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Error Install MS SQL Server Express in Windows XP SP3 / MSXML6 SP2

If you are trying to install SQL Server 2005 Express edition in Windows SP3 environment, it will most likely fail unless Microsoft has done something to fix this. Read through this blog to find how to get around with this issue.

Symptoms include SQL Server Express edition installation return error and the error log mentioned MSXML 6 Service Pack 2 (KB954459) — Configuration failed. I am not really sure what the root cause is, but it looks like Windows XP SP3 or MSXML 6 Service Pack 2 protects the MSXML 6 configuration file from update and changes. As a result, the setup fail to continue.

There are some ways to solve this, including

  • Uninstall Service Pack 3, install Microsoft SQL Server Express edition, and reinstall SP3.
  • Disable the File system protection temporarily using regedit.

But, in my opinion the best way is

Hope this post may help more people. I have received much gratitude from visitors all around the world regarding this post. Please continue to spread this post and share the good via bookmark. Cheers

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 7:07 pm and is filed under IT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

114 Responses to “Error Install MS SQL Server Express in Windows XP SP3 / MSXML6 SP2”

  1. Tuhin Says:
    January 15th, 2009 at 4:44 am

    I was able to install SQL Server 2005, after uninstalling XP SP3. After that I just install XP SP3 back and everything is working fine. Thanks

  2. Peter Says:
    January 20th, 2009 at 6:24 am

    Hi,
    The normal Control Panel Add/Remove was giving an error when I tried to uninstall MSXML6 SP2, but I uninstalled it using the Cleanup Utility and reinstalled SQL Server Express. Worked perfectly. Many Thanks!!

  3. Simon Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 2:41 am

    Thanks had the same problem and this fixed it.
    Cheers

  4. Lacy Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 5:22 am

    I’ve been struggling all day with getting SQL Server Express 2005 to install on my XP SP3 machine and finally found your blog. I removed MSXML 6 SP2 using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility and SQL Server 2005 installed with no problems! Thank you!!!

  5. Alfred Says:
    January 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    I was having exactly the same problem until i found this blog.

    Thanks a lot!!

  6. Mike Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 am

    I too was struggling the last week getting SQL Server Express 2005 to install on my XP SP3 machine and finally found your blog. I removed MSXML 6 SP2 using the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility and SQL Server 2005 installed with no problems! Thank you very much!!!

  7. Viktor Says:
    January 27th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    Hi,
    The normal Control Panel Add/Remove was giving an error when I tried to uninstall MSXML6 SP2, but I uninstalled it using the Cleanup Utility and reinstalled SQL Server Express. Worked perfectly.Thanks!! Thanks!! Thanks!!

  8. Gon Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 3:38 am

    I have the same problem, but when I tried to uninstall MSXML6 SP2 using the CleanUp Utility I had problems because MSXML 6 SP2 is still there.
    What Can I do? :(

  9. Gon Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 3:42 am

    HAHA SORRY FOR MY QUESTION :(
    I didn’t know to use the CleanUp Utility.
    Problem Solved :(

    :) :) I’m feeling stupid haha

    thanks for all

  10. Tom Says:
    February 6th, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Ran the cleanup utility and was able to install SQL Server Express 2005 after several attempts at a fix. Cleaned up the MSXML6 problem and the error code 1603 SSE 2005 problem went away. Thanks!!

  11. Aryan Says:
    February 14th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    We have just realized that MS has released SQL Server Express Edition SP 3, we have tried to install it on 3 computers, and they are failed, at one point installation just restart computer.

  12. Vincent Says:
    February 18th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    Hi,

    Thanks for the information. I am runing Windows XP SP3 and I have the same problem. In Add/Remove Programs, I get “Fatal error during installation” when I try to remove MSXML 6 SP2 and the little utility program doesn’t remove the MSXML 6 SP2 either! It seems that I am stuck for installing SQL Server Express 2005…

    If anybody has any suggestion…

  13. Dave Says:
    February 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 am

    ErrorMessage:-
    The SQL Service failed to start. For more information see the SQL online books…

    This error appeared under installation of SQL on a machine running XP Service Pack 3. This was because the BuiltIn NetworkService does not exist on the Access Control List of the hidden Windows “Protect” Folder object, and therefore has no rights to run the SQL service.

