Windows Failover Cluster - Create Cluster Wizard: error occurred while creating the cluster

Question

I have 2 identical Windows Server 2008 R2 servers which I am trying to setup a failover cluster on.

The "Validate a Configuration" passes, but the actual creation process produces an error:

An error occurred while creating the cluster. 
An error occurred creating cluster 'newcluster'.
This operation returned because the timeout period expired

Anybody know how to fix this?

Thanks!

Edit #1:

Create Cluster

Cluster:  NEWCLUSTER 
Node:  server1.domain.local 
Node:  server2.domain.local  
IP Address:  10.10.10.101 
Started 12/11/2014 11:35:21 AM 
Completed 12/11/2014 11:38:25 AM 

Beginning to configure the cluster NEWCLUSTER.
Initializing Cluster NEWCLUSTER.
Validating cluster state on node server1.domain.local.
Searching the domain for computer object 'NEWCLUSTER'.
Creating a new computer object for 'NEWCLUSTER' in the domain.
Configuring computer object 'NEWCLUSTER' as cluster name object.
Validating installation of the Network FT Driver on node server1.domain.local.
Validating installation of the Cluster Disk Driver on node server1.domain.local.
Configuring Cluster Service on node server1.domain.local.
Validating installation of the Network FT Driver on node server2.domain.local.
Validating installation of the Cluster Disk Driver on node server2.domain.local.
Configuring Cluster Service on node server2.domain.local.
Waiting for notification that Cluster service on node server1.domain.local has started.
Forming cluster 'clusterrr'.
Unable to successfully cleanup.
To troubleshoot cluster creation problems, run the Validate a Configuration wizard on the servers         you want to cluster.

An error occurred while creating the cluster.
An error occurred creating cluster 'NEWCLUSTER'.
This operation returned because the timeout period expired

Solution

I would also advise to check for duplicate Service Principal Names (SPNs) in your domain. In our case, we received the error because the SPN for the cluster had somehow already been registered to a different server.

Run the following command to find all duplicate SPNs in your domain:

SETSPN -X

If any of your SQL nodes, or Windows Cluster Name, or SQL Cluster Name is seen in the output, you'll need to remove the duplicate SPNs. For example:

HOST/SQLCLUSTER1 is registered on these accounts:
        CN=APPSERVER04,OU=Servers,OU=SQL,OU=usa,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=net
        CN=SQLCLUSTER1,OU=Servers,OU=SQL,OU=usa,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=net

MSServerClusterMgmtAPI/SQLCLUSTER1 is registered on these accounts:
        CN=SQLCLUSTER1,OU=Servers,OU=SQL,OU=usa,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=net
        CN=APPSERVER04,OU=Servers,OU=SQL,OU=usa,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=net

Delete the SPNs from the old server (preferably on a domain controller - you likely need to be a domain administrator to modify SPNs). In this example, SQLCLUSTER1 is the name we want to use for the current cluster we are trying to create, but oddly, some SPNs for the account are registered on an old server, APPSERVER04. Run these commands to remove them:

setspn -D HOST/SQLCLUSTER1 CORP\APPSERVER04$

setspn -D MSServerClusterMgmtAPI/SQLCLUSTER1 CORP\APPSERVER04$

Comments

[vembutech]

Can you post the cluster log ? so that we can check duplicate account that may have the same name as any of the nodes in the cluster, if so probably we need to remove those duplicate accounts. Also Please confirm you have given both nodes every permission.

[mradarit]

Please see edit #1. Both nodes have permissions and cluster is being created using a domain administrator account.

[Colyn1337]

The validate stage may "pass" but it can pass conditionally. Was it all green? Or were there any yellow warning flags?

[Ty H.]

I am having this problem right now in Windows Server 2012 R2, The "forming cluster" message appears for 2 minutes before the cluster create wizard fails and rolls back. The log is exactly the same as OP's log. Did anybody ever figure this out?

[Overmind]

Allow UDP Port 464 in all related Firewalls and retry.