Can't remove active node from SQL Server 2008 R2 Clustered Instance
I needed to remove an instance that was only installed on one node on a two node cluster. This unwanted instance had never been installed on the second node.

The error in the summary and detail log files stored in Setup Bootstrap sent me in the wrong direction.

I finally resolved the issue by following the following steps.


Adding a node to the unwanted instance
Move the unwanted instance to the second node
Removed the node from the first node
Removed the node from the second node


Unwanted instance removed from the cluster.