Upgrades and Slipstreamed Installations

I’m in the process of testing upgrades to SQL Server 2012. In the process, I’m trying different paths. The current one I’m in the middle of is a clustered instance which will go from SQL Server 2005 SP4 –> SQL Server 2008 SP1 –> SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU3 –> SQL Server 2012. The SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 installations were slipstreamed.

However, when I went to go upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU3 using my slipstreamed media, the upgrade kept failing. When I went to go look at the log files, one log file (SqlBrowser_Cpu32_1) had the culprit:

=== Verbose logging started: 2/13/2012  22:33:26  Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.7601.00  Calling process: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\SQLServer2008R2\x64\setup100.exe ===
MSI (c) (A8:4C) [22:33:26:965]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (c) (A8:4C) [22:33:26:965]: Machine policy value ‘Debug’ is 0
MSI (c) (A8:4C) [22:33:26:965]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: C:\Slipstream 2K8 R2 SP1 CU3\1033_ENU_LP\x64\setup\sqlbrowser.msi
…
MSI (s) (34:F0) [22:33:27:012]: MainEngineThread is returning 1639
Info 1639. Invalid command line argument. Consult the Windows Installer SDK for detailed command line help.
;”C:\SLIPSTREAM
…

It looks like the code, for whatever reason, barfed with the spaces only at this point but was OK with it earlier. I renamed the directory to get rid of the spaces and it worked. I entered a bug on Connect here, so go and vote for it.