[Solved] Error 29506 when installing Microsoft SQL Server Manament Studio Express on Windows Vista or Windows Seven
MS SQL Server, Windows December 3rd, 2011Note: This article is applied on installing Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express which is used for manage Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express only.
When you are installing Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express on Windows Vista or Windows 7, you may receive this error message:
The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 29506.

This error message relates with permission issue (UAC) on Windows Vista and Windows 7. To solve this problem, you have to re-run the installer again using elevated command prompt by run the command prompt as administrator and execute the installer in there. If you are using 64-bit Windows, you should use the command prompt at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe instead. Otherwise, you can use the command prompt at C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe. You will see the step-by-step guide to use elevated command prompt to execute the installer file on the section below.
The other solution, you can disable UAC on Windows but I don’t recommend it since it will lower your security system.
Step-by-step
- Run elevated command prompt by right-click on Command Prompt in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
Note: This step is for 32-bit Windows. If you are using 64-bit Windows, see the next step.

- If you are using 64-bit Windows, you have to run the command prompt in C:\Windows\SysWOW64. Right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.

- On User Account Control, click Yes.

- On Command Prompt (both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows), change path to directory where the installer file is and execute the file. By default, the file name for 32-bit version is SQLServer2005_SSMSEE.msi and 64-bit version is SQLServer2005_SSMSEE_x64.msi.

- On Setup Wizard, follow the instruction as usual. There won’t be the error message this time.

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December 31st, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Thank you for this tip, it worked like charm!
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Thz for this solution.It’s powerfull.
February 10th, 2012 at 12:22 am
Very very thanks for this. Its work for me after a lot of fighting to install the SQLServer2005_SSMSEE.msi.