Setup Troubleshooting: Checklist

1. Read the error message. SQL Server Setup translates most error codes received from the operating system.
2. With the error dialog box showing, open Sqlstp.log in the \Windows or \WinNT directory. Check the last few events in the log to see if any problems occurred before the error message was generated.
3. If this is a custom installation and the component that failed to install properly is the Full-text Search (MSSearch) service, check the Mssearch.log in the \Temp directory to see if any problems occurred.
4. Continue past the error message dialog box. Some error messages are just warnings. The Setup program may still finish successfully.
5. If the Setup program fails, and you cannot diagnose and fix the problem yourself, make a copy of Sqlstp.log and Setup.iss from the \Windows or \WinNT directory and, if you installed Full-text Search, make a copy of the Mssearch.log from the \Temp directory.

Note The Setup program may encounter problems installing MS DTC on computers with multiple network cards or SPX installed. If the Setup program stops responding, check the Sqlstp.log in the \Windows or \WinNT directory to see if MS DTC is being installed. If this is the problem, uninstall one of the network cards or SPX, and then retry the Setup program.