How to fix endless reboot loop installing Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 - message: A previous installation required a reboot of the machine for changes

Question

Installing Microsoft® ODBC Driver 17 on windows 10. During the install, Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server setup stops and shows "A previous installation required a reboot of the machine for changes to take effect. To proceed, restart your computer then run Setup again. rebooted but not fixed.
4 reboots and then tried install again. Same issue.

Microsoft ODBC 13 driver installs and uninstalls without any issues.

I've reviewed Microsoft support site and found nothing that describes this issue.
There are notes about odbc 13 and 17 causing conflict. odbc 13 is not installed.

checked this potential for SQL Server install requiring reboots, but nothing in my registry for PendingFileRenameOperations.

Has anyone found the clue that Driver 17 is using to think it needs another reboot to continue? I need to get SSMS installed and it has a dependency on ODBC Driver 17.

windows 10 updated to current. doing install as admin.

Madoc

I already checked for issues noted in "You are repeatedly prompted to restart the computer when installing SQL Server 2008". No PendingFileRenameOperations. – Madoc

microsoft community suggesting use the tool below to uninstall/install that driver microsoft windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed. did not resolve my issue. the odbc driver isn't found by the tool and didn't identify issue to fix. – Madoc

Answer 1

I used the tool at the following url to uninstall/install the driver ODBC 17 driver (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed). I needed to copy/paste the product code below to uninstall the ODBC 17 driver. {12DC69AF-787B-4D76-B69D-2716DACA79FB}

After reboot, I was able to successfully install ODBC 17 driver.

Madoc

Answer 2

I have found one another solution under https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9pq3fUOO3s that worked for me when I faced problems with ODBC Driver 17 installation while updating Microsoft SQL Server.

It basically requires cleaning the value of PendingFileRenameOperations (replacing the multi-string value with an empty string) under the registry key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager.

You might also like to consider the analysis from @oopoopoop that is posted here as another answer to this question.

Fumble

This is the solution that worked for me (actually installing SQL Server Management Studio, that installs ODBC 17), thanks! – Gutenberg

Worked for me too, Win10 + SSMS 18.8, thanks a lot! – Leialeibman

Worked for me. I'm actually installing Sql Server 2019, which apparently also installs ODBC Driver 17, so I think my case is similar to @Gutenberg . – Boston

This works but answer not clear as to exactly how to update the registry item. – Knorring

If that registry item PendingFileRenameOperations does not exist, should it be created? There is one called FileRenameOperations on my Windows10 x64 PC. – Doralynn

@Doralynn I believe you incorrectly check the key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\FileRenameOperations when you should be checking for the value PendingFileRenameOperations directly under the key Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager. Screenshot added. – Fumble

@olin000: Thank you. – Doralynn

Works perfectly with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio with Azure Data Studio Release 18.12.1 – Viscacha

Worked for me!! SSMS 19 Preview and Windows 11 – Sap

This works also for ODBC 18 – Absorbefacient

Answer 3

The ODBC driver might be already installed when installing the Visual Studio. Find it in the installed applications and uninstall it. Then run the SSMS installer. It will finish without error and install the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server for you.

Zabrina

Answer 4

Thanks to olin000's answer, which guided me to the correct registry key / value.

Like some of you, however, I was not sure if I should simply remove all 'Pending File Rename Operations'. Doing this makes it sound like I will have a bunch of obsolete files in my PC that will be forgotten forever. So I decided to go just a tad deeper into the issue.

The check

Below is the first set of files in my PendingFileRenameOperations under the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager:

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\vcruntime140_1.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\vcruntime140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\streamserver.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\repoman.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\officeclicktorun.exe

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\msvcp140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\msix.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\concrt140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660\apiclient.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20660

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\vcruntime140_1.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\vcruntime140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\repoman.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\msvcp140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\msix.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\concrt140.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvpolicy.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvorchestration.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvmanifest.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvisvvirtualization.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvisvsubsystemcontroller.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvisvstreamingmanager.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvisvapi.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvintegration.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvfilesystemmetadata.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\appvcatalog.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626\apiclient.dll

\??\c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\updates\16.0.15601.20626

\??\C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\Updates

They definitely look related to 'Click-to-Run' with a 'clicktorun' path. After doing some search...

What to do

I ended up manually stopping the 'Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service' temporarily, delete those related files, let my PC restart a final time.

A second look after the reboot at the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager, the value PendingFileRenameOperations is gone. This mean that the rest of the files in the value had all been taken care of by simply restarting.

As you would have guessed by now, the installation went smoothly afterwards.

Just a reminder

for people who want to manually handling stuck operations in value PendingFileRenameOperations. Do remember that there are two kinds of 'operations'. Delete or Rename. Each of them is represented by two lines. A 'Delete' is a line with the filename plus an empty line to follow. A 'Rename' is a line with the old filename plus a line with the new filename.

Using the below as an example.

\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\New\PrintConfig.dll
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\PrintConfig.dll
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\New\PrintConfig.dll
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\DRIVERS\x64\3\PrintConfig.dll
\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\x64\3\Old\1\PrintConfig.dll

• Rename W32X86\3\New\PrintConfig.dll to W32X86\3\PrintConfig.dll
• Rename x64\3\New\PrintConfig.dll to x64\3\PrintConfig.dll
• Delete x64\3\Old\1\PrintConfig.dll

Paralytic

Answer 5

Used @olin000 solution and cleared the registry entry PendingFileRenameOperations. Worked like a charm ;D

Snotty