SQL Server Setup Bootstrap Log Review Skill

Purpose

Analyze SQL Server Setup Bootstrap log artifacts to find why an installation, upgrade, patch (CU/SP), repair, or cluster node operation failed — and to flag risky setup-time configuration before it becomes production drift. Applies 24 checks (U1–U24) across four categories:

• U1–U6 — Summary and outcome: final result failure, exit-code extraction, failed

rules, partial feature failure, patch/upgrade per-instance failures, component update phase failures

• U7–U13 — Rule-failure patterns: pending reboot, disk space, account/permission,

prerequisites, cluster rules, policy blockers, Global Rules phase

• U14–U18 — Detail.txt and MSI forensics: end-of-file exceptions, MSI "Return value 3",

setup crashes, failure-chain root-cause ordering, Datastore state files

• U19–U24 — ConfigurationFile.ini review: service accounts, instant file

initialization, TempDB layout, security surface, feature sprawl, directory placement

Setup runs three phases — (1) Global Rules verification, (2) Component update, (3) the user-requested action — and writes a dated log folder per run. This skill is the installation-layer counterpart to sqlerrorlog-review (runtime) and sqldbconfig-review (post-install drift).

Input

Accept any of:

• Summary.txt or Summary_<MachineName>_<yyyyMMdd_HHmmss>.txt — overall result, machine

properties, discovered features, user input settings, detailed per-feature results, rules with failures or warnings

• Detail.txt — time-ordered action execution log; errors and exceptions appear at the

end of the file

• MSI / MSP log files (<Feature>_<Architecture>_<Interaction>.log) — msiexec package logs
• ConfigurationFile.ini — the input settings recorded for the run (reusable for

unattended installs; passwords and PID are not saved into it)

• SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm content (pasted as text) — rule names, short

descriptions, and execution status

• *`%temp%\sqlsetup.log`** — logs from unattended-mode runs
• A natural-language description ("setup failed with 0x851A001A installing the engine")

Where the files live

%programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\<nnn>\Setup Bootstrap\Log\            <- Summary.txt
%programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\<nnn>\Setup Bootstrap\Log\<yyyyMMdd_HHmmss>\
    Summary_<MachineName>_<yyyyMMdd_HHmmss>.txt
    Detail.txt
    ConfigurationFile.ini
    SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm
    <Name>.log                  <- MSI/MSP logs
    Datastore\                  <- XML state snapshots per execution phase
    MSSQLSERVER\ ...            <- per-instance subfolders when patching

<nnn> matches the version being installed: 130 = SQL 2016, 140 = SQL 2017, 150 = SQL 2019, 160 = SQL 2022. All files in a log folder are archived into Log*.cab. Unattended-mode logs land in %temp%\sqlsetup*.log.

Pre-flight helper script

Before installing or patching, run scripts/check-pending-reboot.ps1 to detect the pending-reboot conditions that fail Setup's "Restart computer" rule (U7) — Component Based Servicing, Windows Update, PendingFileRenameOperations, pending computer rename, and the ConfigMgr client signal. Exit code 0 = clear, 1 = reboot pending. See scripts/README.md for usage.

How to Run

1. Identify the artifact type(s) in the input: Summary, Detail, MSI log, INI, rules

report, or a mix.

1. Parse the Summary first when present — Final result:, Exit code (Decimal):,

Requested action:, Detailed results: (per-feature Status: / Component error code: / Error description:), and Rules with failures or warnings:.

1. Run U1–U13 against the Summary/rules content.
2. Run U14–U18 against Detail.txt and MSI logs when provided — search Detail.txt from

the end for "error" / "exception"; search MSI logs for "value 3".

1. Run U19–U24 against ConfigurationFile.ini or the User Input Settings: section of

the Summary (the same parameters appear in both).

1. Order findings by causality — the first failing action or rule is the root cause;

later failures are usually cascade (U17).

1. If a check cannot be evaluated because its artifact is absent, report

"Cannot evaluate — <artifact> not provided" rather than skipping silently.

Summary and Outcome Checks (U1–U6)

U1 — Setup Final Result Failed

• Trigger: Summary contains Final result: with Failed, Cancelled, or

Setup completed with required actions (anything other than Passed)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Extract Exit code (Decimal):, Requested action:, and every feature in

Detailed results: whose Status: is not Passed. Report the Error description: and Component error code: for each failed feature, then continue with U2–U18 to find the root cause. The Next step for <feature>: lines state Microsoft's recommended recovery order (resolve, uninstall the feature, rerun setup).

