The SBS 2008 or 2011 Standard Migration Wizard may fail to launch due to an incomplete setup

After running the SBS 2008 or 2011 Standard setup in join domain/migration mode, you launch the Migration Wizard (“Migrate to Windows SBS” link in the console) and the wizard crashes.

The MigrationWizard.log in “c:\program files\Windows Small Business Server\Logs” will have content similar to this:

Setup: Unhandled exception: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.MigrationWizard.SystemData' threw an exception. ---> System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: StringKeyDictionary missing key: 'JoinDomainServer'.
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.StringKeyDictionary`1.get_Item(String key)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.MigrationWizard.SystemData.ReadSourceServerName()
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.MigrationWizard.SystemData..ctor()
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.MigrationWizard.SystemData..cctor()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Setup.MigrationWizard.Program.Main()

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This can happen if the info.xml file is incomplete or corrupt.

This article will concentrate on a scenario where the info.xml is incomplete due to a partial SBS setup.

Due to a timing condition, the SBS Setup may not resume after the server restarts following the installation of updates. Once that happens, the server boots into a desktop and no errors are displayed. The server seems to be functional although a number of configuration tasks are missing.

In order to properly recognize that you are experiencing the issue described in this article, please reference the log excerpts below:

SBS 2008

Key Section from the end of the Log:
Task: Task ("MUPhase2Task") execution complete.
TaskManagement: Previous Task required us to stop processing Tasks for a restart, failure, or cancel.
TaskManagement: A Reboot was required. Now=True,Finished=False,Redo=True
Setup: TME needs a reboot: bTMEHasMoreToDo=True bPrepareOnly=False
Setup: Setting RebootPendingValue to true.
Setup: Back from running the TME
Setup: Setting ResultFile value to C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Data\TME\Results\TaskStatusResults634104809850346319.xml
Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(sbssetup.mainprogress) = null
Wizard: WizardChainEngine Next Clicked: Last page, so the wizard isdone, closing wizard frame and returning
Setup: Setting ShowBillboards to False
Wizard: sbssetup.mainprogress exited with the button: Next
Wizard: TOC sbssetup.finish is NO longer on ExpectedPath
Setup: We are back from the wizard after user clicked Next.
Setup: Get Stage = <null>
Setup: We have a reboot pending.
Setup: Rebooting the box

SBS 2011 Standard

Key Section from the end of the Log:
Task: Task ("MUPhase2Task") execution complete.
TaskManagement: Exiting ProgressManager.UpdateProgress(100), not updating since the task is complete.
TaskManagement: Previous Task required us to stop processing Tasks for a restart, failure, or cancel.
TaskManagement: A Reboot was required. Now=True,Finished=False,Redo=True
Setup: TME needs a reboot: bTMEHasMoreToDo=True bPrepareOnly=False
Setup: Setting RebootPendingValue to true.
Setup: Back from running the TME
Setup: Setting ResultFile value to C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Data\TME\Results\TaskStatusResults634345230254462706.xml
Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(sbssetup.mainprogress) = null
Wizard: WizardChainEngine Next Clicked: Last page, so the wizard isdone, closing wizard frame and returning
Setup: Setting ShowBillboards to False

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In order to allow the SBS Setup to complete the tasks that are missing, follow the steps below on the SBS 2008 or 2011 Standard server that is experiencing the symptoms and matches the cause described in this article only.

1. Make a full backup of the new SBS server.  Due to the way the SBS setup processes operate, you only get one attempt at using these steps to complete the sbssetup process.

2.   2. Use Notepad to create the following registry file, save it and import it.

a.       Open Notepad and copy the text below (within the cut here blocks, do not include them) into Notepad.
--cut here--
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\Setup\Internal]
"Stage"="MainProgress"
"InProgress"="True"
--cut here—

b.      Save the file as “import.reg” (include the quotes so it does not get saved as import.reg.txt).

c.       Double click the file, import.reg, to trigger the import.

.        3. Rename the C:\program files\window small business server\data\info.xml file to info.xml.old.

4.     4. Copy C:\program files\windows small business server\data\tme\enginestate\sbssetup-runtimedata.dat to the C:\program files\window small business server\data  folder and then rename the file in the data folder from sbssetup-runtimedata.dat to info.xml.

WARNING: Do not copy sbssetup-runtimedata.dat from another machine.

5. Make sure you are logged in with the same administrative account used during the setup and that the password has not changed.

6.       6. Once steps 1 through 5 have been performed, you can attempt to continue the setup by running C:\program files\windows small business server\bin\sbssetup.exe.

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There are 3 possible outcomes for this resolution process:

1. It works as expected and you end up with a setup completed screen.

If this is the case your setup is complete and you can continue with the next set of configuration/migration tasks.

2. It works as expected and you end up with a setup completed with errors screen.

If this is the case you will need to review the errors presented on the screen and follow the linked documentation.

3. Setup fails unexpectedly.

You can review the C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Logs\sbssetup.log to determine the cause of this failure and attempt to troubleshoot it from there.  If you wish to re-run sbssetup.exe at this point, you will need to restore the new SBS 2008 or 2011 Standard server from the backup you took in step 1 of the resolution and try steps 2-6 again.  

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