SQL Server Installation Fix: Repair a Failed SQL Server 2016 Installation

Introduction

SQL Server 2016 is a recently released version of Microsoft’s popular database platform that is developed with inbuilt advanced analytic and higher security technology. It targets all the critical applications and deeper insights in your data across on-premises and cloud. Here are few tips to handle the installation process to avoid the failure along with the method to repair the failed SQL Server 2016 Installation.

Scenarios when SQL server 2016 installation failed and need repair operation

• When an instance of SQL Server got corrupted after successful installation and you need to repair that particular instance only.
• When you need to repair a particular instance of SQL Server in case the upgrade operation is cancelled or failed after the instance name is mapped to the newly-upgraded instance.

If the following message appears in summary log, you need to repair the failed upgrade instance:

Error message: "SQL Server upgrade failed. To continue, investigate the reason for the failure, correct the problem, and then repair your installation."

In case the following message appears in the summary log, you need to uninstall and reinstall SQL Server, as you will not be able to repair the SQL Server instance.

Error Message:"SQL Server upgrade failed. To continue, investigate the reason for the failure, correct the problem."
When you repair an instance of SQL Server all the missing or corrupt files, registry keys are replaced with the new ones and all missing or invalid configuration values are set to their default values.
Note: Before initiating SQL Server failover clusters, remember that the repair process must be run on individual cluster nodes only. To repair a failover cluster node after a failed prepare operation, use Remove node and then continue performing the Prepare step again.
Repair steps when SQL Server installation get failed from the Installation Center

1. Run the SQL Server Setup application (setup.exe) from SQL Server installation media.
2. When you are done with prerequisites and system verification, you will be prompted to the Setup program that displays the SQL Server Installation Center page.
3. Now, select Maintenance located in the left-hand navigation area, and click Repair to initiate the repair operation.
4. The next window runs all the setup support rule and file routines to get assurance about all the prerequisites installed and then Setup validation rules. Now, select OK button or Install to continue.
5. Now, on the Select Instance page, choose the instance you want to repair, and click ‘Next’ button.
6. To validate the operation repair rules will run, click ‘Next’ to continue.
7. The next page will be ‘Ready to Repair page’, which indicates that the operation is ready to proceed, click Repair.
8. You will be able to view the status of the repair operation through Repair Progress page.

Steps to repair failed installation of SQL Server using Command Prompt

You can also run the given command at a command prompt to repair failed installation:

‘Setup.exe /q /ACTION=Repair /INSTANCENAME=instancename’

Summary

These are the manual steps you can use to repair a failed SQL server 2016 installation. But in case you are unable to repair SQL instances then you can always go with the alternate solutions available in the market. There are various SQL repair tools available that offer you advanced modules to repair SQL 2016 instances without following many steps.

Relevant Reading

• Could not open a connection to SQL Server
• How to Schedule Backup in SQL Server
• Saving Changes not permitted in SQL Server

Author Bio: Priyanka Chouhan is a technical writer in Stellar Data Recovery with 5 years of experience and has written several articles on SQL server & SharePoint. In the spare time, she loves reading and gardening.