Setup Error 1639: Invalid Command Line Argument in SQL Server

Setup error 1639 stopped me when I tried installing SQL Server 2019 on my virtual machine. I had not seen this one before. The message talks about a command line argument, but the real cause was something else.

The Error

First, I looked into the SQL Setup Summary.txt file and found the failure:

Feature: Java connector for HDFS data sources
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, and then try the setup process again.
Component name: SQL PolyBase Java
Component error code: 1639
Component log file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\150\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20190726_144242\sql_polybase_java_inst_Cpu64_1.log
Error description: Invalid command line argument. Consult the Windows Installer SDK for detailed command line help.

How to Check

If you decode error number 1639 with the Windows net helpmsg command, you see the same text that Summary.txt reported:

net helpmsg 1639

That confirms the code but not the cause. The cause was in the log named in Summary.txt. Here are the lines that matter, ending with the failure:

MSI (s) (E4:80) [14:47:36:552]: Specified instance {7E0C055D-520F-474C-A7ED-755405FBA017} via transform :InstID01.mst;:InstName01.mst is already installed. MSINEWINSTANCE requires a new instance that is not installed.
MSI (s) (E4:80) [14:47:36:552]: MainEngineThread is returning 1639

Why It Happens

The line just before the failure says it: the specified instance is already installed. When I searched the internet, I found this comes from an incomplete MSI install.

Then I remembered what had happened. During an earlier install, my virtual machine stopped because I shut down my laptop. I had then uninstalled SQL Server completely, but this one component clearly did not get removed properly.

The Fix

I found that msiexec can uninstall the leftover MSI, which fixes this kind of error. The general form is this:

msiexec /x {GUID}

The GUID is in the error message. Here is the command I ran from the command prompt:

msiexec /x {7E0C055D-520F-474C-A7ED-755405FBA017}

Confirm It Worked

As soon as I clicked Yes, it uninstalled the component. I started the install again, and it worked fine.

How to Prevent It

Don’t let the machine stop in the middle of a SQL Server install, and that includes a laptop hosting a virtual machine. If it does happen, remember that an uninstall can leave a component behind.

Have you ever seen this error? Did you find another way to fix it? Please share it in the comments.

Error 1639 is not about your command line, it is about what the last install left behind.

Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.