Hi Gary,

I think this article colud help you PRB: SQL Server 2000 Installation Fails with "...previous program installation..." Error Message mskb #Q312995.

>Hi Sergey
>
>>Proceed with SQL Server STANDARD or Enterprise install and later it'll tell you that it can only install Client Tools on WS.
>
>I have tried to install on my laptop but I keep getting the following message :-
>
>"A previous program installation created pending file operations on the installation machine. You must restart the computer before running setup."
>
>I have rebooted the machine but keep getting the same message?
>
>Any ideas what might be going wrong?
>
>Thanks