Hi Hanby,

I realize that you posted this question 2 years ago. Since nobody replied
and I had the same exact problem, I am posting the resolution that I
discovered for the benefit of anyone else who has this problem.

The resolution is to get to the Cluster Management screen through the
"Advanced options" radio button instead of the "Upgrade, remove, or Add"
radio button. The method you used will also take you to the Cluster
Management screen. But unfortunately produces the "Setup failed to create
the necessary silent installation files for cluster node installs. The
parameter is incorrect." error.


From: Hanby (flakrat_r3move_n0_sPam (AT) hotmail (DOT) com)
Subject: SQL 2000 Cluster, Node fails to install


Newsgroups: microsoft.public.sqlserver.clustering
Date: 2002-09-18 13:40:02 PST

Howdy, We have a Windows 2000 Cluster running.

We've installed SQL Server 2000 Enterprise on machine A, the active machine.

We are running the install interactively (double click setup.bat) from
the CDROM.
We've tried running the node install from machine A (which is already
listed as a configured node) and machine B (the node we are trying to add)
- At the Virtual Server dialog, I enter: W2KCLUSTER
- Select the "Upgrade, remove, or Add" radio button
- Next dialog "Instance Name" is all grayed out
- "Existing Installation" the only selectable radio button is
"Uninstall your existing installation" I leave that unselected
- "Failover Clustering" There is already an ip address in the list
198.64.245.88 255.255.255.0 Public Network
This is the IP of w2kcluster
I click next without adding any new IP addresses
- "Cluster Management"
Under "Configured Nodes" is listed machine A
Under Available Nodes is one machine, machine B
I click on machine B and click ADD
- "Remote Information" I input a domain user who is an administrator
on both machines, I'm also running the install while logged in
as this user
- "Start copying Files" click next
About a nano second after clicking next the setup fails with a dialog box
"Setup: Setup failed to create the necessary silent installation
files for cluster node installs. The parameter is incorrect."
Click OK and setup exits

Here are the last few lines from the log and iss files

From sqlstp.log
=================
CreateClustISSFiles returned: 87
"Setup failed to create the necessary silent installation files for
cluster node installs. The parameter is incorrect."

The last few lines in the c:\winnt\setup.iss file
[SdStartCopy-0]
Result=1
[SdFinish-0]
Result=1
bOpt1=0
bOpt2=0

The last few lines in the c:\winnt\SERVERB_MSSQLSERVER.iss file
=================
[SdStartCopy-0]
Result=1
[SdFinish-0]
Result=1
bOpt1=0
bOpt2=0
[SdRemoteInfo-0]
svEdit4=SERVERB

Anyone have any idea what is going wrong / how to fix it?

Thanks, Mike Hanby
BMC Software