A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined when installing SQL Server Management Studio 2016

Question

Whilst installing SSMS 2016, I get the following error and setup terminates:

SQL Server 2016 Common Files: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.

I've tried the following solutions:

1. Delete all files in %TEMP% folder
2. Check that BootstrapDir exists in HKLM

The above 2 options where suggested on the MS sites.

I have administrator privileges and I must also add that I have already installed SSMS 2016 on this machine but I removed it to clean up some space.

Any ideas what I might look for to solve this problem?

Solution

This is the exact error message I was getting:

BootstrapperEngineDataModel.OnError: Burn engine encountered error. PackageId: sql_ssms_extensions_msp_x86, ErrorType: WindowsInstaller, ErrorCode: 1807, Data: 1807, ErrorMessage: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined., UIHint: 0
MainViewModel.AddFailedCondition: Error: Hotfix 2164 for  sql_ssms_extensions (KB3182270): A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.
MainViewModel.OnPackageError: setup failed for packageId: sql_ssms_extensions_msp_x86, package: Hotfix 2164 for  sql_ssms_extensions (KB3182270), errorCode: 1807, errorMessage: A valid destination folder for the install could not be determined.

And the solution to fix this is:

Start regedit and go to (or search for BootstrapDir in registry) :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Bootstrap

In my computer, the BootstrapDir is pointed to :

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Setup Bootstrap\

I changed that to :

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Setup Bootstrap\

Then try to reinstall again, it works on my machine.

Comments

[frin]

Amazing, this did the trick, how on Earth did you figure this out... and why did Microsoft mess up the setup so badly...

[Rosdi Kasim]

@frin The answer isn't mine... I found it somewhere (and I forgot what the original link was)... after the installation it is probably wise to change back the BootstrapDir to its original location... just in case...

[000]

@RosdiKasim Bro, you are a great time saver. After 1 week of googling , I would plan to reinstall windows if I could not find this . I thought there is a serious problem in my OS , even I have gone through other stackoverflow question regarding this matter. I wish I could say thank you face to face . ♥

[Vinicius Monteiro]

A link from Microsoft with this answer connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/2142663/…