Sql-server – SQL Server 2012 Install error “The instance selected for installation is already installed and clustered on computer…”

If this is RTM, I would recommend slipstreaming SP1 + the latest CU into setup before installing, and making sure you install from a local source rather than an ISO, network folder, external drive, etc.

To slipstream you can just download SP1 (likely SQLServer2012SP1-KB2674319-x64-ENU.exe) and/or a CU (CU3 is here; CU4 should be released any moment now) to a folder (say C:\SP1Updates\), extract the files (you should end up with .exe files like SQLServer2012-KBxxxxxxx-x64.exe and you can ignore or get rid of the source 4xxxxx_intl_x64_zip.exe files) and then run setup from a command line like so:

setup.exe /UpdateEnabled=1 /UpdateSource="C:\SP1Updates\"

Or you can download the slipstreamed ISO from here (they have slipstream in the name, just note they contain SP1 but no CU):

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1) (download link)

Some blog posts that go into greater detail about slipstreaming:

• Installing SQL Server 2012 + Service Pack 1 + SP1 Cumulative update in one installation using SQL Server 2012 Product Update
• How to create an SQL Server 2012 installer with integrated CU1 (Product Updates – Slipstream)
• SQL Server 2012: Merged Product Updates (Slipstream)

You might also try the technique here, and you should be able to use slipstream here as well if you want (you'll just need to use a different PatchLevel, 11.00.3000.00 I believe):

• SQL 2008/2008 R2/2012 setup disappears/fails when installing Setup Support files

In case that blog post disappears, I'm going to steal the content and paraphrase (since part of the instructions seem incorrect):

1. Save the following in a .reg file and merge to populate the registry:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Bootstrap]
   "BootstrapDir"="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SQL Server\\110\\Setup Bootstrap\\"
   
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Bootstrap\Setup]
   "PatchLevel"="11.00.2100.60"
   

2. Next, copy the following files and folders from all of the media to:

    C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\SQLServer2012
   

3. Next, run setup from the new location, and it should proceed beyond the point of error this time.

(Note that I haven't tried this technique.)

The logs led us to review our Cluster services:

There was an error to lookup cluster resources. Error: There was a failure to call cluster code from a provider. Exception message: Generic failure . Status code: 4104. Description: .
HResult : 0x86d80014
FacilityCode : 1752 (6d8)
ErrorCode : 20 (0014)
Data:
    errorMessage = There was a failure to call cluster code from a provider. Exception message: Generic failure . Status code: 4104. Description: .

We determined that the replication agent service was the cause of the incomplete installation.

We removed the service from Cluster Resources and re-applied SP2 without success. We stopped the service on the node and re-applied SP2 without success.

Error: Failed to run patch request for instance: MSSQLSERVER (exit code: -2032664552)

We uninstalled the service from the server nodes, and then successfully "re-applied" SP2.

Follow-up actions:

1. We'll be contacting the replication agent vendor to discuss why this was required.
2. Review the Microsoft document "Patching SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances with Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU)", available here, which I discovered today.