SQL SERVER – Service Pack Error – Index (Zero Based) Must be Greater Than or Equal to Zero and Less Than the Size of the Argument List

Recently I came across an issue where I was not able to fix directly. My client reported below error in Skype, which is related to a service pack. 
Overall summary:
Final result: The patch installer has failed to update the shared features. To determine the reason for failure, review the log files.
Exit code (Decimal): -2068774911
Exit facility code: 1201
Exit error code: 1
Exit message: Index (zero based) must be greater than or equal to zero and less than the size of the argument list.

I asked them to check below article

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2379466/fix-0x84b10001-error-code,-sql-server-2008-or-sql-server-2008-r2-setup-failure,-and-an-unhandled-exception-occur-when-you-run-sql-server-2008-or-sql-server-2008-r2-setup

But they were using SQL Server 2016 and having issues with latest patch. As per above “There are many possible scenarios that may initiate this issue. For example, a failure of a previous installation of SQL server may corrupt the registry, and this registry corruption may initiate this issue.”

I asked for Detail.txt and contains following details:

Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.MsiExtension.SetPatchInstallStateAction.GetInstalledPatchBySQLDiscovery
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.MsiExtension.SetPatchInstallStateAction.GetInstalledPatch
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.MsiExtension.SetPatchInstallStateAction.ExecuteAction
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.MsiExtension.ProductInstallProperty.GetInstalledPackages
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Configuration.MsiExtension.ProductInstallProperty.CollectProductData

WORKAROUND/SOLUTION

From above stack it looks like an issue with MSI/MSP missing issue. My client informed that they have already tried repair and it didn’t help. When I looked around on the internet, it sounded like they have some registry keys missing. I have suggested them to format the machine (after taking data backup) and install a fresh operating system. Later they did the same and restored the databases to the new instance.

Let me know if you have faced this error related to a service pack.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

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