How to: View and Read SQL Server Setup Log Files
Each execution of Setup creates log files are created with a new timestamped log folder at %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\. The time-stamped log folder name format is YYYYMMDD_hhmmss. When Setup is run in an unattended mode, the logs are created at % temp%\sqlsetup*.log. All files in the logs folder are archived into the Log*.cab file in their respective log folder.
A typical Setup request goes through three execution phases:
- Global rules text
- Component update
- User-requested action
In each phase, Setup generates detail and summary logs with additional logs created as appropriate. Setup is called at least three times per user-requested Setup action.
Datastore files contain a snapshot of the state of all configuration objects being tracked by the Setup process, and are useful for troubleshooting configuration errors. XML file dumps are created for datastore objects for each execution phase. They are saved in their own log subfolder under the time-stamped log folder, as follows:
 | Datastore_GlobalRules |
| Datastore_ComponentUpdated |
| Datastore |
The following sections describe SQL Server Setup log files.
Overview
The log is organized into the following sections:
| An overall summary of the execution |
| Properties and the configuration of the computer where SQL Server Setup was run |
| SQL Server product features previously installed on the computer |
| Description of the installation version and installation package properties |
| Runtime input settings that are provided during install |
| Location of the configuration file |
| Details of the execution results |
| Global rules |
| Rules specific to the installation scenario |
| Failed rules |
| Location of the rules report file |
Location
To find errors in the summary text file, search the file by using the "error" or "failed" keywords.
Overview
Location
Bootstrap\Log\<YYYYMMDD_HHMM>\Detail.txt.
If an error occurs during the Setup process, the exception or error are logged at the end of this file. To find the errors in this file, first examine the end of the file followed by a search of the file for the “error” or “exception” keywords.
Overview
Types of MSI log files:
| <Feature>_<Architecture>_<Iteration>.log |
| <Feature>_<Architecture>_<Language>_<Iteration>.log |
| <Feature>_<Architecture>_<Iteration>_<workflow>.log |
Location
At the end of the file is a summary of the execution which includes the success or failure status and properties. To find the error in the MSI file, search for “value 3” and usually the errors can be found close to the string.