Right, so after spending a few hours on this issue, I finally found a solution. The internet has a few sources on this, while https://www.urtech.ca/2018/02/solved-windows-feature-installation-the-referenced-assembly-could-not-be-found-error-0x80073701/
this link was probably the closest to solution, but not enough info.
Problem:
Windows thinks there is a language pack installed and hence attempts to install additional MUI files during role deployment. This fails and the installation as well.
Solution:
1. (Easy) Run lpksetup.exe from administrative command prompt. Choose to uninstall language packs and if you find any, remove them. Then reboot just in case. For some crazy reason the machine I had this problem on (a DC) had Korean language pack installed
for god knows what reason - we are not even in Asia.
In the end - it did not help my cause... Still failing with same error. But try this first as some people said it helped them and this is an easy try.
2. Looking at the DISM log, I found nothing useful. SBC.log however contained the following error:
2018-05-31 18:21:40, Error CSI 0000000e (F) HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(ERROR_SXS_ASSEMBLY_MISSING) #17491# from Windows::ServicingAPI::CCSITransaction::ICSITransaction_PinDeployment(Flags = 0,
a = Microsoft-Windows-ServerManager-Core-MgmtProvider-Deployment-LanguagePack, Version = 6.3.9600.16384, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture = [l:10{5}]"es-ES", VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral,
TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral, cb = (null), s = (null), rid = [140]"Microsoft-Windows-ServerManager-Core-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~es-ES~6.3.9600.16384.ServerManager-Core-MgmtProvider-Deployment-LangPack", rah = (null), manpath = (null),
catpath = (null), ed = 0, disp = 0)[gle=0x80073701]
Note the fact it attempted to install a Spanish package, while our server has nothing to do with the Spanish language. This brings us to the registry editing and dependency cleanup.
WARNING: registry editing, especially on PRODUCTION SERVERS is a DANGEROUS task and should be taken with care, knowledge, patience and proper backup (or even several of different types). Please be warned.
The key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing" contains a few subkeys, notably PackageDetect, UpdateDetect and a few more. I did a registry search from this location ("Component Based Servicing")
and looked for "Microsoft-Windows-ServerManager-Core-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~es-ES" (without the quotes), looking for the "data" entries. Those entries represent dependencies and once removed, solved the issue. Few notes:
a. Many of the keys are protected, but you have full control, so you can either add full permissions for the "administrators" group or take ownership of the key and then give the "administrators" group full permissions.
b. Permissions are set on the key level (the folder icon), not the data level.
c. You need to delete only the data entries you see are odd and out of place. For example, a package for ServerCore-something had a few dependencies, all of them language-neutral and an oddball of "Microsoft-Windows-ServerManager-Core-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~es-ES".
Obviously it is out of place and can be removed.
d. i also searched for "es-es" under "packageDetect" and for some reason had a spanish version of a Windows KB. In this case it was not a dependency, but I deleted it anyway as I could not find any evidence Spanish version for this update
was in fact installed.
I hope it will save someone a few hours. By the way, I was working on Server 2012 R2
Regards, Leonid