    The fix is as follows…

    Browse to the following location:- (remember that this is a hidden location in Windows, so you cannot browse to it with explorer even if you select to “show hidden files and folders” :-

    C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Application Data\Microsoft

    Right click on the “Protect” folder and select the security tab…Note that no NetworkService exists. Click on add and select the correct location select the NetworkService BuiltIn object and add it to the ACL (or you can browse the domain for the network service.)

    Thereafter, update the policy on the local machine by typing “gpupdate /force” into a run command, or from DOS.

    Run the SQL install again, and it will install as normal.

  14. Drew Says:
    February 27th, 2009 at 7:31 am

    Came across the same problem today and this helped me instantly fix it. Thank you sir.

  15. Geoff Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    spot on…thx!…used the MSXML cleanup option

  16. Sam Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    I located the “Protect” folder and when I right-click the folder there is no security tab (Sharing and security…) and the “Protect Property” window appeared. What am I missing?

  17. Ilona Says:
    March 8th, 2009 at 9:15 pm

    You’re a hero! If only I had found this blog many many hours ago! MSXML cleanup did the trick to remove MSXML6.0 and finally got SQL Server 2005 Express reinstalled correctly. Cheers buddy!

  18. Joe Torben Says:
    March 11th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    I had the same problem Gon had, so to be super specific for the retards like myself:
    Download the program from the link
    Run the program to install it
    Select MSXML and click remove. Answer the standard dialogs

  19. Bernard Abella Says:
    March 14th, 2009 at 3:30 am

    Got the same error… i removing MSXML 6.2 via clean up.. but still i have no luck installing sql express 2005. Any Idea?

  20. Kmort Says:
    March 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Thanks so much! I scoured the internet and finally found your suggestions. It worked perfectly.

  21. Alan Glassman Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 6:29 am

    Add my thanks to all the others.

    But, for my own enlightenment, how did you figure this one out? We all spend so much time looking for ways to fix “voodo” problems like this. What was your method?

  22. tamas Says:
    March 17th, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Thanks a lot…I solved this problem for you…

  23. Chris Boutsikas Says:
    March 19th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    after 15′ minutes of searching on the net, i found this.
    many thanks to all!!!

  24. Petr Heinz Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    Thanks a lot. It helps.

  25. Don Says:
    March 25th, 2009 at 1:41 am

    Any programmatic (non-UI) solution?

  26. Jenny Says:
    March 26th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    What a super star! This solution has just sorted out an issue I have been sitting with for quite some time. Much appreciated

  27. Tuan Says:
    March 26th, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    Removing MSXML6 did solve my problem. Thanks very much.

  28. Andy Says:
    June 17th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Thanks a lot for this tip.

  29. Wayne Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Also a guy you heped with this solution :-)
    Thx!

  30. John Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 4:16 am

    Thank you. I had to uninstall SP3 then I installed the SQL tools. It now works.

  31. Phil Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 6:57 am

    That was it. Thanks!

  32. Lampard Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    Run into the same issue, the answer helps. Thx!

  33. saleh Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    Removing MSXML6 did solve my problem.
    Thanks very much.

  34. kaykay Says:
    July 3rd, 2009 at 1:02 am

    Thanks a Jillion!!! Words cannot express how i feel for the solution you offered. I can now work from my servicePack3 XP. Thanks once more.

  35. Jonas Says:
    July 8th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    Thank you for publishing this solution. It was really helpful!

  36. Richard Says:
    July 9th, 2009 at 6:26 am

    Spot on. Been wrecking my head how to remove MSXML6 SP2.
    Windows clean up perfect.

