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I recently had a problem while installing Visual Studio 2012 and SQL Server 2008 R2 on a new development machine. My installation sequence was Visual Studio 2012 then install SQL Server 2008 R2.

An error occurred during the middle of SQL Server installation:

The specified account already exists.

I have spent my day trying to fix this problem.

First, search the installation log. In my instance it was under the following path:

C:Program FilesMicrosoft SQL Server100Setup BootstrapLog*.*

In that log I found the following entries:

2015-08-07 11:16:50 Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey 

2015-08-07 11:16:50 Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey SOFTWAREMicrosoftVisualStudio9.0

2015-08-07 11:16:50 Slp: Sco: Attempting to get registry value InstallDir

2015-08-07 11:16:50 Slp: Target package: "D:shared~~~~~sqlncli.msi"

2015-08-07 11:16:51 Slp: MSI Error: 1316 The specified account already exists.

I then located the file sqlncli.msi and opened a command prompt to execute this command:

msiexec /i "d:[Your sqlncli.msi path]

I then uninstalled the SQL Server Native Client and ran the installation for SQL Server again, success.

Regarding where is the indication that SQL Native Client is the issue – the error actually occurs while trying to install the newer SQL Native Client. The solution seems to be: go to Add/Remove Programs and then remove the older SQL Native Client and then retry. No need to abort the installation.

After the older SQL Native Client has been removed, the installation seems to proceed without any problem.

For completeness:
This also happens when the original msi package had a different name.

If you installed myproductV1.msi and then tried to update it using

msiexec /fvomus myproductV1.msi

it works as expected. But when using

msiexec /fvomus myproductV3.msi

it fails with the mentioned error. Assuming that only the filename changes. Content (especially all GUIDS) stays the same

I received the same error 1603 while installing Sql server 2014. As per the instructions, I have uninstalled sql server 2012 native client but continued to receive the error.
You will have to find the product name in the log file that is causing this error and uninstall that application and this error will go away. I had to uninstall MICROSOFT_VCPP2010SP1.

A different, simpler solution was to install this tool from Microsoft:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed

It's a troubleshooter that actually shoots your troubles away. At least, it worked for me.