Problem Description

A new installation of SharePoint fails to provision a new farm due to a failure while creating the configuration database.

Example:

Here is the exception stack from the PSCDiagnostics log:

01/11/2018 13:37:00 10 ERR Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeException: One or more types failed to load. Please refer to the upgrade log for more details.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPActionSequence.LoadUpgradeActions()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPActionSequence.get_Actions()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPActionSequence.get_ActionsInternal()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUtility.GetLatestTargetSchemaVersionBeforeMajorVersion(Type typeActionSequence, Int32 majorVer)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPSiteSequence.get_PreviousTargetSchemaVersion()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.PopulateSequencesTable(StringBuilder sqlstr, Boolean siteSequence)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.ConstructSiteNeedsUpgradeQuery(Guid siteId)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPContentDatabaseSequence.GetSiteNeedsUpgrade(SPUpgradeSession session, SPContentDatabase database, Dictionary`2& dictSitesNeedUpgrade, Dictionary`2& dictSitesNeedFeatureUpgrade)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPContentDatabaseSequence.AddNextLevelObjects()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPHierarchyManager.Grow(SPTree`1 root, Boolean bRecursing, SPDelegateManager delegateManager)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPHierarchyManager.Grow(SPTree`1 root, SPDelegateManager delegateManager)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.NeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.ReflexiveNeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.NeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.ReflexiveNeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.NeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.ReflexiveNeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.NeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.ReflexiveNeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPUpgradeSession.NeedsUpgrade(Object o, Boolean bRecurse)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServerProductInfo.DetectLocalUpgradeStatus()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServerProductInfo.DetectLocalProductVersions(SPProductVersions prodVer)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServerProductInfo.UpdateProductInfoInDatabase(Guid serverGuid)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Join(Boolean skipRegisterAsDistributedCacheHost, Nullable`1 serverRole)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

Cause

This issue can occur if you chose to download and install all the prerequisite software manually, namely in this case the "WCF Data Services 5.6 Tools". If you are experiencing the error, "One or more types failed to load" , while creating a new SharePoint Farm, it's most likely cause by the installer executable being in a "blocked" state while it was installed.

Example:

When executables are downloaded from the internet, they are put into a "blocked" state by to OS, to prevent users from running malicious code. However, in this case, if the installer was in a blocked state when the "WCF Data Services 5.6 Tools" were installed, the install will "succeed' but will not be installed properly.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Go to the properties of each prerequisite installer package that was downloaded manually and remove the block flag by selected "Unblock" and applying the changes.

Example:

Before:                                    After:

2. After the file has been unblocked, re-run the installer and choose the repair option.

3. Finally, re-run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard to successfully create a new Farm.