I am unable to install ms sql server in windows 11 : invalid command line argument. consult the windows SDK for detailed command line help

Hi @nabin sademba,

You're likely seeing the “invalid command line argument” error due to either a malformed setup parameter or leftover configuration from a previous install

Troubleshooting Steps

1.Check the Summary.txt & Detail.txt logs

Located in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server<version>\Setup Bootstrap\Log<date_time>\

Look for the exact feature/component that failed. The “invalid command line” is often a generic wrapper error.

2.Clear Old Configurations

Delete any leftover ConfigurationFile.ini from previous runs.

Remove partially installed SQL components via Add/Remove Programs or setup.exe /Action=Uninstall.

3.Run Setup Cleanly

Open an elevated Command Prompt.

Navigate to the extracted SQL Server setup folder.

setup.exe /Q /ACTION=Install

or use the GUI installer without extra switches.

4.Avoid Copy-Paste Errors

If you’re using a scripted install, validate each parameter against the official SQL Server setup parameters list.

Common mistakes: missing = after a switch, using quotes incorrectly, or including deprecated flags.

5.Check Feature Dependencies

For SQL 2019+, if you selected Java connector for HDFS, ensure Java is installed and environment variables are set. Otherwise, deselect that feature.

6 .Repair or Reinstall

If corruption persists, run setup.exe /ACTION=Repair from the installation media.

As a last resort, fully uninstall SQL Server, delete the Setup Bootstrap folder, and reinstall.

Thanks,

Lakshmi.

First things first: what hardware do you have? If you have an ARM processor, beware that SQL Server does not support ARM. The rest of the answer assumes that you have a regular x64 processor.

My belief is that this is an error that occurs mainly in the situation when a user tried to install SQL Server and it failed with some error. The user might have tried some random cleanup and made renewed attempts. Because the cleanup was incomplete, Setup now fails with another error than it did originally.

Could this apply to you? Or did this happen on the first attempt? (If it does apply to you, don't feel bad. I think it is quite a natural path to take.)

Here is a link to an article that can help you to clean up properly: https://www.sql-easy.com/learn/how-to-uninstall-sql-server/. I have not tried it myself, but I learnt about it from a user who was in a similar situation as yours, and who was able to install SQL Server successfully after following the article.

If you are on Windows 11, be sure to read the article Troubleshoot errors related to system disk sector size greater than 4 KB before you try again. It discusses a known issue where Windows 11 reports a disk-sector size that SQL Server chokes on. This could be the cause for your original failure. Check out this article, and if needed apply the workarounds it proposes. Note that the error you are seeing is not due to the disk-sector issue, you are failing before that issue starts to matter.

If you make a new attempt after cleanup, and it still fails, you find log files in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\nnn\Setup Bootstrap\Log with one folder per attempt. (nnn is a three-digit number that depends on the version of SQL Server you are trying to install). The files of most interest are summary.txt, detail.txt and any file with ERRORLOG in the name. (The latter only appears if Setup came as far as trying to start SQL Server). Feel free to attach these to the thread here.