Did you know... Error: 29565 SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete

We have observed a number of cases where the installation of SP2 succeeds on Active Node while it may fail on the passive node while installing SP2 on the clustered instance of SQL server 2005.

In order to find the cause of the failure on passive node we need to check Summary.txt log in the passive node in the following location,

c:\Program files\Microsoft Sql server\90\Setup Bootstrap\log

In the Summary.txt we may see the following error,

Product: Database Services (MSSQLSERVER)
Product Version (Previous): 1399
Product Version (Final) :
Status : Failure
Log File : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup
Bootstrap\LOG\Hotfix\SQL9_Hotfix_KB921896_sqlrun_sql.msp.log
Error Number : 29565
Error Description : MSP Error: 29565 SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the
specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete. Start the Remote Registry service and go to Add/Remove Programs, select the Change button for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then select SQL instance MSSQLSERVER and complete the setup.

When we check the SQL9_Hotfix_KB921896_sqlrun_sql.msp.log file located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Hotfix\SQL9_Hotfix_KB921896_sqlrun_sql.msp.log

We see the following error,

MSI (s) (40!E0) [21:44:55:632]: Product: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -- Error 29565.
SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete. Start the Remote Registry service and go to Add/Remove Programs, select the Change button for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then select SQL instance MSSQLSERVER and complete the setup.

Error 29565. SQL Server Setup cannot upgrade the specified instance because the previous upgrade did not complete. Start the Remote Registry service and go to Add/Remove Programs, select the Change button for Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and then select SQL instance MSSQLSERVER and complete the setup.
<EndFunc Name='LaunchFunction' Return='29565' GetLastError='203'>

In order to resolve the above issue we need to follow the below mentioned steps

1. Check HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\Setup . The value of
"Resume" should be set to 1 to allow the installation to resume.

2. Click the 'Change' button for SQL Server 2005 in Add/Remove Programs on the node
that wasn't upgraded and run setup. There is a button in one of the dialogs labeled
'Complete suspended installation'. Click this button and let it complete.

3. Run SP2 setup again to upgrade the completed RTM installation.

Satya Madhuri Krovvidi
SE, Microsoft SQL Server