Symptom

Error message #6243 appears when launching BarTender Designer application after BarTender installation.

Environment

BarTender 2019 R5 and above

Diagnosis

• BarTender 2019 R5 and above requires SQL LocalDB for proper operation and therefore during installation, regardless of whether you are using SQL Server or not, it will always attempt to install SQL LocalDB.
  To verify if SQL LocalDB is properly installed, go to Windows Control Panel>Programs>Programs and Features:
  
  Uninstalling Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express LocalDB from your computer will cause the error message #6243 to appear when launching BarTender Designer.

• Another likely reason to cause this error is when BarTender fails to locate the path to "SqlLocalDB.exe" as BarTender is not installed on the C:\ drive. 

Solution

Based on the diagnosis, there may be two solutions to this issue.

Solution #1

Reinstall BarTender on C:\ and make sure Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express LocalDB is not removed from the computer afterwards,

Solution #2

BarTender will always verify if SQL LocalDB is installed in the following paths: 

• "%ProgramFilesW6432%\Microsoft SQL Server\120\tools\binn\SqlLocalDB.exe"
• "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\120\tools\binn\SqlLocalDB.exe"
• "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SQL Server\120\tools\binn\SqlLocalDB.exe"

If your BarTender copy is installed on the D:\ drive for example, copy/paste the D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Tools\Binn folder to the C:\ drive and recreate the same directory structure: