15 September 2004
SQL Server Pending File Operations Bug
Posted by Mikhail Esteves under: Tips; Windows .
When re-installing SQL Server 2000 today I came across this weird error message, saying:
A previous program installation created pending file operations on the installation machine. You must restart the computer before running setup.
I restarted twice but the message just kept on coming. After a little snooping, I found there was (luckily) a simple fix for the problem.
- Run the Windows Registry Editor
- Surf to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager
- Delete the pendingfilerenameoperations key
Then re-start the SQL Server installation and it should work. As always, keep a backup of your registry before you touch it.
38 Comments so far...
Walter Says:
9 November 2004 at 7:04 pm.
That dows not work in Windows XP, the Registry has
a File Rename Operations but no “Pending”, besides it is
empty and the error persists.
Brandon Says:
23 November 2004 at 12:07 am.
Thanks for that info, It would have taken me some time or worse a reinstall. Got to love the net….
Chris Says:
2 March 2005 at 3:30 pm.
This solution worked for me on XP
Ray Nichols Says:
24 March 2005 at 12:07 am.
Worked like a charm… (on XP WALTER)
Thank you Mikhail Esteves!
Luca Says:
1 April 2005 at 7:30 pm.
This Solution Also Worked Perfectly for me
Thanks a Lot
Kurt Says:
19 April 2005 at 1:21 am.
Like Walter, I do not have the pendingfilerenameoperations
key and the error does persist. This fix will not work for everyone.
IRAD Says:
3 May 2005 at 10:00 pm.
This worked for me, thanks Mikhail Esteves.
Anoop Chand Says:
4 May 2005 at 6:10 pm.
Thanks buddy. It helped a lot..
Rahul Says:
16 May 2005 at 4:42 pm.
Thanks a lot man…this is gr8 idea..helped me a lot in critical situation.
Klara Says:
20 May 2005 at 9:19 pm.
Thanks a lot. You save my life
Brent Newbury Says:
22 May 2005 at 2:35 am.
Work for me on Windows 2003 Server with Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
Cheers :)
Luc B. Says:
23 May 2005 at 8:45 pm.
Same problem with my new HP NC8230 laptop. Thx for the tip :)
Dave Says:
24 May 2005 at 3:51 pm.
Worked great on XP Media edition also.
charlyx Says:
24 June 2005 at 6:50 pm.
thx. this is called last minutes help ;-)
chas Says:
15 July 2005 at 9:11 am.
Worked great! no clue otherwise. Thanks.
Nakul Says:
18 July 2005 at 1:42 pm.
worked for me on xp as well..thx heaps
Bengt Says:
18 July 2005 at 5:08 pm.
It works. Thanks for the information.
Frank D Says:
30 July 2005 at 2:12 pm.
Like Mikhail was describing: Its not a subfolder underneath SessionManager but a key (in the same ‘directory’). Deleted it and was back in business (XP). Thanks Mikhail.
Shayne Says:
18 August 2005 at 11:39 pm.
Worked for me in XP — although there was a space between the words “Session” and “Manager” at the end of the key name. I also have the HP NC8230 – that seems strange that another user above also had the same problem on the same laptop model. Thanks for the solution!
Nicolae Says:
31 August 2005 at 6:25 pm.
Hi Mikhael,
Thanks to you very much for the post above. It helped me a lot and had saved my mind.
der.michi Says:
31 August 2005 at 9:04 pm.
Some HP tools might also leave their mark, thus stopping SQL from installing. In this case will find that the key in the registry is pointing to a file (i.e. “\C:\blah.events”).
In this case: delete the file (and the key)and SQL will install ok.
Anyway. Good thread. Helped me to fix the prob.
per hejndorf Says:
8 September 2005 at 12:01 am.
Thanks for the rescue – again some HP installation had left its mark on the registry on my nx8220. Seems they need to clean up their act :)
Rui David Says:
11 September 2005 at 4:52 am.
Hi Mikhael,
Work fine !!!!
