Error: SharePoint Server 2010 Installation, SharePoint Configuration Failed

Description:

After configuring the operating systems and SQL Server instance in a multi-tiered server farm, I installed the SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites and server binaries on the first Web front end.  Next, I opened PowerShell and began creating a new farm from the command line.  After only the first step, I received the error shown below.

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\Windows\system32> New-SPConfigurationDatabase -DatabaseName "FarmName_Configuration_Database_01" -DatabaseServer "FarmDBSQLAlias" -A
dministrationContentDatabaseName "FarmName_Content_Database_01" -Passphrase (ConvertTo-SecureString "FarmPassPhrase" -AsPlaintext -Force) -FarmCredentials (Get-Credential)
...
New-SPConfigurationDatabase : CREATE FILE encountered operating system error 3(The system cannot find the path specifie
d.) while attempting to open or create the physical file 'I:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\
MSSQL\Data\FarmName_Configuration_Database_01_log.LDF'.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
At line:1 char:28
...

So, I navigated to the log directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\LOGS and opened up the current PSCDiagnostics log file.


CTRL + F "error" brought me to this error:

...
01/20/2011 17:46:26 10 ERR Exception: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: CREATE FILE encountered operating system error 3(The system cannot find the path specified.) while attempting to open or create the physical file 'I:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Data\FarmName_Configuration_Database_01_log.LDF'.
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
...

Solution:

After viewing the log file message, I immediately knew what the cause of the error was.  The SQL Server default path for LDF was not accessible because it hadn't been created yet.  During the SQL Server 2008 R2 installation, I specified a particular default drive letter for MDF and LDF.  After the installation, I changed the default path location for LDF's to a different drive letter, however, the new folder path (I:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Data) didn't exist yet!

The fix was simply to go to the I: drive letter and create the necessary folder paths that I had set as the default LDF location for the SQL instance.

Note:  When you install SQL Server 2008 R2 and you encounter the screen that asks for the default locations, be sure to set the MDF first and then the LDF second.  The reason is that if you do the MDF path second, the installation wizard will reset your LDF location back to the MDF setting.  It's just one of those things!