U2 — Component Error Code Extraction

• Trigger: Component error code: present in Detailed results: (commonly a

0x84xxxxxx or 0x85xxxxxx setup facility code) or a negative Exit code (Decimal):

• Severity: Critical when paired with a failed feature; Info when historical
• Fix: Report the hex code, the paired Error description:, and the

Error help link: URL (it encodes product version and event ID for Microsoft's troubleshooting lookup). Well-known example: 0x851A001A — "Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed" — means the engine did not start during configuration; the real cause is in the new instance's ERRORLOG (MSSQL<nn>.<INSTANCE>\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG) — hand off to /sqlerrorlog-review.

U3 — Failed Setup Rules Listed

• Trigger: Rules with failures or warnings: section lists any rule with Failed

status (rule warnings alone are Info)

• Severity: Critical for failed rules; Info for warnings (e.g., IsFirewallEnabled)
• Fix: Name each failed rule and apply the matching pattern check (U7–U13). The

Rules report file: line points at SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm, which holds a short description for every executed rule and its status — request it if the rule name alone is ambiguous.

U4 — Partial Feature Failure

• Trigger: Detailed results: shows at least one feature Failed while another

feature Passed in the same run

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: The machine now has a partial install. Features whose

Reason for failure: says "an error occurred for a dependency of the feature" failed as cascade — fix the root feature first (typically Database Engine Services). Follow the Next Step: guidance per feature: resolve, uninstall the failed feature, rerun setup. Validate post-repair with /sqlerrorlog-review on first startup.

U5 — Patch/Upgrade Per-Instance Failure

• Trigger: Requested action: is Patch, Upgrade, or RemovePatch AND the log

folder contains per-instance subfolders (e.g., ...\<yyyyMMdd_HHmmss>\MSSQLSERVER\) with at least one instance summary reporting failure while others passed

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: When patching, setup writes one subfolder per patched instance plus one for

shared features, each with its own summary/detail set. A failed instance leaves the server with mixed binary versions — re-run the patch for the failed instance before the next maintenance window closes. Compare @@VERSION per instance to confirm.

U6 — Component Update Phase Failure

• Trigger: Failure during phase 2 (component/product update): Summary's

Product Update Status: reports an error, or Detail.txt shows the media-update step failing (download blocked, WSUS/Microsoft Update unreachable)

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: The update search runs before the main action and fails on offline or

proxy-restricted servers. Re-run with /UpdateEnabled=False (or UpdateEnabled=False in the INI) to skip the online check, or point UpdateSource at a local folder holding the downloaded CU. Patch to the target build immediately after install.

Rule-Failure Pattern Checks (U7–U13)

U7 — Restart Computer Rule Failed (Pending Reboot)

• Trigger: Failed rule indicating a required restart (e.g., RebootRequiredCheck /

"Restart computer" rule) in the Summary rules section or the rules report

• Severity: Critical (blocks setup until cleared)
• Fix: Windows has a pending reboot — most commonly PendingFileRenameOperations

under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager. Reboot, then rerun setup. Diagnose all five signals (CBS, Windows Update, pending file renames, pending computer rename, ConfigMgr) with this skill's scripts/check-pending-reboot.ps1 — run it with -ShowDetail to see which files are waiting and which product left the state behind. If the state returns after every reboot, an agent/AV product is re-creating it; clear that product before the maintenance window.

U8 — Disk Space Rule Failed

• Trigger: Failed rule or error text indicating insufficient free space on a target

drive (install drive, system drive, or data/log directories)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Free or extend the named volume. Remember setup also needs temp working space

and the Setup Bootstrap\Log folder grows per run. If the failure names a data/log directory from the INI, repoint INSTALLSQLDATADIR / SQLUSERDBDIR / SQLUSERDBLOGDIR to a volume with capacity (see U24).

U9 — Account or Permission Rule Failed

• Trigger: Failed rule or error text concerning service account validation, the

installing user's rights (not local admin, cannot validate credentials), or a domain account lookup failure (wrong password, locked account, unreachable DC)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Re-enter service account credentials; confirm the account is not locked or

expired; run setup elevated from an account with local Administrators membership. For gMSA accounts, confirm the host has rights to retrieve the managed password. For cluster/AG node additions, the installing account also needs rights on the cluster object. Hand off to /sqlspn-review if Kerberos/SPN errors follow first startup.

U10 — Prerequisite Rule Failed

• Trigger: Failed rule for a missing prerequisite — .NET Framework, PowerShell,

OS version/edition not supported by the SQL Server version being installed

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Install the named prerequisite and rerun. For OS-version failures there is no

workaround — use a SQL Server version supported on that OS, or move to a supported OS. Check the target version's "hardware and software requirements" page on MS Learn for the exact prerequisite matrix.

U11 — Cluster Rule Failed

• Trigger: Failed rule in a failover-cluster or AddNode/RemoveNode scenario —

cluster service validation, shared-disk checks, node membership, or cluster security policy rules

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Run the WSFC Cluster Validation wizard first and fix its findings; setup's

cluster rules are a subset. Confirm the installing account has cluster management rights and that all nodes run the same OS patch level. Pair with /sqlclusterlog-review when the cluster log shows resource failures around the same timestamp.

