SQL Server install bug : Failed to launch local ScenarioEngine.exe

I fixed it by going to "Control Panel" -> "Programs and Features" -> "Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Local DB" -> "Repair"

I have had the same problem after I manually cleaned a wild mix of SQL Server versions and instances from my development machine. Got really stuck on this one until I found this MSDN blog which helped me get back on track.

This is what I did.

Add to the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Bootstrap] "BootstrapDir"="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Bootstrap\Setup] "PatchLevel"="11.00.2100.60"

Then copy from the media / temp setup directory following files / folder into C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\SQLServer2012

x64 folder, resources folder, setup.exe.

Change to x86 when necessary.

Cheers, Dennis

I also just had this problem, but I haven't seen my solution anywhere so I thought I would contribute. I was installing SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 R2 evaluation edition in hyper v. The Server Evaluation Edition lasts for 180 days but it still has to be activated. If you don't activate it, after 10 days it will start restarting itself every hour (I believe this is what also happens after 180 days). Activation happens automatically once you connect the machine to the internet.

What I had done is allow this 10 day period to elapse, and I hadn't connected the machine to the internet. I then tried installing SQL Server and got this error. The key was activating windows server. After I activated it, I was able to install SQL Server without any issues.

Note that the fix above also worked for me. I was able to install SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 R2 that hadn't been activated and had gone over 10 days as well.

Just something else to try anyway!

In my case it was because something in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\CONFIG\machine.config was corrupted. Attaching a debugger to ScenarioEngine.exe after it crashed and looking at the .NET exception the message was that a config section wasn't understood. I removed the section containing the line the exception pointed to from both Framework and Framework64 versions of machine.config and this fixed the install.

I apparently had a latent failed SQL 2012 installation, I saw that I had "SQL 2012 Setup" as a program in my installed programs. I uninstalled that, and then the sql 2014 express installed without a problem.