SQL Server Reporting Services installation failure “The Reporting Service catalog database file exists.”

Recently, I got the error below when re-installing Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services on my server:

The catalog database file exists. Select a files-only mode installation.
The catalog temporary database file exists. Select a files-only mode installation.

When clicking the first failed test, “Reporting Services Catalog Database File Existence”, I got the following detail:

When clicking the second failed test, “Reporting Services Catalog Temporary Database File Existence”, I got the following detail:

Resolution

This error occurs because there was a database already created on the previous installation that did not get removed. The solution is you need to remove the old database files to continue the new installation.

First, go to the folder where the SQL database created. Below is the default location of SQL Server Database:

SQL Server 2008: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA
SQL Server 2012: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQL2012\MSSQL\DATA
SQL Server 2016: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQL2012\MSSQL\DATA

You can also check the following link for the detail.

Then, on the SQL Database folder above, you need to remove the following files:

• ReportServer.mdf
• ReportServer_log.LDF
• ReportServerTempDB.mdf
• ReportServerTempDB_log.LDF

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