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Troubleshooting Windows HLK Setup

This article contains information to help you to troubleshoot Windows Hardware Lab Kit (Windows HLK) installation and setup issues.

Cannot browse \\<controller-name>\HLKInstall\ on Studio or Client computer

If you cannot browse to the HLKInstall folder from the Windows HLK Studio or Client, review the setup and configuration information in the Step 1: Install Controller and Studio on the test server topic.

Cannot change or repair Windows HLK by using Control Panel

If you try to change or repair the Windows HLK by using Control Panel, you receive an error message that the repair failed. To change or repair your Windows HLK installation, use Control Panel to uninstall Windows Hardware Certification Kit, and then reinstall the Windows HLK See Step 1: Install Controller and Studio on the test server.

Cannot install HLK.AddLoggerEntries: Access is denied

In rare cases, Windows HLK setup might fail just before it completes. If you look at the Windows HLK Controller log, CA AddLoggerEntries appears with an Access is denied error. If this happens, run HLKSetup.exe again to see if the Windows HLK installs successfully. If setup fails again, see Windows HLK Support for instructions about how to contact Support. Include the *HLKControllerx86_en_us.log file from the %temp%\hlk folder. For information about how to review the Windows HLK Controller log file, see To review the Windows HLK Controller log file.

Cannot install the Windows HLK Client

If you cannot install the Windows HLK Client, review the installation info in the Step 2: Install Client on the test system(s) topic and make sure that you follow these instructions.

If you still cannot install the Windows HLK Client, locate these Client log files in the %TEMP% folder for the user that installed the HLK client. See Windows HLK Support for information about how to contact Support, and share the following client log files with Microsoft Support:

  • HLKInstall.log or WLKInstall.log for older kits

  • Windows Hardware Certification Kit Client_Install.log

  • Windows Driver Testing Framework (WDTF) Runtime Libraries_Install.log

  • Application Verifier x64 External Package_Install.log

  • WPTx64_Install.log

Cannot install or remove the Windows HLK Controller

If you encounter issues installing the Windows HLK Controller, confirm the following:

  • The operating system uses the English language (en-us) version of Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 or Windows Server 2012 and is not running as a domain controller.

  • The system language is set to US English. To do this, click Region and Language in Control Panel, click the Administrative tab, click Change system locale, and then select English (United States).

If you cannot install or remove the Windows HLK Controller, review the controller log file that is located in the %temp%\HLK folder.

To review the Windows HLK Controller log file

  1. At a command prompt, type %HomeDrive%, and then press Enter.

  2. Type cd %temp%\HLK, and then press Enter.

  3. Type dir *HLKControllerx86_en_us.log, and then press Enter.

  4. Open the log file in a text editor such as Notepad.

    Note

    If more than one file ends in HLKControllerx86_en_us.log, open the newest file. To open the log file in Notepad from the command line, type Notepad, the full file name, and then press Enter.

  5. Search for return value 3 to see which action failed. Error information is located a few lines above the string return value 3.