U12 — Security Policy Blocker

• Trigger: Error text indicating the package or media was blocked: Group Policy

software restriction / AppLocker denial, unsigned or blocked MSI, media copied with a zone identifier (mark-of-the-web), or AV quarantining setup binaries

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Unblock the media (file Properties → Unblock, or copy via a method that strips

the zone identifier), add a temporary AppLocker/SRP exception for the setup folder, and exclude the setup working directories from real-time AV scanning for the duration of the maintenance window.

U13 — Global Rules Phase Failure

• Trigger: Setup terminates during phase 1 (Global Rules verification) before

reaching feature selection — Summary shows only global rule results and no Detailed results: per-feature section

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: The environment fails basic requirements (unsupported OS, missing elevation,

pending reboot, broken WMI). Fix the named global rule (apply U7–U12 patterns). If rules cannot even execute, verify WMI health and rerun from an elevated prompt.

Detail.txt and MSI Forensic Checks (U14–U18)

U14 — Exception at End of Detail.txt

• Trigger: The final portion of Detail.txt contains an error or exception block

(search the end of the file first, then keyword-search "error" / "exception" — the documented diagnostic method for this file)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Detail.txt is written in action-invocation order, so the exception at the end

is the action that stopped the run. Report the failing action name, the exception type, the inner exception (when present — it usually carries the OS error), and the timestamps. Map the action back to the feature reported in U1.

U15 — MSI Return Value 3

• Trigger: An MSI log contains Return value 3 (the documented failure marker —

search "value 3" and read the lines immediately before it)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: The custom action or install step immediately preceding Return value 3 is the

failure point; the surrounding lines carry the real Windows Installer error (1603, 1935, 1607, ...). Report the failing action, the MSI error code, and the package name from the log file name (<Feature>_<Architecture>_<Interaction>.log). Generic 1603 with no obvious cause: check U12 (policy blockers) and Windows Installer service health.

U16 — Setup Process Crash

• Trigger: Detail.txt or Summary indicates the setup process itself terminated

abnormally (Watson bucket reference, "SQL Server Setup has encountered an error", an abrupt end of Detail.txt with no closing summary)

• Severity: Critical
• Fix: Distinguish "setup ran and an action failed" (U14/U15) from "setup crashed".

For crashes: rule out corrupt media (re-download, compare checksums), run from a local path instead of a network share, and check the Application event log for the crashing module. A Detail.txt that simply stops mid-action with a Final result of Pending often means the process was killed or the host restarted mid-run.

U17 — Failure Cascade Ordering

• Trigger: Multiple features or actions report failure in one run
• Severity: Info (analysis ordering check — always apply when U1/U4 fire)
• Fix: Order all failures by timestamp from Detail.txt and by dependency from

Reason for failure: text. Report exactly one root cause (the earliest independent failure); list the rest as cascade. Fixing the root cause and rerunning usually clears every dependent failure — do not chase dependency failures individually.

U18 — Datastore State Referenced

• Trigger: Summary/Detail are inconclusive (e.g., configuration values look wrong but

no action failed) AND the Datastore folder is available

• Severity: Info
• Fix: The Datastore\ subfolder holds XML dumps of every configuration object per

execution phase — a snapshot of what setup believed each setting to be. Ask for the relevant XML (instance settings, feature selections) and compare against the intended configuration. Useful for proving an INI/UI value was not what the operator expected.

ConfigurationFile.ini Review Checks (U19–U24)

These run on ConfigurationFile.ini or the User Input Settings: section of the Summary. Passwords, PID, and some parameters are not persisted to the INI — absence of a password parameter is normal, not a finding.

U19 — Service Account Choice

• Trigger: SQLSVCACCOUNT (or AGTSVCACCOUNT) is a shared built-in account

(NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE) on a production multi-service install, or a regular domain user account where a gMSA/MSA was available

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: Prefer per-service virtual accounts (NT Service\MSSQLSERVER — the default)

for standalone boxes, or gMSA for domain estates needing cross-machine identity (AG, Kerberos). Avoid LocalSystem for the engine. Changing later is done via SQL Server Configuration Manager (it re-grants the required rights) — not Services.msc.

U20 — Instant File Initialization Not Granted at Setup — SQL 2016+

• Trigger: SQLSVCINSTANTFILEINIT is false or absent in the INI / User Input

Settings — SQL 2016+ (the parameter grants "Perform volume maintenance tasks" to the engine account during setup)

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: Without IFI every data-file create/grow/restore zero-fills, which multiplies

restore and autogrow time. Grant now: add the engine service account to "Perform volume maintenance tasks" (secpol.msc) and restart, or reinstall pattern for fleets: /SQLSVCINSTANTFILEINIT="True" in the INI. Verify with sys.dm_server_services.instant_file_initialization_enabled (cross-check /sqldbconfig-review B22). Log files do not use IFI (except SQL 2022+ log growths up to 64 MB).

