I have a single node Windows 10 Pro machine, 64 bit, with 32GB Ram and an i7 processor. When I try to install the developer edition of Sql Server 2019, it fails installing the Database engine with a security permissions issue. I am the only user of my machine and I am in the Administrators group. I run the installation as Administrator and I have removed all other versions of SQL. I tried installing with the machine in safe mode, but you are not allowed. I have also disabled all antivirus and firewalls, but it always fails for the same reason.

Has anybody had this issue and managed to overcome it. My windows 10 has all the latest updates.

initial message:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Setup

---

The following error has occurred:

Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.

Click 'Retry' to retry the failed action, or click 'Cancel' to cancel
this action and continue setup.

For help, click:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=15.0.4013.40&EvtType=0x48BB60BC%25400xBB814387

The link is no help at all.

The full error log :

 Overall summary:   
  Final result:                Failed: see details below   
  Exit code (Decimal):           -2068119551   
  Start time:                    2020-07-27 11:37:51   
  End time:                      2020-07-27 11:51:28   
  Requested action:              Install
 
 Setup completed with required actions for features. Troubleshooting
 information for those features:   Next step for SQLEngine:       Use
 the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this
 feature, and then run the setup process again.
 
 
 Machine Properties:  
  Machine name:                  DESKTOP-18RMQ5J  
  Machine processor count:       8  
  OS version:                    Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (10.0.19041)   OS service pack:              
  OS region:                     United States  
  OS language:                   English (United Kingdom)   
  OS architecture:               x64  
  Process architecture:          64 Bit   
  OS clustered:                  No
 
 Product features discovered:   
 Product              Instance          Instance ID                    Feature                                Language             Edition              Version         Clustered Configured
 
 
 Package properties:  
  Description:                   Microsoft SQL Server 2019   
  ProductName:                   SQL Server 2019  
  Type:                          RTM   
  Version:                       15   
  SPLevel:                       0   
  Installation location:         H:\x64\setup\   
  Installation edition:          Developer
  Product Update Status:         None discovered.
 