    MSI (s) (F4:74) [18:58:28:187]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=CreateStandaloneEnterprise,,)
MSI (s) (F4:74) [18:58:28:187]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=CreateStandaloneEnterprise,ActionType=17409,Source=BinaryData,Target=CAQuietExec,CustomActionData="C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Hardware Certification Kit\Controller\WTTStandaloneEnterpriseSetup.exe" "TEST-SERVER" "HLKJobs" "C:\StandaloneEnterprise")
MSI (s) (F4:48) [18:58:28:187]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI9E59.tmp, Entrypoint: CAQuietExec
CAQuietExec:  Standalone Enterprise setup started by user TEST-SERVER\Administrator
CAQuietExec:  Error::
************************************************************ERROR REPORT (Exception levels including inner exceptions. Level 0 denotes outermost exception)
CAQuietExec:  
CAQuietExec:  ------------START OF ERROR REPORT------------
CAQuietExec:  
CAQuietExec:  Level            : 0
CAQuietExec:  Error Message    : Error while creating new data store  'HLKJobs' .
CAQuietExec:  Source           : Void CreateEnterprise(Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.DSLink, Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.ServiceCollection, Boolean)
CAQuietExec:  Inner Exception  : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80041432): Cannot create file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\HLKJobs.mdf' because it already exists. Change the file path or the file name, and retry the operation.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
CAQuietExec:     at Interop.SQLDMO.Databases.Add(_Database Object)
CAQuietExec:     at Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.SqlDataStore.SqlDataStoreSetup.CreateDeploymentDataStore(ServiceCollection serviceList, DSLink newDSLink)
CAQuietExec:  Call Stack       :    at Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.SqlDataStore.SqlDataStoreSetup.CreateEnterprise(DSLink identityDSLink, ServiceCollection serviceList, Boolean standaloneInstall)
CAQuietExec:     at Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.EnterpriseSetup.EnterpriseSetupHelper.CreateEnterprise(EnterpriseConfiguration enterpriseConfig, DSLink dsLink, String setupFilePath, Boolean standaloneInstall)
CAQuietExec:     at Microsoft.DistributedAutomation.EnterpriseSetup.Tools.CMain.Main(String args)
CAQuietExec:  Trace            : 
CAQuietExec:  
CAQuietExec:  Level            : 1
CAQuietExec:  Error Message    : Cannot create file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\HLKJobs.mdf' because it already exists. Change the file path or the file name, and retry the operation.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
CAQuietExec:  Source           : Void Add(Interop.SQLDMO._Database)
CAQuietExec:  Inner Exception  : 
CAQuietExec:  
CAQuietExec:  --------------END OF ERROR REPORT------------************************************************************
CAQuietExec:  Error 0x80070001: Command line returned an error.
CAQuietExec:  Error 0x80070001: CAQuietExec Failed
CustomAction CreateStandaloneEnterprise returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
MSI (s) (F4:74) [18:58:30:137]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (F4:74) [18:58:30:137]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 18:58:30: InstallFinalize. Return value 3

If the *HLKControllerx86_en_us.log file includes Error while creating new data store 'Jobs', complete these steps:

CAQuietExec:  Error Message    : Cannot create file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\HLKJobs.mdf' because it already exists. Change the file path or the file name, and retry the operation.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.

  1. Delete these files from the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA folder:

    • HLKJobs.mdf

    • HLKJobs_Log.ldf

  2. Reinstall the Windows HLK Controller. For info on how to do this, see Step 1: Install Controller and Studio on the test server

Client installation fails with error "This app can't run on your PC"

The system returns an error "This app can't run on your PC" if you try to install Windows HLK Client software on a computer that is running Windows 8 RT. This is not a supported platform; however, you can install Windows HLK Client software on a computer that is running Windows RT 8.1.

Error: Failed to connect to database. Failed to connect to OM.

If you get an error message that states Failed to connect to database. Failed to connect to OM when you start Windows HLK Studio, make sure that your user account is added to the Windows HLK Controller. For instructions on how to add your user account to the Windows HLK Controller, see "Configure additional user accounts" in Install a remote HLK Studio.

Error: SQL client components are required for this operation

This error occurs when you attempt to install the full version of HLK (HLK Controller + Studio option), after you first downloaded the HLK product on a separate machine that already has the HLK Studio only option installed.

Workaround: Uninstall the HLK Studio-only version and try downloading and reinstalling the full HLK version again.

This error can occur when uninstalling and then reinstalling HLK. When the new instance of HLK is installed, one of the following error messages appears:

  • There is already an object named DSLinkType in the database.
  • The database database_name already exists.
  • Failed to create SQL database.

When uninstalling HLK, database uninstall can fail if the database is locked by another process. The HLK uninstall reports success, but the database is left behind.

To recover, follow these steps:

  1. From an elevated command prompt, run SQLCMD -E

  2. From the SQL Shell command line, enter the following:

    ALTER DATABASE WTTIdentity SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
DROP DATABASE WTTIdentity
GO
ALTER DATABASE HLKJobs SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
DROP DATABASE HLKJobs
GO

  3. Verify that C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL(sql version).MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA contains no files starting with WTTIdentity or HLKJobs

  4. Install the HLK

Troubleshooting the Windows HLK Environment

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