U21 — TempDB Setup Parameters Undersized — SQL 2016+

• Trigger: SQLTEMPDBFILECOUNT < MIN(logical processors, 8), or

SQLTEMPDBFILESIZE left at the 8 MB default for a production engine — SQL 2016+ (setup-time TempDB parameters)

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: Setup defaults are sized for tiny machines. Set

SQLTEMPDBFILECOUNT = MIN(logical processors, 8), equal SQLTEMPDBFILESIZE for all files (hundreds of MB to GBs for busy OLTP), matching SQLTEMPDBFILEGROWTH, and a dedicated volume via SQLTEMPDBDIR (see U24). Already installed? Fix live and validate with /sqldbconfig-review B23 and /sqldiskio-review Z7–Z9.

U22 — Security Surface Widened at Setup

• Trigger: SECURITYMODE=SQL (mixed authentication) without a stated requirement;

TCPENABLED=0 on a server meant to accept remote connections (or 1 on a local-only box); NPENABLED=1 (named pipes) without a legacy client need

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: Mixed mode adds the sa attack surface — prefer Windows authentication and

enable mixed mode only for documented application needs (then rename/disable sa). Align protocol flags with intent; change later in SQL Server Configuration Manager (TCP/NP per instance). Cross-check post-install posture with /sqldbconfig-review B24–B28.

U23 — Feature Sprawl in FEATURES List

• Trigger: FEATURES installs components beyond the stated purpose of the server

(e.g., AS, RS, DQ, IS on an engine-only OLTP box)

• Severity: Info
• Fix: Every installed feature is patch surface, attack surface, and memory

competition (AS/RS run their own services outside max server memory). Uninstall unused features via Programs and Features → SQL Server → Remove, or keep the INI's FEATURES=SQLENGINE[,REPLICATION] minimal for the next build.

U24 — Directory Co-location at Setup

• Trigger: INSTALLSQLDATADIR, SQLUSERDBDIR, SQLUSERDBLOGDIR, SQLTEMPDBDIR,

and SQLBACKUPDIR resolve to the same volume, or any of them sit on the system drive (defaults under C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ count)

• Severity: Warning
• Fix: Separate at install time — it is far cheaper than moving files later: data,

log, TempDB, and backups each on appropriate volumes; nothing growing on the system drive. The INI parameters map 1:1 to the Database Engine Configuration → Data Directories setup page. Post-install validation: /sqldiskio-review Z6–Z10.

Version-Aware Check Suppression

If the SQL Server version is stated by the user or visible in the Summary (Version: under Package properties), read VERSION_COMPATIBILITY.md (~/.claude/skills/VERSION_COMPATIBILITY.md if installed, or skills/VERSION_COMPATIBILITY.md from the repo). If unavailable, skip silently. For checks whose minimum version exceeds the instance version: verbose mode → log as SKIP (version: requires SQL 20XX+, instance is SQL 20YY); standard report → omit entirely. Do not suppress NOT ASSESSED rows from missing input — only suppress version-inapplicable checks. This skill applies to SQL Server on Windows only — the Setup Bootstrap log layout does not exist on SQL Server on Linux, Azure SQL Database, or Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Output Format

Present findings in this order:

1. Setup Outcome Summary — one sentence: action attempted, final result, root cause.
2. Run facts table — version/edition, requested action, start/end time, exit code,

log folder timestamp.

1. Findings table — one row per triggered check:

1. Root cause — single root cause (per U17 ordering) with the failing action/rule

and evidence lines quoted.

1. Recovery sequence — ordered, concrete steps (resolve → uninstall failed feature

if required → rerun → post-install validation), with companion skill references.

1. Configuration advisories — U19–U24 findings, separated from the failure analysis.

Analyzed by: sqlbootstraplog-review (U1–U24)

Companion Skills

• /sqlerrorlog-review — the engine ERRORLOG explains "Wait on the Database Engine

recovery handle failed" (0x851A001A) and any post-install startup failure; run it on the new instance's first ERRORLOG

• /sqldbconfig-review — validates the running instance against the configuration the

INI promised (IFI B22, TempDB B23, surface area B24–B28)

• /sqlclusterlog-review — when cluster rules fail (U11) or an AddNode operation breaks

mid-flight, the WSFC cluster log shows the cluster-side view

• /sqldiskio-review — post-install validation of the directory/volume choices reviewed

by U24

• /sqlspn-review — service account changes at setup (U19) often surface later as SPN

registration failures

VERSION_COMPATIBILITY

See skills/VERSION_COMPATIBILITY.md for the full compatibility matrix.

Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance have no user-visible SQL Server Setup; this skill is for SQL Server on Windows.