I recently encountered a strange problem while trying to bind a SQL Server 2016 instance to Microsoft R Server 9.1. On running the below command:

sqlbindR /list

I got the error:

An unexpected error has occurred: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: input

I had a hunch that this was related to an ‘orphaned’ pre-release SQL Server 2017 instance which I had previously installed and manually deleted. I found some registry keys related to that (non-existent) instance and deleted those. But SQLBindR was still erroring out:

sqlbindR /list
An unexpected error has occurred: Version string portion was too short or too long

I finally figured out that there was still an entry for the “non-existent” SQL instance at the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names\SQL. There was a value (on the right hand pane when viewed in RegEdit) for that old instance. When I deleted that value for the non-existent SQL instance, I was able to run SQLBindR  successfully!

Please note this troubleshooting tip is intended for non-production systems and for advanced users. If you have questions or concerns, or this error is happening on a production system, I strongly recommend you contact Microsoft Support.

Disclaimers Please note that this troubleshooting tip is provided as-is and neither me nor Microsoft offers any guarantees or warranties regarding the same. Using tools like RegEdit incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use RegEdit at your own risk. This Information is provided for the purpose of illustration only and is not intended to be used in a production environment.  THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.