EBS Management Server setup fails to complete

[Today's post comes to us courtesy of Damian Leibaschoff from Commercial Technical Support and Chris Puckett from Product Quality]

Setup of the Windows Essential Business Server Management server fails while installing Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007 SP 1 (SCE). This can occur whether you are performing a new installation, joining an existing domain or a replacement mode setup.

The Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1 package that is installed as part of SCE 2007 SP1 is out of date. As a result it prevents the installation of SCE, and therefore EBS, from completing.  You can cross check messages in the log files in the More Information section below to determine if you are running into this.

Resolution:

Use the following steps to substitute WSUS 3.0 SP 2 for WSUS 3.0 SP 1:

  1. Begin the installation of the EBS Management server and stop once you reach the EBS setup (OOBE) wizard.
  2. Press Shift+F10 to open a command shell. From here, install the EBS Preparation and Planning tools, but *DO NOT launch them* after they are installed.
  3. Replace WsusSetup.exe with the SP2 version using the following steps.
    1. Download the WSUS 3 SP2 x64 version. You can get it here.
    2. Rename the downloaded package from WSUS30-KB972455-x64.exe to WSUSSetup.exe
    3. Rename C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\SCE\Setup\AMD64\WSUSSetup.exe to C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\SCE\Setup\AMD64\WSUSSetup.old
    4. Copy the new WSUS package to C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\SCE\Setup\AMD64\
  4. Replace the WSUS_HOTFIX with an update for the Preparation and Planning wizard using the following steps.
    1. Rename C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\bin\WSUS_HOTFIX\KB954960_x64.msp to KB954960_x64.old.
    2. Download the KB 977195 update for the Preparation and Planning wizard to the server. Shortcut here.
    3. Extract the MSP from the CAB and rename it to KB954960_x64.msp. Copy this KB954960_x64.msp file into the folder C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\bin\WSUS_HOTFIX\ .
  5. Close the command shell and continue with the EBS Management setup. Select NO to updates.

More Information:

To verify that you are encountering this issue, look for the highlighted messages in the log files indicated below.

C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Logs\MMSSetup.log

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.332","MMSSetup_InstallSCE","Error","Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException: The System Center Essentials installation failed with exit code 0xFFFFFFFF."

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.332","MMSSetup_InstallSCE","Verbose","Exit: InstallSCE.Install: Void Install()"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","Exception = Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException: The System Center Essentials installation failed with exit code 0xFFFFFFFF.

at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.InstallSCE.Install()
at Microsoft.MMS.Setup.Deployment.Core.Management.InstallSCETask.Configure()
at Microsoft.MMS.Setup.Deployment.Core.SetupTask.RunInstall(ITaskDataLink tdLink)
at Microsoft.MMS.Setup.Deployment.Core.SetupTask.Run(ITaskDataLink tdLink)"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","Level 1: Exception type = Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","Level 1: Exception message = The System Center Essentials installation failed with exit code 0xFFFFFFFF."

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","Level 1: Exception Data:"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","thrown exception type = Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException, server role Management"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","No ThrowsAttribute exception match found, and unknown exception type Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","attribute exceptiontype = Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.SceTasks.SceInstallTaskException"

[3260],"2011/01/18 08:26:47.442","Task","Verbose","Found error message = System Center Essentials installation failed."

 

C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Logs\SCESetup0.Log

8:26 AM: Drive C:\Program Files\System Center Essentials 2007 is valid

8:26 AM: SetupData::ValidateAllInput passed

8:26 AM: LaunchWSUSPrereq: Launching C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\SCE\Setup\AMD64\WSUSSetup.exe with arguments: /Q /P PREREQ_CHECK_LOG="C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\WSUSPrereqReport.xml"

8:26 AM: LaunchWSUSPrereq: We did not pass the Prereq check. Return Value was 5216

8:26 AM: WSUS Prereq failed!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finished Logging for Setup.exe 8:26:47 AM Tuesday, January 18, 2011

 

C:\Program Files\Windows Essential Business Server\Logs\WSUSSetup.log

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Success MWUSSetup Validating pre-requisites...

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Error MWUSSetup Failed to determine if an higher version of WSUS is installed. Assuming it is not... (Error 0x80070002: The system cannot find the file specified.)

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Error MWUSSetup WSUS is outdated. But this will not block setup (Error 0x00000000: The operation completed successfully.)

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Success MWUSSetup Pre-requisites file: C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\WSUSPrereqReport.xml

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Error MWUSSetup Some prerequisite check failed. Look at C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\WSUSPrereqReport.xml for details. (Error 0x80041460)

2011-01-18 08:26:47 Error MWUSSetup DoInstall: Wsus setup failed (Error 0x80041460)

 

C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\WSUSPrereqReport.xml

<Components>
<Component>Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0</Component>
</Components>
<Description>You cannot install WSUS with a higher version of WSUS already installed.</Description>
<Resolution>For information regarding how to resolve this issue, go to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=71220\</Resolution>
</Result>
<Result StatusCode="2">
<Components>
<Component>Microsoft Windows Server Update Services 3.0</Component>
</Components>
<Description>Current WSUS version is out of date.</Description>
<Resolution>For information regarding how to resolve this issue, go to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74472\</Resolution>
</Result>