SQL Server Setup DACL Problem

Just got done installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Express on my Windows 7 development computer. It was an upgrade to SQL Server 2008 Express that installed with my Visual Studio 2010. At the end of the install, the summary noted that there had been an error.

Setup has detected a non canonical discretionary access control list (DACL) on directory 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\COM'. Please verify your security settings and make corrections if needed.

With a little googling I learned that this is repairable from Windows Explorer. Interestingly, the COM directory mentioned in the error message was actually OK, but there were 2 peer directories that did in fact have the DACL problem.

Here is how you can fix it in Windows 7. If you right-click on one of these bad directories to view Properties and try to open the Security tab, you will get the following message:

The permissions on Tools are incorrectly ordered, which may cause some entries to be ineffective.

After closing the dialog, you can press the Edit... button, which requires Administrator credentials.



A similar dialog box as the original message will appear, except this time you will have the opportunity to fix the problem. Press the Reorder button.



This will fix the DACL and take you back to the Properties window.