SQL Server 2008 Developer install failed - Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation

Question

I'm trying to install SQL Server 2008 Developer edition on my laptop running Windows XP Professional SP2.  I ran the installer as a domain user with admin rights to the local box.  The installation advisor program certified that my system was ready for the install, but nevertheless I had to uninstall SQL Server 2005 Express edition and install .NET framework 3.5 SP1 first.  Once that was done, the installer finished, having successfully installed all the components of SQL Server 2008 except for the core database engine.  It failed with this error message: Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
I uninstalled SQL Server 2008 and reinstalled with the same results.
Below is a snippet from my C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20081014_203925\Detail.txt which seems like it may be relevant.
Can anyone offer any assistance?  Would be greatly appreciated.
2008-10-14 20:50:15 SQLEngine: --EtwSetup: Updating WMI Security
2008-10-14 20:50:15 SQLEngine: --EtwSetup: WMI sddlA;;0x120fff;;;SY)(A;;0x120fff;;;BA)
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: Sco: Attempting to create base registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, machine
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Security
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: Prompting user if they want to retry this action due to the following failure:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: ----------------------------------------
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: The following is an exception stack listing the exceptions in outermost to innermost order
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: Inner exceptions are being indented
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: Exception type: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.ScoException
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:     Message:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:         Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:     Data:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:       WatsonData = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE@SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Security
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:       DisableRetry = true
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:     Inner exception type: System.UnauthorizedAccessException
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:         Message:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:                 Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:         Stack:
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp:                 at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.InternalRegistryKey.OpenSubKey(String subkey, RegistryAccess requestedAccess)
2008-10-14 20:50:15 Slp: ----------------------------------------
2008-10-14 20:50:31 Slp: User has chosen to cancel this action

Answer 1

Hi,
I have recently donwloaded the evaluation version of SQL SERVER 2010. I have a similar problem to this user as shown below. I have tried changing the registry permissions for Microsoft SQL Server but this made no difference. Since the registry entries are created by the installation process it seems odd that it cannnot subsequently update the entry.
Any ideas?
Dominic
Detailed results:
  Feature:                       Database Engine Services
  Status:                        Failed: see logs for details
  MSI status:                    Passed
  Configuration status:          Failed: see details below
  Configuration error code:      0xD3BEBD98@1211@1
  Configuration error description: Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
  Configuration log:             C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100408_135119\Detail.txt
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp: ----------------------------------------
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp: The following is an exception stack listing the exceptions in outermost to innermost order
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp: Inner exceptions are being indented
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp: Exception type: Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.ScoException
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:     Message:
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:         Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:     Data:
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:       WatsonData = Microsoft SQL Server
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:       DisableRetry = true
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:     Inner exception type: System.UnauthorizedAccessException
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:         Message:
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation.
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:         Stack:
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 at System.Security.AccessControl.Win32.GetSecurityInfo(ResourceType resourceType, String name, SafeHandle handle, AccessControlSections accessControlSections, RawSecurityDescriptor& resultSd)
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 at System.Security.AccessControl.NativeObjectSecurity.CreateInternal(ResourceType resourceType, Boolean isContainer, String name, SafeHandle handle, AccessControlSections includeSections, Boolean createByName, ExceptionFromErrorCode exceptionFromErrorCode, Object exceptionContext)
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.SqlRegistrySecurity..ctor(ResourceType resourceType, SafeRegistryHandle handle, AccessControlSections includeSections)
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.SqlRegistrySecurity.Create(InternalRegistryKey key)
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp:                 at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.Sco.InternalRegistryKey.SetSecurityDescriptor(String sddl, Boolean overwrite)
2010-04-08 14:01:43 Slp: ----------------------------------------