Error when trying to install SQL Server 2012 Ent in to a Server Core 2008 VM I have a problem that I hope you can help with.

I am studying for my 70-462 exam and in order to do so, must setup virtual labs as follows.


DC: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) - Domain controller for the lab network, contoso.com
SQL-A: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) - Domain member for hosting SQL Server
SQL-B: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise  (Full Installation) - Domain member for hosting SQL Server
SQL-C: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) - Domain member for hosting SQL Server
SQL-D: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) - Domain member for hosting SQL Server
SQL-CORE: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Server Core Installation) - Domain member for hosting SQL Server


I have created all of these VMs and installed the versions of Windows Server listed. I have also created the domain and joined VMs SQL-A, SQL-B and SQL-Core as well as creating a domain user on the Domain Controller called Contoso/Kim_Akers. I am able to log in to all of the VMs with this user.

I have since installed SQL Server 2012 Ent on SQL-A and SQL B, but get the following error when trying to install SQL-Core.

Overall summary
Final result:                  Failed: see details below
Exit code (Decimal):           -2068578304
Exit facility code:            1204
Exit error code:               0
Exit message:                  The Windows account Contoso/Kim_Akers does not exist and cannot be provisioned as a SQL Server system administrator.
Start time:                    2016-07-06 20:02:52
End time:                      2016-07-06 20:04:17
Requested action:              Install


If I run whoami on the SQL-Core VM it comes back as follows:

Consto.Kim_Akers


If I run SConfig, it shows that I am connected to the Contoso domain, so I don’t understand where the error is coming from.

To provide further background on this, the command I am running to install SQL Server 2012 Enterprise on the Server Core 2008 VM is as follows.

Setup.exe /qs /Action=install /Features=SQLEngine,IS,Conn
 /InstanceName=MSSQLServer /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="Contoso\kim_akers"
 /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms


What may be wrong with my setup?
Nothing seems wrong with your setup. I too am doing the training and noticed the books had some errors in them. 

But notice the difference between the 'WHOAMI' output, and your installation command line. 
The book has several typos where it calls the domain: Contoso, while before you created a domain called Contso. 

Change your command line to: /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="Contso\kim_akers" and it should work.