OK, I figured I toss this one up to the ORDN IT fraternity. I have a workstation that I am trying to install SQL Server '08 R2 on, and it is continously failing the WMI portion, saying that the service cannot be started. Here are the steps that I have tried to resolve this (after each of them, I attempted the install): Ensured that WMI is allowed through Windows Firewall Stopped the firewall service Stopped the WMI service, figuring that the install process might start it when it reached that point of the setup process Ran a populat CMD script that essentially re-created the WMI service Stopped the service via command line, renamed the WMI Repository folder, then restarted the service and rebuilt the repository. Added Network Services to the Admin group for the machine Uninstalled our TrendMicro AV None of the above have either worked on their own, or in conjunction with one another. The machine is running Win7 32-bit. If anyone has some ideas here, I am all ears. I am still at the office pounding away on this one. I have a developer who needs SQL Server 08 on his machine ASAP. Thanks for humoring a fellow geek.