How to Resolve missing MSI or MSP packages during SQL Server Service Packs, Hotfix or Cumulative Updates

Recently while installing SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3, the database engine was failing with the below error.

Opening existing patch 'C:\WINDOWS\Installer\604638.msp'.
Opening existing patch 'C:\WINDOWS\Installer\2436c921.msp'.
Note: 1: 2203 2: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\2436c921.msp 3: -2147287038
Couldn't find local patch 'C:\WINDOWS\Installer\2436c921.msp'. Looking for it at its source.
Resolving Patch source.
User policy value 'SearchOrder' is 'nmu'
User policy value 'DisableMedia' is 0
Machine policy value 'AllowLockdownMedia' is 0
SOURCEMGMT: Media enabled only if package is safe.
SOURCEMGMT: Looking for sourcelist for product {B1EC4291-AC52-4A63-9EF8-8D96D02951AC}
SOURCEMGMT: Adding {B1EC4291-AC52-4A63-9EF8-8D96D02951AC}; to potential sourcelist list (pcode;disk;relpath).
SOURCEMGMT: Now checking product {B1EC4291-AC52-4A63-9EF8-8D96D02951AC}
SOURCEMGMT: Media is enabled for product.
SOURCEMGMT: Attempting to use LastUsedSource from source list.
SOURCEMGMT: Trying source z:\aa4e64694ced45343273df\HotFixSQL\Files\.
Note: 1: 2203 2: z:\aa4e64694ced45343273df\HotFixSQL\Files\sqlrun_sql.msp 3: -2147287037
SOURCEMGMT: Source is invalid due to missing/inaccessible package.

From the error message it is obvious that the SP installer is looking for a .msp file which is missing from the original location. Always when installing an application or a service pack, the Windows installer will cache a copy of the .msi/.msp file in C:\WINDOWS\Installer folder. Sometimes in a hurry to clear up space on C drive, System Administrator might delete some of the files in this folder. There is no error while deleting, but the actual problem comes up when installing the hotfix/service pack related to the deleted file’s product. Even in this case someone has accidentally deleted one of the .msp file.

How to resolve this issue?

The installer is unable to find C:\WINDOWS\Installer\2436c921.msp which is in turn sqlrun_sql.msp (available in the error log). Note the file extension which is MSP (Microsoft Patch). Now we need to find this sqlrun_sql.msp from the last installer patch’s installer and paste it as 2436c921.msp in C:\Windows\Installer.

Suppose we have SP2 on this instance, we need to download the SP2 binary on the local machine. Open command prompt and type

PathOfSP2\SP2ExeName /extract

When prompted give the path of the folder where we want to have the files extracted. Copy the .msp file to C:\Windows\Installer folder and name it appropriately.

If an .msi file is shown as missing from C:\Windows\Installer in the log, the file needs to be copied from the SQL Server installer CD and copied as in the case of .msp file.

After following these steps, the SP3 installation completed successfully!

If the log shows many such files are missing instead of doing this manually, the script found at Microsoft Support site comes in handy.

But prevention is always better than cure. Always use the MSIZAP tool provided by Microsoft to delete orphaned installer files and be safe! This utility caused some irreversible issues to other applications in some occassions. Hence Microsoft does not recommend using this tool and it has been removed from the Download page. If the files in c:\windows\installer folder cause space issues, it is better to “move” those files to a safe location and copy them back if you run into any issues.

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