Problem

The Visual COBOL or COBOL Server setup fails with the following error:

"Service 'Micro Focus Directory Server' (mf_CCITCP2) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services."

The installation logs also report the following error:

Solution

Here are few root causes of this issue:

• The user does not have the proper permission to install. It requires administrator privileges with write permission on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and HKEY_CURRENT_USER in the registry.
• The user attempts to install the product on a non-local drive (e.g. a network drive). The product can only be installed on a local drive (e.g. C drive) as Windows is not permitting a service to be started from a non-local resource.
• There are some Microsoft updates in pending. The machine must be restarted to complete these updates first.
• Microsoft Visual C 2017 Redistributable (x64) is installed on the machine without the x86 version. The Micro Focus Directory Server service requires Microsoft Visual C 2017 Redistributable (x86). The setup is supposed to install both x64 and x86 versions of this vcredist when they are not found on the machine:
  • Microsoft Visual C 2017 Redistributable (x64) - 14.11.25325
  • Microsoft Visual C 2017 Redistributable (x86) - 14.11.25325

However, there is an issue with the setup (RPI 1117391). If vcredist x64 is already installed on the machine, the setup skips the installation of vcredist x86.
Here are the links to download vcredist from Microsoft:
•   x64 — https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=746572
•   x86 — https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=746571