  37. Parvez Says:
    July 13th, 2009 at 2:00 am

    Wasted almost whole day for this problem. Using the clean up utility it works soft as butter. Installing a SP can create such a problem…. that’s really bad.

  38. thankingyou Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 5:06 am

    thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

  39. Alex P Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 1:08 am

    Thank you so much, I was struggling for a night and a day!

  40. Matt N Says:
    July 18th, 2009 at 1:56 am

    Removing MSXML6 SP2 worked like a charm. Thanks!

  41. Zafrir Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    Thanks, helped me out.

  42. Edy Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    why not MS build a new installer, its easy to solve

  43. admin Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    Is it because the fact that it’s “free” express edition that they don’t really look after? Or it is suppose to be installed before the SP3, since SP3 comes after the express… Well I am still happy, as long as there is still a way to solve.

  44. Audrey Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    After many wasted hours this solved my problem. Thank you so much

  45. Ruchi Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 am

    I have this problem on MIcrosoft Windows server 2003 standard edition SP2.
    Can i just uninstall MSXML 6 sp2 with out any issue? Will uninstallling msxml 6 sp2 effects other microsoft product on the server?

  46. admin Says:
    July 27th, 2009 at 8:50 am

    I don’t see any issue by uninstalling MSXML 6 SP2… but you can re-install MSXML 6 SP2 from this url
    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=59914795-60C7-4EBE-828D-F28CB457E6E3&displaylang=en

  47. Paul Says:
    July 27th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    This problem was giving a lot of people me included a nightmare. This solution is the best.

  48. Patricia Says:
    July 30th, 2009 at 1:07 am

    I have attempted to use the uninstaller but it does not give me a list of options to uninstall and I still have that dreaded msxml 6 in the list of programs which can’t be uninstalled! Arrrrggghhhhhh! Anyone have any ideas of what I can do now?

  49. Peter Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 7:22 am

    I have the same problem, but in my case there is no mention of MSXML 6 or any other parser, for that matter, in the Setup list when I run Windows Install Cleanup. Thus, I cannot install it. If I do a search in the registry for anything like msxml6, it comes up empty. Yet, when I try to run msxml6.msi, it gives me the nonsense of a higher version of the parser that is already loaded, which is not correct.

    I would sincerely appreciate any help you guys can give me on this issue.

  50. Peter Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 7:24 am

    Sorry for the typo in my last post: I meant to say: “Thus, I cannot uninstall it.”

  51. puerapuliae Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    Simply great!!!
    Thanks.
    Bye

    puerapuliae

  52. Nanne Says:
    August 11th, 2009 at 5:18 am

    Awesome this was the post I have been looking for for the last 10 days

  53. h man Says:
    August 12th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    the recommended way worked great! bad side was one of our apps used msxml6 – but a reinstall of the full app AFTER installing sql sp worked great, and the sp revision was kept, it wasnt downgraded. this replaced the xml, and life is good!

    awesome fix! worked flawlessly, and was simple! outstanding!!

  54. EviousParadox Says:
    August 14th, 2009 at 2:30 am

    Thanks for the help….I need it!!

  55. Henry Acosta Says:
    August 17th, 2009 at 6:09 am

    Hey, Excelent solution. I had uninstalled the msxml 6 sp2 with the Windows Install Clean Tool and everything work great.

  56. ... Says:
    August 17th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Thanks Alot!

  57. Ally Says:
    August 24th, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Great Stuff.That works great.

  58. Ian G Says:
    August 26th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    Worked for me too, after many previous futile attempts to solve this problem. Thank you so much for publicizing your solution!

  59. Prashanth Says:
    August 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    It worked for me too, many thanks

  60. ss Says:
    September 4th, 2009 at 5:11 am

    Any programatic solution for this?

  61. Gwen Says:
    September 9th, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    Worked… many thanks

  62. sibangor Says:
    September 10th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    iam stuck how to solve this problem

    finally i found your site thanks

  63. B Says:
    September 11th, 2009 at 6:51 am

    Thank you SO much!!! This was such a frustrating problem!

