Can't Install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express

Question

I have a problem with installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.

On my computer, I have installed VC# and VWebdev 2010 express. It included SQL Server 2008 Express inside.

After that, I did an upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.

The consequence is I can't connect to a local server itself. So, I uninstall all of SQLServer products and reinstall again. Then an error message pops up on my screen which is pasted on the end of this question.

My computer runs on Win7 x64. SQL Server installer is a 64-bit version. My System.dll, which I think a root of this problem, assembly is 2.0.0.0 version.

The error message:

System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for userSettings/Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.LandingPage.Properties.Settings: Could not load file or assembly 'System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. (C:\Users\BenZ\AppData\Local\Microsoft_Corporation\LandingPage.exe_StrongName_ryspccglaxmt4nhllj5z3thycltsvyyx\10.0.0.0\user.config line 5) ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. File name: 'System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' at System.Configuration.TypeUtil.GetTypeWithReflectionPermission(IInternalConfigHost host, String typeString, Boolean throwOnError) at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.Init(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord) at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.InitWithRestrictedPermissions(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord) at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.CreateSectionFactory(FactoryRecord factoryRecord) at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.FindAndEnsureFactoryRecord(String configKey, Boolean& isRootDeclaredHere)

Jasper

Answer 1

Deleting the user.config file mentioned in the error message resolves this.

Full path:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft_Corporation\LandingPage.exe_StrongName_ryspccglaxmt4nhllj5z3thycltsvyyx\10.0.0.0\user.config

Note: I am using Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) . First I have uninstalled Visual Studio 2010, then I deleted user.config from the above path.

Gerber

Answer 2

I have found that if I press a close button on the right top of the error message box, it will jump to a normal installation screen.

The installation is successful now. I finally can connect to a server by SQL Server Management Studio. But I still wonder what will be coming after this.

Jasper

Answer 3

I'm running windows 7 64 bit on my laptop. I had originally installed SQL Server 2008 Express Edition with Advanced Services and then because it ran so slow on my machine, I used Revo Uninstaller to uninstall it from my system. That was a big mistake! I have used Revo for years without issue, until I used it for uninstalling SQL Server.

So, the lesson learned is use the control panel to remove SQL Server if I ever do it in the future. I couldn't reinstall windows as I've got too much configured software and code on this machine. I couldn't do a system restore as my restore points didn't go back that far and I was able to get my registry reset prior to all these changes by doing a system restore back to the early part of April 2013. There were no options to go back any farther.

Then I found SQL Server 2008R2 Express with tools and that sounded like what I needed as it required a lot less memory to run. However, I couldn't get it installed. I'd try doing deletes in the reqistry, based on blogs I'd read about how to manually reinstall SQL Server when you used a 3rd party tool to uninstall it. I'd get a 1605 error, then another error, then another different one. I tried these different ways:

1. Clean install of SQL Server
2. Reinstall of SQL Server fails
3. How to remove a broken install of SQL Server 2008
4. Error while installing SQL Server 2008R2

, but nothing worked. At best everything installed, except tools, but then I'd delete more registry items and it wouldn't even start to install.

I started over with the registry back to when I first started the reinstall, after the system restore and tried to install it again. What I did was type %localappdata%\Microsoft_Corporation into the address box in Windows Explorer and then deleted that folder as mentioned above. That got me past one error about a missing file that the installer couldn't find and that I had seen before, but this didn't solve the other problems, as when I tried to install everything, the management tools - basic didn't install and threw an installation error.

So I used the control panel and removed the tools and the server instance only. It seems that if you can get SQL Server loaded up again or mostly so to where you can uninstall it or items that weren't fully installed through the control panel in windows, that is the best way to get things back to a state where you can get it reinstalled. Otherwise you are stuck with manually editing the registry and hoping you don't mess things up worse. I tried the registry tricks five or six times with no successes!

In any event, it threw an error trying to remove the tools, but had removed enough so that I could reinstall it again, just adding in those two items that I had removed or partially remove through the control panel: management tools and the server instance.

No registry changes were made and I didn't have to delete any of the SQL Server folders on my machine, but this time it worked! The tools version doesn't take much memory to run, so my machine can handle it well with 4gb's of ram.

Melanous