 User Input Settings:  
  ACTION:                        Install  
  ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN:      false  
  AGTSVCACCOUNT:                 NT Service\SQLAgent$VISUALSERVER   
  AGTSVCPASSWORD:                *****   
  AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE:             Manual   
  ASBACKUPDIR:                   Backup   
  ASCOLLATION:                   Latin1_General_CI_AS  
  ASCONFIGDIR:                   Config   
  ASDATADIR:                     Data   
  ASLOGDIR:                      Log   
  ASPROVIDERMSOLAP:              1   
  ASSERVERMODE:                  TABULAR   
  ASSVCACCOUNT:                  <empty>   
  ASSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>   
  ASSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic   
  ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS:            <empty>   
  ASTELSVCACCT:                  <empty>   
  ASTELSVCPASSWORD:              <empty>  
  ASTELSVCSTARTUPTYPE:           0   
  ASTEMPDIR:                     Temp
  BROWSERSVCSTARTUPTYPE:         Disabled   
  CLTCTLRNAME:                   <empty>   
  CLTRESULTDIR:                  <empty>   
  CLTSTARTUPTYPE:                0   
  CLTSVCACCOUNT:                 <empty>   
  CLTSVCPASSWORD:                <empty>   
  CLTWORKINGDIR:                 <empty>  
  COMMFABRICENCRYPTION:          0   
  COMMFABRICNETWORKLEVEL:        0  
  COMMFABRICPORT:                0   
  CONFIGURATIONFILE:             C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\SetupBootstrap\Log\20200727_113748\ConfigurationFile.ini   
  CTLRSTARTUPTYPE:               0   
  CTLRSVCACCOUNT:                <empty>   
  CTLRSVCPASSWORD:               <empty>   
  CTLRUSERS:                     <empty>   
  ENABLERANU:                    false   
  ENU:                           true   
  EXTSVCACCOUNT:                 <empty>   
  EXTSVCPASSWORD:                <empty>   
  FEATURES:                      SQLENGINE, SDK   
  FILESTREAMLEVEL:               0  
  FILESTREAMSHARENAME:           <empty>   
  FTSVCACCOUNT:                  <empty>   
  FTSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>   
  HELP:                          false   
  IACCEPTPYTHONLICENSETERMS:     false  
  IACCEPTROPENLICENSETERMS:      false   
  IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS:  true   
  IACKNOWLEDGEENTCALLIMITS:      false   
  INDICATEPROGRESS:              false   
  INSTALLSHAREDDIR:              C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\   
  INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR:           C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\   
  INSTALLSQLDATADIR:             <empty>  
  INSTANCEDIR:                   C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ 
  INSTANCEID:                    VISUALSERVER   
  INSTANCENAME:                  VISUALSERVER   
  ISMASTERSVCACCOUNT:            NT AUTHORITY\Network Service   
  ISMASTERSVCPASSWORD:           <empty>   
  ISMASTERSVCPORT:               8391   
  ISMASTERSVCSSLCERTCN:          <empty>  
  ISMASTERSVCSTARTUPTYPE:        Automatic   
  ISMASTERSVCTHUMBPRINT:         <empty>   
  ISSVCACCOUNT:                  NT AUTHORITY\Network Service 
  ISSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>   
  ISSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic   
  ISTELSVCACCT:                  <empty>   
  ISTELSVCPASSWORD:              <empty>   
  ISTELSVCSTARTUPTYPE:           0   
  ISWORKERSVCACCOUNT:            NT AUTHORITY\Network Service   
  ISWORKERSVCCERT:               <empty> 
  ISWORKERSVCMASTER:             <empty>   
  ISWORKERSVCPASSWORD:           <empty>   
  ISWORKERSVCSTARTUPTYPE:        Automatic  
  MATRIXCMBRICKCOMMPORT:         0   
  MATRIXCMSERVERNAME:            <empty>   
  MATRIXNAME:                    <empty>   
  MRCACHEDIRECTORY:              
  NPENABLED:                     0   
  PBDMSSVCACCOUNT:               <empty>   
  PBDMSSVCPASSWORD:              <empty>  
  PBDMSSVCSTARTUPTYPE:           0   
  PBENGSVCACCOUNT:               <empty>   
  PBENGSVCPASSWORD:              <empty>  
  PBENGSVCSTARTUPTYPE:           0   
  PBPORTRANGE:                   <empty>   
  PBSCALEOUT:                    false   
  PID:                           *****   
  QUIET:                         false   
  QUIETSIMPLE:                   false   
  ROLE:                             
  RSINSTALLMODE:                 DefaultNativeMode   
  RSSVCACCOUNT:                  <empty>  
  RSSVCPASSWORD:                 <empty>   
  RSSVCSTARTUPTYPE:              Automatic   
  SAPWD:                         <empty>   
  SECURITYMODE:                  <empty>   
  SQLBACKUPDIR:                  <empty>   
  SQLCOLLATION:                  Latin1_General_CI_AS   
  SQLJAVADIR:                    <empty>  
  SQLMAXDOP:                     8   
  SQLMAXMEMORY:                  2147483647   
  SQLMINMEMORY:                  0   
  SQLSVCACCOUNT:                 NT Service\MSSQL$VISUALSERVER   
  SQLSVCINSTANTFILEINIT:         false  
  SQLSVCPASSWORD:                <empty>   
  SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE:             Automatic   
  SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS:           DESKTOP-18RMQ5J\willi  
  SQLTELSVCACCT:                 NT Service\SQLTELEMETRY$VISUALSERVER  
  SQLTELSVCPASSWORD:             <empty>   
  SQLTELSVCSTARTUPTYPE:          Automatic   
  SQLTEMPDBDIR:                  <empty>  
  SQLTEMPDBFILECOUNT:            8   
  SQLTEMPDBFILEGROWTH:           64  
  SQLTEMPDBFILESIZE:             8   
  SQLTEMPDBLOGDIR:               <empty>   
  SQLTEMPDBLOGFILEGROWTH:        64   
  SQLTEMPDBLOGFILESIZE:          8   
  SQLUSERDBDIR:                  <empty>   
  SQLUSERDBLOGDIR:               <empty>   
  SUPPRESSPAIDEDITIONNOTICE:     false  
  SUPPRESSPRIVACYSTATEMENTNOTICE: false   
  TCPENABLED:                    0   
  UIMODE:                        Normal   
  UpdateEnabled:                 true   
  UpdateSource:                  MU   
  USEMICROSOFTUPDATE:            false   
  USESQLRECOMMENDEDMEMORYLIMITS: false   
  X86:                           false
 
   Configuration file:            C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20200727_113748\ConfigurationFile.ini
 
 Detailed results:   
  Feature:                       Database Engine
  Services   Status:             Failed   
  Reason for failure:            An error occurred during the setup process of the feature.   
  Next Step:                     Use the following information to resolve the error, uninstall this feature, and then run the setup process again.  
  Component name:                SQL Server Database Engine Services
 Instance Features   
  Component error code:          0x84BB0001   
  Error description:             Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.   
  Error help link:               https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkId=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=15.0.4013.40&EvtType=0x48BB60BC%400xBB814387&EvtType=0x48BB60BC%400xBB814387
 
  Feature:                       Client Tools SDK   
  Status:                        Passed
 
 Rules with failures or warnings:
 
  Rules report file:               C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20200727_113748\SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm

When I look in the configcheck report, I see a warning that it thinks firewall is enabled. I first disable them via BullGuard, then because I disable here, it automatically starts the Defender etc. So I turn those off as well. Not sure why it still thinks firewall is still on. All other checks pass.