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SSMS 18.0 GA can't be installed

When I'm trying to install SSMS 18.0 GA, I get error: "SSMS can only be upgraded by installing the package of the matching language. Please, use the matching version of the installer, or uninstall the current version of SSMS and run SSMS setup again." And I'm not alone: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/16d0e279-6ff4-4d5f-ad0a-5039235f03b9/ssms-2018-setup-blocked?forum=sqltools

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Eugene shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
started  ·  AdminMicrosoft SQL Server (Product Manager, Microsoft Azure) responded  · 

I’m looking into this issue.

In the meanwhile, could you take a look at the SSMS setup logs (%TEMP%\SSMSSetup\SSMS-Setup-ENU_20190430231104.log). I’m interested in the lines in the range 133-216. Could you share those (tip: have a look at the lines and sanitize them, if you think they may contain sensible information?

Also, if you could share the output of:
reg query “HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio” /reg:32 /s

And, finally, to unblock yourself:
1) Make sure you don’t have any previous version (RC, Preview) of SSMS 18.0 installed (check Add/Remove programs; if you do, uninstall it)
2) Make sure “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18” does not exist (if it does, the delete it)
3) Delete the mentioned registry key (e.g. by running from an elevated cmd prompt:
reg DELETE “HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio” /reg:32)
4) Retry setup
Please, let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
-Matteo

34 comments

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  • Daniel commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    @Matteo,

    I removed v18 and installed v17.9.1 and it seems working ok so far.

    Haven't got the time but will try the option of installing latest hotfixes, if/when it's confirmed to be the fix for v18.

    Thanks, Daniel

    Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 14.0.17289.0
    Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.30319.42000
    Operating System 6.3.16299

  • P Vidal commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Steps 1 to 4 worked for me. I have successfully installed SSMS 18.0 GA. Thank you very much!

  • leniel commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    @Matteo: when I said also I meant that in addition to, that is, I followed the steps from 1 to 5 and then that message is shown...

    "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.".

    So there's a nasty bug in the installer... how can it finish successfully with files missing!? You should do a check to guarantee everything is in place.

    Before trying to install I went to Control Panel and looked for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18 and it was not there.

    By the way: I'm on Windows 10 (1809 - OS build 17763.475) with all updates installed.

    #######

    I was ready to add the above comment but I tried uninstalling it and installing again... now it works! This is just confusing... somehow the installation broke the first time although it ended successfully.

    Problem solved here.

  • AdminMicrosoft SQL Server (Product Manager, Microsoft Azure) commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    @leniel: When you say "also", do you mean in addition to do or as a separate issue? Let's try not to mix possibly unrelated issues.

    The issue you are seeing is most likely because your setup, despite the fact that it claimed to have succeeded, did not - and possibly files are missing or corrupt. Did you try to uninstall and reinstall?

    @diklevich: could you also try to uninstall and reinstall and report back?

    @daniel.yu: you could be running into https://feedback.azure.com/forums/908035/suggestions/37502512. Could you update that thread with info like: OS, Hotfixes installed on the machine (do you have all the latest critical updates?). I'm currently suspecting an issue in NetFx4.7.2, which I was able to resolve by installing the latest hotfixes (though that was good on Windows 7 SP1). I'm interested in knowing if people are seeing that issue on other OSes.

    Thanks,
    -Matteo

  • leniel commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I also got the error: "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail."

    Then I used sxstrace.exe as described here: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cesardelatorre/the-application-has-failed-to-start-because-its-side-by-side-configuration-is-incorrect-error-related-to-mmc-exe-programs-and-weird-cause-simple-solution/

    In the end of the trace log there's an error:

    INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Automation.DLL.
    INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Automation.MANIFEST.
    INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Automation\Automation.DLL.
    INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Automation\Automation.MANIFEST.
    INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral.
    INFO: End assembly probing.
    ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Automation,processorArchitecture="X86",type="win32",version="1.0.0.0".
    ERROR: Activation Context generation failed.
    End Activation Context Generation.

    There's no C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Automation\ folder present in my installation although the installation ended successfully.

    This all happened while I tried to uninstall SSMS 17.9 while I was installing SSMS 18. SSMS 18 failed installing while SSMS 17.9 was uninstalled successfully. I then restarted the machine. Tried to install SSMS 18 again and it failed. I did what was described here:

    1 - Removed the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\
    2 - Deleted the registry key “HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio”
    3 - Restarted the machine as requested by SSMS 18 installer
    4 - Reinstalled SSMS 18 successfully
    5 - When trying to run it, I get the error "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.".

    I attached the trace log here...

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    the registry key deletion helped to install SSMS 18, but now, when launching it i have following error:

    The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.

    where do i see the log?

  • Daniel commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I installed SSMS 18 on my Win 10 laptop and ran it successfully yesterday but unable to start it anymore today. No error message, nothing is showing. Tried reinstall/repair but didn't help.

    Any idea?

  • Ian Chapling commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Deleting the registry key, installing and restarting as was prompted after installation has resolve this for me.

    Thanks !!

  • Dharmendra Khanna commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    After deleting the mentioned registry key, I was able to install the SSMS successfully. But after installation, SSMS is not starting and logging the following error:

    Activation context generation failed for "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\Ssms.exe". Dependent Assembly Automation,processorArchitecture="X86",type="win32",version="1.0.0.0" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

  • Bharath Thabati commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    incase the log file helps

    log say reboot pending evaluates to true, I was not prompted for reboot, however I've tried installing after reboot,s still the same issue.

    I have 17.*** version installed now while collecting this screenshots, but I've tried to install 18.0 by uninstalling all SSMS editions on my machine. it exited with the same issue.

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