When installing Microsoft® SQL Server™ on a Microsoft Windows® NTFS partition, make sure that the NTFS file permissions allow read/write access. Otherwise, this error message may appear in the Microsoft Windows NT® application log (for each installation attempt):
Msg 17050: initerrlog: Could not open error log file 'C:\MSSQL7\log\ERRORLOG'. Operating system error =5(Access is denied.).
Ensure that all system requirements are met, including installation of Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 4 (SP4). For more information about system requirements, see Troubleshooting SQL Server Setup.