Configuring MSSQL Server on ubuntu - Cannot open or read the persistent registry: \SystemRoot\security.hiv - sql-server

Question

I'm using the following guide to install MSSQL server on my ubuntu 16.04 machine
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/quickstart-install-connect-ubuntu?view=sql-server-2017
when I'm running:
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup
no matter what kind of SQL Server edition I choose, I'm getting the following error:
Confirm the SQL Server system administrator password:
Configuring SQL Server...
This program has encountered a fatal error and cannot continue running at Mon Apr 1 16:06:07 2019
The following diagnostic information is available:
Reason: 0x00000007
Message: Cannot open or read the persistent registry: \SystemRoot\security.hiv.
Process: 19600 - sqlservr
Thread: 19604 (application thread 0x4)
Instance Id: 7ebfcf27-db60-460d-afd3-6d852b70069e
Crash Id: d99ba388-d323-43f3-b758-e116f42bb2e8
Build stamp: 70437f6583b8ef39b1ef70539ef84690980315dc7a4436c9c40015f28610e4aa
Distribution: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Processors: 8
Total Memory: 16673366016 bytes
Timestamp: Mon Apr 1 16:06:07 2019
Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Capturing core dump and information to /var/opt/mssql/log...
Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
turn off this notice.
No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.
Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
turn off this notice.
No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.
/usr/bin/tail: cannot open '/var/log/syslog' for reading: Permission denied
Attempting to capture a dump with paldumper
Captured a dump with paldumper
Core dump and information are being compressed in the background. When
complete, they can be found in the following location:
/var/opt/mssql/log/core.sqlservr.04_01_2019_16_06_07.19600.tbz2
Initial setup of Microsoft SQL Server failed. Please consult the ERRORLOG
in /var/opt/mssql/log for more information.
also I found this post, which look like this guy had a similar problem, but sadly no solution
does any one knows how to solve my problem?
Thank you
Edit:
after implementing the answer I got another error:
Confirm the SQL Server system administrator password:
Configuring SQL Server...
Initial setup of Microsoft SQL Server failed. Please consult the ERRORLOG in /var/opt/mssql/log for more information
To make some clean in the mess that I had in the log folder I decided to delete it completely using
sudo rm -rf /var/opt/mssql/log
and re-run the setup, Apparently that solved my last problem and finally:
Setup has completed successfully. SQL Server is now starting.

Answer 1

You'll find further information in
/var/opt/mssql/log
Mine said:
{
"reason": "0x00000007",
"processName": "sqlservr",
"pid": "5773",
"instanceId": "d7df749c-50e6-4f3b-b894-2aa7c743f33d",
"crashId": "281e772a-5946-4349-aa9e-671cd0a3772c",
"threadId": "5777",
"libosThreadId": "0x4",
"buildStamp": "70437f6583b8ef39b1ef70539ef84690980315dc7a4436c9c40015f28610e4aa",
"message": "Cannot open or read the persistent registry: \\SystemRoot\\lsa.hiv.",
"last_errno": "13",
"last_errno_text": "Permission denied",
"distribution": "Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS",
"processors": "4",
"total_memory": "16732037120",
"timestamp": "Fri Apr 12 22:02:44 2019"
}
So I ran locate to see where "systemroot" is located:
locate security.hiv
/var/opt/mssql/.system/system/security.hiv
I didn't know which permissions should be applied, so I just gave read&write to "others".
then the same with
lsa.hiv
licensing.hiv
re-run
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup
and then, sql-server starts, plus the permissions for others are gone again.
By the way, you can run sql-server without service, then it works even if the service fails:
/opt/mssql/bin/sqlservr

Answer 2

In my case (#Mine) it was not only licensing.hiv.
My /var/opt/mssql/.system/instance_id was somehow destroyed and there were more files with owner root.
After deleting /var/opt/mssql/.system/instance_id and changing all root.root files to mssql.mssql (chown mssql.mssql /var/opt/mssql/.system/system/*), I was able to rerun "/opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup"
Afterwards mssql runs fine again
I very goog hint was that "/var/opt/mssql/.system/instance_id" runs on his own.