This post is a quickie, hoping that the tip will come in handy to others who are facing the same issue.

Note: the steps below were written for SQL Server 2016 pre-release versions. They are NOT valid for RTM and subsequent releases.

Today I was trying to enable the R Services (a.k.a. Advanced Analytics) feature in SQL Server 2016, which brings the world of R into SQL Server. I thought that I had diligently followed instructions on installing and configuring the integration. Next, I tried to execute the basic script below (sort of like a ‘loopback’ test for this feature to check if the configuration is okay:

sp_execute_external_script @language =N’R’,@script =N’OutputDataSet <- InputDataSet’, @input_data_1 =N’SELECT 1 as Col’ WITH RESULT SETS ((col int not null));

Unfortunately it kept returning the error messages below:

Msg 39021, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Unable to launch runtime for ‘R’ script. Please check the configuration of the ‘R’ runtime.
Msg 39019, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
An external script error occurred:
Unable to launch the runtime. ErrorCode 0x80070490: 1168(Element not found.).
Msg 11536, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
EXECUTE statement failed because its WITH RESULT SETS clause specified 1 result set(s), but the statement only sent 0 result set(s) at run time.

I went back to the instructions and realized I had forgotten one step which is to download an updated version of the post-installation configuration script from the Microsoft Download Center. Clicking on the previous link actually gives us an updated registerRext.exe. Running the registerRext.exe /uninstall followed by registerRext.exe /install with this updated version fixed my problem!

Do note that the errors mentioned above could have been caused by other issues, but at a minimum please ensure that you are using the updated registerRext.exe.