  64. Gautam Jain Says:
    September 15th, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    great! thanks for your help.

  65. Sandeep Patel Says:
    September 16th, 2009 at 12:50 am

    I had spent whole day to find out what was causing the problem. and with your help i was able to finish that setup. Thanks very much.

  66. Joe Says:
    September 16th, 2009 at 5:43 am

    Well, this looked promising, but the tool doesn,t work, the program is still there…

    I will post an update when I get it solved, though, thanks.

  67. Jim Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 3:13 am

    Thank you very much for sharing. Worked like a charm to get around the uninstall issue with MSXML Service Pack 2.

  68. ilyas Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 6:25 am

    Thanks for sharing. Solved my problem.

  69. Aziddin Says:
    November 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    I thank you for the solution mentioned. I did work and solve the issue.
    Thanks bro!

  70. John Says:
    November 9th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    I’ve been figuring 2 days why installation failed. Thanks for the solution mentioned by removing the MSXML and it works fine for me. Brilliant!

    screw MS…

  71. Lalit, Jaipur Says:
    November 10th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    Thanks..Great! worked for me too..

  72. Nguyen Quoc Viet (Vietnamese) Says:
    November 11th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Thank you very very much!

  73. jay Says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 4:27 am

    Thanks so much! This worked for me!! Thanks again.

  74. John X Says:
    November 16th, 2009 at 8:18 am

    I’m here on a Sunday, listening to the Lions lose(again) because of the MSXML issue. Thank you for this. I didn’t want to face my boss on Monday morning.

  75. 0neup Says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:58 am

    The clean utility worked. Thanks, you saved my day :)

  76. dave Says:
    November 21st, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    Thanks mate… fixed the problem very easily..

  77. awinx Says:
    November 24th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    that was so briliant, thank you so much… it work man!!!!!

  78. Gonçalo Cortes Says:
    November 26th, 2009 at 3:12 am

    Work for me, uninstall msxml6. Thank you very much.

  79. naya_purple Says:
    November 29th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    my God!! this is really what I’m looking for…i’ve deleted msxml..and now I can install server express..it really works…thank you…God Bless You……

  80. ivi jauw Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Thanks … this really helps the problem that i had these past few days!! Thanks again a lot !

  81. Denis Says:
    December 10th, 2009 at 4:57 am

    It worked perfectly. removed the msxml 6 sp2.

    Thank you.

  82. Dan Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 5:10 am

    Thanks so much for easy fix

  83. Andy Says:
    December 16th, 2009 at 12:57 am

    THANKS!!! What a great fix!

  84. Giri H RamMohan Says:
    December 18th, 2009 at 4:10 am

    I was facing the same problem. Finally got fixed…Thanks a lot

  85. Ulvi Says:
    December 21st, 2009 at 12:12 am

    I tried with Cleanup utility and it resolve problem
    Thanks

  86. kaney1878 Says:
    December 28th, 2009 at 4:28 am

    thanks mate worked brill

  87. Getsuga Tenshou Says:
    December 29th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    Great!!! It Work!!
    Thanks a lot, U’re the best^^

  88. Justin Says:
    December 31st, 2009 at 3:47 am

    Windows Install Cleanup Worked like a charm.

  89. Faz Says:
    January 4th, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    Thank You so much for this info.

  90. lakshmi Says:
    January 5th, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Hi all,

    I am facing the same problem even after cleaning up.
    Still its giving a fatal error message can any one help me.
    Thanks in advance

  91. YK Pang Says:
    January 5th, 2010 at 6:28 pm

    Good advice.

    But, in my opinion the best way is

    •Uninstall MSXML6 SP2, by using Windows Installer Cleanup Utility which can be downloaded from http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/9/d/e9d80355-7ab4-45b8-80e8-983a48d5e1bd/msicuu2.exe. Then install SQL Server Express edition just like usual.

  92. Sreejith K. Says:
    January 7th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    You are my life saver. Very informative and helpful post.

