The Problem

This blog post is about an error I got while following Akshay Sura‘s YouTube video Unofficial Sitecore Traning Sitecore 9 Install using Sitecore Installation Framework SIF. This is a great walkthrough of the Sitecore Installation Guide for Sitecore 9 update 1 and Akshay does a really good job of helping us understand some of the steps in the Installation Guide that are not so clear. I highly recommend everyone watch this video if you are trying to install Sitecore using only the Installation Guide and the Sitecore Installation Framework.

So here’s the error I was getting:

msdeploy.exe : Error Code: ERROR_EXECUTING_METHOD
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\SitecoreInstallFramework\1.2.1\Public\Tasks\Invoke-CommandTask.ps1:31 char:13
+             & $Path $Arguments | Out-Default
+             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (Error Code: ERROR_EXECUTING_METHOD:String) [], RemoteException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
 
More Information: Could not deploy package.
Unable to connect to master or target server 'sc901xp0v6_Processing.Pools'. You must have a user with the same password in master or 
target server 'sc901xp0v6_Processing.Pools'.
  Learn more at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=221672#ERROR_EXECUTING_METHOD.
Error: Could not deploy package.
Error: Unable to connect to master or target server 'sc901xp0v6_Processing.Pools'. You must have a user with the same password in master or target server 'sc901xp0v6_Processing.Pools'.
Error count: 1.
Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Command C:\Program Files\iis\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe returned a non-zero exit code - (-1)
At C:\resourcefiles\install.ps1:42 char:1
+ Install-SitecoreConfiguration @xconnectParams
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Install-SitecoreConfiguration
 
[TIME] 00:01:27
Transcript stopped, output file is C:\Users\Administrator\xconnect-xp0.180608 (3).log
Invoke-CommandTask : Command C:\Program Files\iis\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe returned a non-zero exit code - (-1)
At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\SitecoreInstallFramework\1.2.1\Public\Tasks\Invoke-WebDeployTask.ps1:36 char:2
+     Invoke-CommandTask -Path $Path -Arguments $msdeployArgs -TaskName ...
+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Invoke-CommandTask

Possible Solutions

There are plenty of resources already online for this error:

1. https://sitecore.stackexchange.com/questions/8590/you-must-have-a-user-with-the-same-password-in-master-or-target-server
2. https://www.sitecorespark.com/blog/2017/11/sitecore-installation-framework-error-processing-pools
3. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azuresqldbsupport/2017/09/19/deployment-fails-with-unable-to-connect-to-master-or-target-server-mydb_svr-you-must-have-a-user-with-the-same-password-in-master-or-target-server-mydb-db/

I reviewed these 3 resources and tried the various solutions provided in each. Unfortunately, none of the solutions provided resolved this issue for me.

My Solution

What solved the issue for me was creating a new SQL Server user, giving the user sysadmin permissions, updating the install script to use the new username and password and running the install script again. Once I made this change, the install script completed successfully. Out of curiosity, I reverted the install script to use the sa account and now I no longer get the error.

I can’t explain why creating a new SQL Server user fixed this issue for me but if you’ve tried everything and are still having this issue, give this a try and maybe this will resolve this issue for you too.