Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Exchange 2007 - reboot from a previous installation is pending

Today I found an interesting problem when trying to install some Exchange Server 2007 SP1 components on a system. At first, I just tried to run the /PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions option of setup, then tried to install the admin tools, and finally tried to install the mailbox role on a Windows 2003 system.

I kept getting an error both from the command prompt and through the GUI setup that indicated:

Error:
A reboot from a previous installation is pending. Please restart the systemand rerun setup.

I tried rebooting, I tried applying all the pending service packs and hot fixes, and even installing the .NET Framework 3.5, but nothing worked. I finally found that the Exchange Setup checks the following Registry key for any pending file renames:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\PendingFileRenameOperations

If some installation program needs to rename a file on reboot (because it can't rename it during the setup process maybe because it is in use), then it puts it in this key. I found several entries like this:

\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\FxsTmp\fxsD.tmp

I deleted these entries and then tried the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 setup again and it worked just fine. I am assuming that it is safe to delete these entries from this Registry, but always try a reboot first before doing so.

Labels:

11 Comments:

At 8:48 AM, Blogger Ravikumar said...

I faced the same issue and followed your insruction. It worked.

Thank you so much.

Regds,
Ravikumar Krishnasamy

 
At 11:13 PM, Blogger Victor Osten said...

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At 10:08 AM, Blogger Ray said...

Also had that problem with Exch 2007 SP1 - was a printer driver file in the registry key. Cleared to blanks and proceeded OK.

This log going into my favorites. Thanks.

 
At 5:30 PM, Blogger Justin Devasahayam said...

Thanks, it worked for me too.

 
At 4:39 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I actually had to do a search (ctrl+f) for the string

pendingfilerenameoperations

and remove ~6 entries (once you find one, hit F3 to go to the next).

I'm installing 2010 tools on a win7 ultimate x64.

 
At 3:23 AM, Blogger Ronworld said...

Hey man I had the same problem on two servers and I solved the first on following your instructions and it worked I now have to do the same on the other one. Thanks

 
At 7:41 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Worked for me.

 
At 6:25 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I encounted a similar issue when attempting to install Exchange SP2 on SBS 2008. I filed a blog for the slightly different fix that this blog led me to. My post can be viewed at http://itwurx.net/blog/exchange-2007-sp2-a-reboot-from-a-previous-installation-is-pending/

 
At 6:25 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I encounted a similar issue when attempting to install Exchange SP2 on SBS 2008. I filed a blog for the slightly different fix that this blog led me to. My post can be viewed at http://itwurx.net/blog/exchange-2007-sp2-a-reboot-from-a-previous-installation-is-pending/

 
At 4:05 PM, Blogger Notorious L.E.V. said...

Just wanted to say thanks Jim! Worked like a charm :)
~Jeff

 
At 12:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks for the tip, you saved me what little hair I have left!

 

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