Many thanks !
Rob Meade Says:
17 September 2005 at 2:32 pm.
This fix worked perfectly for me, I have installed SQL Server many times on many different computers/servers and had never experienced this problem before. For me this occured on my HP Pavilion zd8290ea laptop, the file in question was: c:\Program Files\HPQ\Shared\pqwmi.events, which had a file size of zero.
I took a backup of all of the files in that directly and then deleted them, the above was in use and wouldn’t allow me to delete it though, backup up the registry and then deleted the key as above. No reboot was necessary after this, I could simply carry on with the installation of SQL Server.
Not sure whether perhaps this file was something to do with the sysprep stuff that the laptops seem to come with, I had had a few problems with that also until I wiped it and did it all myself!
Anyway, thanks for the fix, most appreciated (especially as I only wanted the client tools!)
:)
Regards
Rob
J. Says:
28 September 2005 at 7:47 pm.
Thanks.
Had the same problem with both SQL Server Dev and Visual Studio. Every time the laptop reboots it regenerates the key. Will update with info if I find a “permanent” solution to the problem.
Regards,
J.
Andy Coughlan Says:
3 October 2005 at 4:56 pm.
Yup, I too have an NC8230 and experienced the same problem. Looks like tere must be an issue with these laptops. Thanks for the fix, though, worked a treat.
Andy
Doug Says:
7 October 2005 at 12:02 am.
Worked like clockwork on XP. Amazing how you figured that out. Thanks so much.
Doug
Jerrel Baxter Says:
28 October 2005 at 2:56 am.
I also have had this problem with an HP NC8230 laptop. I had to restart in Safe mode to clear the content of the “\Program Files\HPQ\Shared” directory after backing them up to another folder. Then I was finally able to install Visual Studio.net. Other than this issue I really like the laptop so far. I did find their single sign-on credential manager application to be a royal pain and use Add/Remove programs to get rid of it.
Larry B Says:
12 November 2005 at 2:34 am.
Thx for the help! Worked great on XP.
One note: I had previously installed SQL Server 2005 CTP (Sept) and decided I didn’t need it afterall, so I uninstalled it 1st, then applied your “fix”. This might be why I had the appropriate key in my reg.
Cheers!
DotNetJeff Says:
10 January 2006 at 2:51 am.
Thanks so much. This problem was stumping me for 3 days already. I was totally blaming Norton Internet Security, haha. Have a good one.
Eme Eleonu Says:
8 March 2006 at 12:05 am.
I volunteer to wash you car and mow your lawn for one week. Saved my neck.
Binu Says:
1 May 2006 at 3:56 pm.
I was kinda nervous to make modifications to a perfectly working (brand new) HP Laptop NX6120.
So I went with the second advice and disabled all HP application in MSCONFIG.exe
So far it seems to have done the trick. I’m going through the installation as I entering this. I’ll enable those HP apps after I’ve completed the Server Installation.
Thanks for the info. It really helped.
B.
James Says:
23 October 2006 at 5:51 pm.
Had this problem on a win2003 server, great tip, installation went through fine after.
Nick Says:
20 December 2006 at 6:17 pm.
Thanks for the great tip! Works perfectly
Bob Says:
27 March 2007 at 10:17 pm.
Hi Thanks
It worked on Windows 2003 Server for me. Thank You Guyz
Kevin Says:
2 July 2007 at 2:26 pm.
Thanks guys. Wasted 2 hours restarting and removing applications for this.
Joe Says:
14 August 2007 at 3:41 pm.
SWEEEEET!!! I’ll have to remember that one! Cheers
Larry Says:
7 November 2007 at 4:55 am.
Be careful! By deleting this value you could be whacking your system. Pending files are usually DLL’s and EXE’s that could not be replaced while all the services were running, so the installs write the files with temporary names and setup PendingFileRenameOperations to correct the names later. Deleting the operations mean you could create DLL hell.
