This morning I was working on getting all new inherited SQL Servers patched to current levels of service packs when one particular server was failing on patching the database engine itself. A quick google search revealed articles tips that someone may have deleted the c:\windows\installer contents. That wasn’t my case.
After reviewing the summary.txt file in the “setup bootstrap” folder I noticed that it was failing because it couldn’t write to \SQLDATA\\MASTER\328C400…. Notice the path, there are two back slashes before MASTER. Can we say typo? I corrected that in the default path and reran the SP installer for Database Services only. Problem was solved.
Not a bad find for 4:30 AM after working all night.
