Press "Enter" to skip to content

SQL Server 2017 and Visual Studio 2017/2019 Installation Error

Hamish Watson walks us through an error which happens when you install SQL Server 2017 and Visual Studio 2019 in the “wrong” order:

This blog post is about a situation that initially perplexed me – I was installing SQL Server 2017 onto a new DEMO machine – running Windows Server 2019. This install is one I have done over 50 times, if not more.

Halfway through I got an interesting error that (1) I’ve never seen before and (2) did not expect post SQL Server 2014.

MSI Error: 1706 An installation package for the product Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client cannot be found. Try the installation again using a valid copy of the installation package ‘sqlncli.msi’.

Read on for the solution. And note that it also happens with Visual Studio 2017.