+2  A: 

I'm running Windows 7 and have successfully installed SQL 2008 with no problems. By the looks of your error, it seems that you may have an aborted/failed previous installation.

You should first check out the setup log files which are usually located at %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log. Check out this MSDN page for help reading the log file. There may be a clue in there as to why your installation is failing.

You could also check out your server log files in %programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG for why the service won't start.

All else fails, you should go to Programs and Features to remove anything that is SQL related and start over.

C-Pound Guru  2009-10-04 15:15:25
I can confirm that SS2008 DOES run on Win7 also. I have it running here.
eidylon  2009-10-04 15:43:57
can't find any clues which may cause these problems, do you think that removing it and reinstall will solve my problems?
Amr ElGarhy  2009-10-04 15:53:08
@Amr ElGarhy: That's the most common suggestion I see for this issue. Try removing every SQL-related thing. Then try the install--if it fails, check the logs and do a google or stackoverflow search for the particular problem.
C-Pound Guru  2009-10-04 16:15:25

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