninstall : Successful
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0003_PC001_MSXML6_1.log
--

Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components.

Time : Fri Apr 14 01:30:27 2006

I'm not sure why the first section says "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition". I don't have the Express Edition installed on this PC, although I installed and uninstalled it a few months ago. Indeed, the Express Edition doesn't appear within the "Add or Remove Programs" applet.

I welcome your suggestions as to how to proceed.

|||

If it's any comfort, you are not the only one with this error.

Installed fine the first time on my development server where it is a clean install of Windows 2003 and SQL 2005. However on the pc’s I have attempted to install on, where there is Visual Studio and Office installed it refuses to install.

I have tried on 3 other PC's and they all suffer the same way.

|||

Problem solved.

I took the time over the weekend ( I need to get a life) to build a clean OS install and install SQL 2005 developer edition and then install the service pack to see when and where it broke.

The issue seems to be associated with the fact that the SQL 2005 developer edition I was trying to upgrade was from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website. I uninstalled the ISO image and installed SQL from the MSDN subscription CD's and the service pack installs fine.

Can someone at Microsoft please confirm this is an issue!

|||

Interesting observation, Des; thanks. My install came from the ISO image downloaded from the MSDN website, also.

How do you know that simply uninstalling and re-installing didn't resolve the problem?

|||

I actually reinstalled from the ISO image first with the same result.

I then went hunting through boxes of MSDN disks till I found the real disks, and reinstalled from the MSDN media. Once installed from the MSDN media the service pack installed first go.

|||

We have ugraded one server with SP1 for SQL 2005 without any issues,but when we performed the same task on other server with the same sp1 setup,we encountered the problem which you experienced "The following unexpected error occurred" Both the servers are installed from the same ISO image of MSDN, Herby I attach the log of the hotfix which I executed.

05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 ================================================================================
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Hotfix package launched
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.546 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Local Computer:
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 Target Details: SRC-R-AS10
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 lcidsupportdir = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb\1033
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdir = \\SRC-R-AS10\s$\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 supportdirlocal = s:\0596decce11fd6b46f501bbd4cfb
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 windir = C:\WINDOWS
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
05/26/2006 10:24:48.609
05/26/2006 10:24:48.656 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046
05/26/2006 10:24:53.046 Product Status Summary:
05/26/2006 10:24:53.171 Hotfix package closed

We experience the same error while installing the hotfix AS2005-KB914595-x86-ENU.exe (this hotfix was installed on other server which upgraded successfully.)

Reinstalling is not a feasible option for our environment.Kindly suggest.

~Vishal

|||

I received the same "A recently applied update, NULL, failed to install." error when attempting to install SP1 on SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version. As previously noted, I also uninstalled the ISO version from MSDN and re-installed from the MSDN DVD.

Following the reinstall, I attempted to run the individual hotfixes, starting with sql2005-kb918222-x86-enu.exe. Once again, I received the error.

Finally, I attempted to run the fixed patch noted in KB914595 and received a slightly different message but with the same, unsatisfactory results. The message has now changed to "Uninstallation of the 'NULL' update failed". Note that the installer chose to place the support directory on a SAN connection (F:). Could this be a lead toward a solution?

Here's the log file from the %WINDIR%\Hotfix folder:

08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 ================================================================================
08/05/2006 16:22:34.875 Hotfix package launched
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:34.890 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: CommonFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully opened registry key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Successfully read registry key: ProgramFilesDir, string value = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Local Computer:
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 Target Details: EMERALD
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 commonfilesdir = C:\Program Files\Common Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 lcidsupportdir = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208\1033
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 programfilesdir = C:\Program Files
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdir = \\EMERALD\f$\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 supportdirlocal = f:\074fcbd1c0e3fd87748b2a9b748b9208
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 windir = C:\WINDOWS
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031 winsysdir = C:\WINDOWS\system32
08/05/2006 16:22:35.031
08/05/2006 16:22:35.093 Enumerating applicable products for this patch
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 The patch installation could not proceed due to unexpected errors
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625
08/05/2006 16:22:36.625 Product Status Summary:
08/05/2006 16:22:36.843 Hotfix package closed

|||

I think I have a solution to the problem !

After installing/uninstalling SQL Server several times and trying to install SP1, about a dozen or more times, I noticed that in the Hotfix log details (see my earlier posting) that the "lcidsupportdir", "supportdirlocal" and "supportdir" all referred to drive "F:". In the Hotfix log details posted by Vishal_LogicalCMG, these same values refer to drive "S:". On the system where SP-1 was failing, drive "F:" is connected to a SAN (I wonder if there's significance to the drive letter "S:" in Vishal's post?).

Since Hotfix.exe doesn't provide a parameter to specify these values, I guessed that Hotfix.exe simply looks for the drive with the most free space for its workspace. On my system, the SAN had a lot more space than the boot drive. I quickly whipped up a script that created a 1GB file and repeatedly made copies of it on drive F: until drive C: had more free space. (I know it's a hack, but I was desparate by now!)

You guessed it - Hotfix.exe now placed its workfiles on the root drive C: and SQL Server 2005 Enterprise version is running with SP-1 installed! It looks like Hotfix.exe doesn't like to work across a SAN.

Microsoft ... are you listening?

Dave

|||Thank you for help. I had the same problem with installing SP1 for SQL Server 2005. It was caused by running installation from USB harddrive. When I coppied SP1 installation to C: then SP1 and post-SP1 hotfixes installed successfully.|||

Dave,

Thanks for your post. I had the same issue, but I was not using a SANS, i just had a second drive that had more free space than the C drive. When i filled up that drive the install worked just fine.

Gotta love the QA over at Microsoft sometimes...... DUH.

Thanks again.

|||An easy workaround is to set up a 1 kb Disk Quota on the Larger Drive, which will force the MSI installer to use the C: drive. :)|||

Thanks a million Dave! Genious Stuff

I would have never thought of this solution...but finally I too managed to fix this weird issue with the help of your post.

Cheers!

|||The disk quote workaround did not work for me....

However, here is a slightly less kludgy solution is to go to the properties for each SAN drive (M:, N:, O:, etc) -> Security -> Add your current username to the list, and Deny -> Full Control. Do this for each SAN drive and the installer will be forced to use the C: drive. Yay

Caleb