Wednesday, April 20, 2011

SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 installation fails on Windows 7 with the error "Could not load file or assembly '0 bytes loaded from System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Error code 0x84B10001."

On Windows 7, SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 installation fails to launch the Landing Page and throws the below error message.


 
"Could not load file or assembly '0 bytes loaded from System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Error code 0x84B10001."

 
The above error message is thrown if the.NET installation is corrupt or there is issues loading the file csc.exe.
 
If there is issue with .NET Installation you can try reinstalling the .NET and installation should work. But even after reinstalling .NET the setup doesn't launch then follow the below steps.
 
  • Run the process monitor to collect the data while trying to run the setup.
  • Check if the process csc.exe does start.
  • If the process does not start check for the below entries in the process monitor. 




  • Check in the registry path HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ and see for csc.exe and any entry for the debugger key. 
  • If it exists and if the debugger doesn't launch csc.exe successfully, it will fail the installation and throws the error. 
  • To fix this issue rename or delete the entry csc.exe in the below path HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\csc.exe
  • Re-launching the setup will run successfully.

 Happy Troubleshooting,
Manu