WSUS Installation Fails with No Specified Error and ‘Tools’ Folder is Missing

Symptoms
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·         When installing WSUS through the Add Roles and Features Wizard (ARW), the Post-Installation task fails and the generated log folder (*.tmp) is empty, AND

·         The Tools folder is missing after WSUS was installed. Note: By default, the Tools folder is installed to the following location: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Update Services\Tools

This behavior has been seen when:

·         Uninstalling WSUS

·         Manually deleting WSUS folder: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Update Services

·         Manually deleting WSUS registry keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Update Services

·         Re-installing WSUS

Root Cause
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When uninstalling WSUS Role via ARW the “API and PowerShell cmdlets” feature is not uninstalled by default (unless explicitly selected by the user). Deleting the remaining WSUS folders and registry keys leaves the server in a bad state and the re-installation fails because it is expecting this feature to be already installed.

Workaround
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Uninstall all the WSUS roles and features and re-install WSUS.

Workaround 1: To uninstall WSUS roles and features using Windows PowerShell

1.    In PowerShell, review features installed by calling: Get-WindowsFeature UpdateServices*

2.    To remove features, call: Uninstall-WindowsFeature <featureName>

Workaround 2: To uninstall WSUS roles and features using the Server Manager Console

In Server Manager, launch Remove Roles and Features Wizard (RRW), unselect items to be uninstalled, and complete the Wizard:

1.    In Server Roles tab unselect ‘Windows Server Update Services’ option

2.    In Features tab unselect ‘Remote Server Administration Tools -> Role Administration Tools -> Windows Server Update Services Tools’ option