I have spent a lot of today repeating steps that I followed months ago and it is hopefully through writing it down here that I will remember the steps needed if it happens again.

I was building a VM environment on my laptop (using VMWare but that is irrelevant) and it went like:

• Create VM
• Attach Win Server 2012 iso
• Start VM
• Install OS
• Add VMWare tools
• Install SQL Server 2014 Eval

and part way through the installation I got a message saying it can’t install as Windows .Net Framework 3.5 (winfx3) is not installed. I remember at this point that SQL 2014 needs winfx3 and it doesnt get installed by default with the Server 2012 OS. So, off to add roles, locate the role and install. Then I remember that winfx3 isnt even bundled with the OS and you have to provide the files to the installer.

No problem, the files are on my laptop, I share the folder they are in to the guest and put that mapped drive path into the add roles wizard.

And the install crashes.

Repeat.

And the install fails to complete.

THEN I REMEMBER – the sxs folder has to be in the guest OS, not available over a share but actually pasted into the VM drive somewhere. It’s easy to achieve with a drag + drop from the mapped drive to the local drive but forgetting that small step caused me a lot of hassle today.

Having written it down I hope that it won’t trouble me again though.

P.S. Also worth noting: Change the Windows machine name before you install SQL Server.