MS SQL Server Setup Support Rules Failed – Restart Computer

When installing Microsoft SQL server the installer runs through a series of checks before installing to make sure that all the required components are present and the server is ready for the install..  A couple of times recently I’ve received the following error: Setup Support Rules – Restart Computer – Failed

This is because there is a pending restart – updates or program (un)installation has left the server with a list of files to be moved, renamed or deleted on the next reboot.  This happens because some files may be in use by the system so cannot be changed while the OD is running.  There’s at least two solutions to this error:

• Reboot the server and then attempt the SQL install.  This is probably the ‘best’ answer as it will allow the pending file operations to be carried out, returning the OS to a consistent state.  Sometimes though this won’t fix the problem.
• There are two registry values that need to be cleared to get past this error:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired

You can either simply delete the data from these values, or if you’re more cautious you’ll export the keys and reimport after installing SQL.

That’s it – happy installing!