Windows Internal Database missing on Server 2012 R2

Question

I had to reinstall WSUS, so I removed WSUS and reinstalled it, then WID service could not start, so I removed WSUS again and deleted "WID" service.

Now when I re-install WSUS it says WID is installed, but WID service is missing from services.msc

I even tried installing it through powershell command Install-WindowsFeature Windows-Internal-Database and it shows success but if I refresh services.msc it is still missing.

Any suggestions?

I followed the following procedure to uninstall:

1. Remove WSUS role followed by IIS role
2. Remove Windows Internal Database from Roles/Features
3. Rename WID folder from "C:\Windows\WID" which contains "SUSDB.mdf"
4. reboot
5. install WSUS with IIS with all supportive features including WID.

Solution

Following are the steps to resolve the bug.

• uninstall WSUS and WID
• Rename WID folder from "C:\Windows\WID" which contains "SUSDB.mdf"
• reboot
• install only WID feature and change its service logon account
• start WID service
• install WSUS

Comments

[Am_I_Helpful]

I suspect that though the WID service is missing in the services.msc list, everything is in place; try this command on elevated CMD to create entry of WID in services.msc (please test first on UAT WSUS): sc create "Windows Internal Database" binpath= "C:\Windows\WID\Binn\sqlservr.exe -SMSWIN8.SQLWID -sMICROSOFT#" type= own start= auto depend= "WIDWriter". Also, refer this article for more info: support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/251192/…

[user]

your solution sounds like it might work, but in C:\Windows\WID\' there is only DBVerify` folder and inside that SUSDBVerify.dll file. And i can't find sqlserver.exe anywhere in C:\Program files

[user]

looks like WID isn't being installed correctly and hence no sqlserver.exe? I have another WSUS on win2008r2 and it has SQLservr.exe located in C:\Windows\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSQL.2005\MSSQL\Binn` but on 2012 server there is no C:\Windows\SYSMSI`