A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined when installing SQL Server Management Studio 2016

Question

Whilst installing SSMS 2016, I get the following error and setup terminates:

SQL Server 2016 Common Files: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.

I've tried the following solutions:

1. Delete all files in %TEMP% folder
2. Check that BootstrapDir exists in HKLM

The above 2 options where suggested on the MS sites.

I have administrator privileges and I must also add that I have already installed SSMS 2016 on this machine but I removed it to clean up some space.

Any ideas what I might look for to solve this problem?

Liriodendron

Did you find any solution? – Creditable

Answer 1

This is the exact error message I was getting:

BootstrapperEngineDataModel.OnError: Burn engine encountered error. PackageId: sql_ssms_extensions_msp_x86, ErrorType: WindowsInstaller, ErrorCode: 1807, Data: 1807, ErrorMessage: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined., UIHint: 0
MainViewModel.AddFailedCondition: Error: Hotfix 2164 for  sql_ssms_extensions (KB3182270): A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.
MainViewModel.OnPackageError: setup failed for packageId: sql_ssms_extensions_msp_x86, package: Hotfix 2164 for  sql_ssms_extensions (KB3182270), errorCode: 1807, errorMessage: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.

And the solution to fix this is:

Start regedit and go to (or search for BootstrapDir in registry) :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Bootstrap

In my computer, the BootstrapDir is pointed to :

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Setup Bootstrap\

I changed that to :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Setup Bootstrap\

Then try to reinstall again, it works on my machine.

Creditable

Amazing, this did the trick, how on Earth did you figure this out... and why did Microsoft mess up the setup so badly... – Viminal

@Viminal The answer isn't mine... I found it somewhere (and I forgot what the original link was)... after the installation it is probably wise to change back the BootstrapDir to its original location... just in case... – Creditable

@RosdiKasim Bro, you are a great time saver. After 1 week of googling , I would plan to reinstall windows if I could not find this . I thought there is a serious problem in my OS , even I have gone through other stackoverflow question regarding this matter. I wish I could say thank you face to face . ♥ – Choleric

A link from Microsoft with this answer connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/2142663/… – Protectorate