  93. PeterW Says:
    January 15th, 2010 at 2:09 am

    Removing the MSXML file using the cleanup utility worked wonderfully. Thanks so much for sharing this. A baseline MSXML v6 is automatically installed with SS Express so it goes right back on. I haven’t tried installing MSXMLv6 Sp2 on top of it to see if there are any side affects of that, but I wouldn’t think so.

    Thanks again!

  94. Ed Says:
    January 19th, 2010 at 2:15 am

    Many thanks for this post. Very helpful.

  95. JM Says:
    January 20th, 2010 at 8:23 am

    Was installing using local service account. Followed direction to remove xml parser using clean up utility. Reinstalled and it received same error. But it did reinstall XML parser itself. Changed to Network Service for the service account and installation worked. Thanks for the help.

  96. Ivan Says:
    January 21st, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    You rock !!!! Many thanks, you saved me hours of work …….. It is working perfect after I had done the steps described (removing the MSXML)….

  97. CP Says:
    January 25th, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    Worked for me too!!! Thanks!!!

  98. Paulina Says:
    January 27th, 2010 at 4:14 am

    Worked like magic! Thanks!

  99. Koddy Says:
    January 27th, 2010 at 7:06 am

    Thanks a lot the cleaner work perfectly…

  100. Sunil Says:
    January 29th, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks a lot, it worked.

  101. VMJ Says:
    January 30th, 2010 at 12:40 am

    1) Uninstall all versions of MSXML, by using Windows Installer Cleanup Utility
    2) Restart computer
    3) Install MSXML6 SP2
    4) Install SQL Server 2005 Express edition successful.

  102. Akki143 Says:
    February 1st, 2010 at 2:47 am

    Thanks A lot/////////////////// Man …………………!!!!!!

  103. Andy Says:
    February 3rd, 2010 at 6:29 am

    Thank you so much,

    un-installing MSXML6 solved problem

    I have wasted days on and off trying to install SQL… (as a part of Siemens HMI package) – endless tech support, using Microsoft manual uninstall advice, etc…all worthless
    (while sticking pins in my Bill-Gates Doll….)
    Even purchased registry clean up SW in desperation (waste of time of course)

    Who ever you guys are I wish you the very best.

    Andy

  104. Tony Says:
    February 6th, 2010 at 1:10 am

    Thank you very much. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure this one out. I’ll be book-marking this one for sure!

  105. Mario Says:
    February 12th, 2010 at 2:12 am

    When the tool brings no help you may try to search in the registry for the KB954459 and export the entry and delete it aferwards. Before deleting the whole folder – please find out where the uninstalling path is looking to – to move this folder away. After doing this – have a look at the add and remove software, if the xml6 sp2 is still there. if not – feel free to install sql…

    Cheers

    Mario

  106. Dan Newton Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    I wish I was smart enough to find your site a few days ago. But it took me a while to whittle down to what was causing the problem. THANKS SO MUCH! If we have another kid, I’ll suggest naming him or her Ferolen to my wife.

  107. Thushan Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    Thanks a lot removing MSXML and reinstalling MSSQL back worked

  108. cherry Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    This blog is very useful. I was having problem installing SQL 2005 Express edition due to MSXML 6. And then uninstalling it added to my problem. Until i found this blog, all works fine now. Thanks a lot for your help :)

  109. PJ Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    Just like to add my own thanks to the growing list – this solution worked a treat. If only Microsoft had been as succinct and straightforward, I wouldn’t have wasted several days trawling their tech pages!

  110. Aldy Says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 6:37 am

    Awesome solution. was stuck on this for quite some time. Thanks

  111. bharat waghela Says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    thankx alot. very useful advise.

  112. Alex Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 1:26 am

    Tks a lot. It worked very well.

  113. Alex Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 1:27 am

    Tks a lot!! It worked.

  114. Mahesh Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Thanks a ton for the resolution!!! The clean up utility fixed the MXML6 SP2 and then I was able to install SQL Server perfectly fine.

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