Configuring and Installing SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services SharePoint Add-in

Installing the SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services SharePoint Add-in is as painful as ever. I've downloaded the installation package from Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies and followed the instructions provided on msdn How to: Install or Uninstall the Reporting Services Add-in but still encounter installation errors.

The error in the installation log was

Install error: A web configuration modification operation is already running.
Error details: System.InvalidOperationException: A web configuration modification operation is already running.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ApplyWebConfigModifications()

I looked at the SharePoint web.config and it was not write protected and the Everyone group has access to it. I couldn't figure out why it was trying to be modified twice, so after searching on "the google" (nice Bushism) it appears that this occurs when SPFarm.Local.Services.GetValue().ApplyWebConfigModifications(); is called twice during the feature installation.

Well knowing that SharePoint would create a Timer job for this operation I went into Central Admin -> Operations -> TImer Job Definitions during the "Removing backup files" part of the rsSharePoint.msi installation process and sure enough there were two "SharePoint Update Web Configuration" jobs. This is a no no since they will lock trying to modify the web.config. So I deleted both jobs and waited...

This time the rsSharePoint.msi installation did not fail, it took a long time to install because it apparently extracts all the locale cabs until it finds the one for the current SharePoint locale and then during the Removing backup files part it actually has to uninstall all the locale cab packages except the one that is right for the SharePoint installation.

But deleting those two jobs and waiting worked.

Just in case you are waiting for it to "remove backup files" look in the Local Settings/Temp folder of whichever user you are installing the package as and you'll see a folder called MS.WSS.RS and within that folder you'll see another folder named 3082, 2070... so on as you can see below, this is exactly what it does. If you constantly refresh this folder you'll see new ones created and removed consistently and in the installation log you'll actually see that each package is being uninstalled. You'd think they'd be able to tell which locale is installed before extracting and installing all unnecessary files.

Calling HCInstal for lcid '3082'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '2070'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '2052'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1055'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1053'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1049'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1046'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1045'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1044'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1043'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1042'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1041'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1040'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1038'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1036'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1035'

** You'll notice that my locale of '1033' is missing since it doesn't need to uninstall that one.

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1032'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1031'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1030'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1029'

Calling HCInstal for lcid '1028'

Cab files uninstalled successfully.

One other note, calling the rsCustomActions.exe /i doesn't work, it will give you more verbose logging but it won't install the files it needs. For instance, it will through an error that Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.UI.ServerPages file is not found. So running that exe is useless.