SQL server media not supported on a X86 system error soon as setup is launch

  • Hi! I am new in this forum and so excited to meet people who live and breath SQL!

    Besides being new in this forum, I am new to SQL as well so forgive me if I will ask newbie and "stupid" questions 🙂

    Now on to my problem.

    I am trying to install an SQL server 2012 developer edition with SP1 X64 to my local machine and received this error

    "SQL server media not supported on a X86 system. To continue, run the SQL server setup media that matches your system"

    What have I done wrong?

    A few more information prior to the installation :

    - Operating System is Windows 8 on a dual boot MacBook pro

    - I allocated 81GB space for Windows system. No application installed yet. SQL would be the first

    - I uncompressed the .iso file to a USB drive and to my hard drive then run setup.exe from both but still had the same problem

    I suspect that it is because I am trying to install through a different media other than a DVD disc but I do not have available disc right now so I took my chance. I wasn't successful. What is the work around with this problem?

    Has anyone encountered this problem before? I need all the help please because I am aiming to take certification exams and this is my initial step so I can practice and review on my spare time.

    All help will be appreciated.

    thanks!

  • Well....it was a silly mistake!

    I got it working now.

  • Ok... so what was the problem? You're the only person I can find after hours of searching on google that has the exact same issue as me, and I have no idea how you made it work. Do I need to put it on an actual DVD? The weird thing is, it installed fine on my work computer, but my home computer (also Windows 7 but Ultimate Edition) will not start any setup of any SQL Server 2012...

  • Ok I finally got it working. My problem was the following:

    My home computer has Windows 7 Ultimate, x86. I downloaded and attempted to start every version of SQL Server 2012 for x86 OS, but they all gave the "SQL server media not supported on a X86 system. To continue, run the SQL server setup media that matches your system" error when I attempted to run the setup file.

    I fixed it by doing this:

    In Add/Remove Programs, click "Microsoft SQL Server XXXX (Latest version you can find I guess, mine was 2012) Setup" and click Repair. It should config something for a few seconds and then nothing... after that, I was magically able to start the 2012 installation, no problem. Must have been some weird files hanging around or something.

    Hope this helps someone!

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply